5 ms·

There's a standout anti inflammatory that is a turmeric extract. It is called circumin but is only effective when taken in the form with a pepper extract, pipin

There's a standout anti inflammatory that is a turmeric extract. It is called circumin but is only effective when taken in the form with a pepper extract, pipinerol. But it is often sold in this combo. I have seen it have near miracle effects on soft tissue type injuries both personally and in others. Interestingly I know of medical practationers that take it prophalatically against alzeimers, not sure on what research they base their decision on, it might be speculative, but it seems to have zero harmful side effects that I can tell, so little chance of harm. So YMMV and DYOR, I'm not a doctor, just relating personal experience that might be helpful, but there is quite a lot of info out there if you care to research so just giving you something to think about and maybe try.

Brakenshire 5y ago
I thought circumin combined with pepper was to increase bioavailability, which has since been found not to be useful because the effects occur in the gut, and don’t require absorption into the blood stream.
- airbreather 5y ago
  You need the pipinerol, otherwise the effectiveness is greatly reduced. Probably why so many "studies" are inconclusive, apart from likely poorly structured.
TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
The problem I’ve found is that a lot of turmeric and curcumin supplements or powders use heavy metals for orange coloring. Is there a brand you recommend?
- m0llusk 5y ago
  Diaspora Company fair trade turmeric from Andhra Pradesh if you can get it. They have a number of channels that carry it through various spice distributors. Often sold as "single source" turmeric. Amazing quality quite unlike most other readily available turmeric. https://www.thebeaconsupply.com/product/diaspora-co-fair-trade-spices/3981 https://www.thebeaconsupply.com/product/diaspora-co-fair-tra...
- nsenifty 5y ago
  Buy whole turmeric from a local Indian grocery and powder it yourself? Curcumin is about 1-3% by weight in turmeric.
esperent 5y ago
I did look into this before and it seemed like yes, curcumin is effective if it can get into the gut, but also it's mostly destroyed by stomach acid so you need to either take huge amounts or take specially prepared capsules that will release the curcumin in the intestine. I'm not a doctor and I didn't follow up on this for a few years. But it's something to consider if you plan to take this - just eating loads of turmeric is probably not going to do anything (although it's tasty and probably has other health benefits not related to curcumin).
pingou 5y ago
According to wikipedia: «Although curcumin has been assessed in numerous laboratory and clinical studies, it has no medical uses established by well-designed clinical research. According to a 2017 review of more than 120 studies, curcumin has not been successful in any clinical trial, leading the authors to conclude that "curcumin is an unstable, reactive, non-bioavailable compound and, therefore, a highly improbable lead".» Not sure how accurate or up to date this wikipedia page is, though.
- ekianjo 5y ago
  > Not sure how accurate or up to date this wikipedia page is, though. Wikipedia is probably the last place I would check for scientific information.
  - cashweaver 5y ago
    Why is that?
  - notafraudster 5y ago
    Wikipedia isn't the source of the scientific information -- as is immediately apparent from the quoted sentence -- and I think basic media literacy requires that you not participate in the conversation if you can't parse that from the quote. The sources are this expensive review: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00975 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00975 And this related letter by the authors summarizing the review: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsmedchemlett.7b00139 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsmedchemlett.7b00139 High impact factor journal, at a basic scan the quote is accurate to the article, and the article uses standard methods. Authors all seem appropriately credentialled and working out of real institutions. Article itself has a high record of citation, and the constituent studies are all properly cited for you to proceed.
- JeremyNT 5y ago
  Examine has a summary of the research which provides some reason for optimism: https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ It seems plausible that there could be something going on here, but as with most supplements there's not nearly enough data yet. I'd suggest that the "miraculous" effects the parent describes would more likely be attributed to placebo, though. These things tend to work around the margins, not with dramatic improvements, which is why they're hard to study.

Brakenshire 5y ago

I thought circumin combined with pepper was to increase bioavailability, which has since been found not to be useful because the effects occur in the gut, and don’t require absorption into the blood stream.

airbreather 5y ago
You need the pipinerol, otherwise the effectiveness is greatly reduced. Probably why so many "studies" are inconclusive, apart from likely poorly structured.

TedDoesntTalk 5y ago

The problem I’ve found is that a lot of turmeric and curcumin supplements or powders use heavy metals for orange coloring. Is there a brand you recommend?

m0llusk 5y ago
Diaspora Company fair trade turmeric from Andhra Pradesh if you can get it. They have a number of channels that carry it through various spice distributors. Often sold as "single source" turmeric. Amazing quality quite unlike most other readily available turmeric. https://www.thebeaconsupply.com/product/diaspora-co-fair-trade-spices/3981 https://www.thebeaconsupply.com/product/diaspora-co-fair-tra...
nsenifty 5y ago
Buy whole turmeric from a local Indian grocery and powder it yourself? Curcumin is about 1-3% by weight in turmeric.

esperent 5y ago

I did look into this before and it seemed like yes, curcumin is effective if it can get into the gut, but also it's mostly destroyed by stomach acid so you need to either take huge amounts or take specially prepared capsules that will release the curcumin in the intestine. I'm not a doctor and I didn't follow up on this for a few years. But it's something to consider if you plan to take this - just eating loads of turmeric is probably not going to do anything (although it's tasty and probably has other health benefits not related to curcumin).

pingou 5y ago

According to wikipedia: «Although curcumin has been assessed in numerous laboratory and clinical studies, it has no medical uses established by well-designed clinical research. According to a 2017 review of more than 120 studies, curcumin has not been successful in any clinical trial, leading the authors to conclude that "curcumin is an unstable, reactive, non-bioavailable compound and, therefore, a highly improbable lead".» Not sure how accurate or up to date this wikipedia page is, though.

ekianjo 5y ago
> Not sure how accurate or up to date this wikipedia page is, though. Wikipedia is probably the last place I would check for scientific information.
- cashweaver 5y ago
  Why is that?
- notafraudster 5y ago
  Wikipedia isn't the source of the scientific information -- as is immediately apparent from the quoted sentence -- and I think basic media literacy requires that you not participate in the conversation if you can't parse that from the quote. The sources are this expensive review: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00975 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00975 And this related letter by the authors summarizing the review: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsmedchemlett.7b00139 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsmedchemlett.7b00139 High impact factor journal, at a basic scan the quote is accurate to the article, and the article uses standard methods. Authors all seem appropriately credentialled and working out of real institutions. Article itself has a high record of citation, and the constituent studies are all properly cited for you to proceed.
JeremyNT 5y ago
Examine has a summary of the research which provides some reason for optimism: https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ It seems plausible that there could be something going on here, but as with most supplements there's not nearly enough data yet. I'd suggest that the "miraculous" effects the parent describes would more likely be attributed to placebo, though. These things tend to work around the margins, not with dramatic improvements, which is why they're hard to study.