Curcumin (My Favorite Herb!)

This is my number 1 favorite herb!

An amazing leap forward in herbal medicine has been the development of a very highly absorbed form of curcumin (turmeric), called "BCM 95." This has increased absorption over the previous best products by 693%, meaning 1 capsule replaces 7 old ones.

Curcumin is the active component of turmeric, the yellow spice found in curries. Only about 2% of most spice-grade turmeric is curcumin, and even that 2% is minimally absorbed. So though an enormous amount of research shows curcumin to be amazing for cancer, inflammation, pain and Alzheimer’s, it took eating an Indian diet or taking hundreds of capsules a day to see the effect. For decades, this was very frustrating.

Then Marina and Benny, a husband and wife research team in Cochin India, made a remarkable discovery. By adding back in the plants essential oils, specifically the component called Turmerone, absorbtion skyrocketed. This resulted in the production on BCM 95 by the Arjuna company, and made the results of curcumin research suddenly clinically powerful and easy to apply — by taking 1-6 pills a day instead of hundreds!

Over 6,000 studies show curcumin to be a very promising herb. What really caught my attention was that we were getting some near miraculous reports of pain relief from many people who had suffered for years. This was especially so with a special mix called Curamin (by EuroPharma, under the Terry Naturally line).

We have worked with a number of helpful herbal and natural treatments for pain, and though many have been very helpful, we have never seen anything as dramatically effective as Curamin. If you have pain — whether from fibromyalgia, tendonitis, or basically any cause — get a bottle, take 1 tablet 3x a day for 3-6 weeks or until the pain is gone (whichever comes first, then you can usually lower the dose). Be prepared to be wowed!

In addition, hundreds of studies are suggesting using special highly absorbed curcumin (BCM 95) can help lower cancer risk and shrink existing tumors of many types. Many human studies are now underway using this remarkable herb for a wide array of cancers. It must be a highly absorbed form (BCM 95) to work unless you want to take over 200 capsules a day. I use CuraMed 750 mg two twice a day.

Studies are also underway looking at this herb for Alzheimer’s (including a study at our research center). Our study includes CuraMed 750 mg 2 twice a day as part of the treatment protocol. For those with a family history of Alzherimer’s, I recommend 1 a day to maintain health. People in India have a 70% lower risk of Alzheimer’s, and this has been traced back to the curcumin.

A long history of healing

One of the reasons that curcumin works so well on such a wide range of diseases is because it is such a powerful anti-inflammatory. We know that almost all chronic diseases — from diabetes to heart disease to arthritis to Alzheimer’s disease — have something in common: unchecked, destructive inflammation. Unlike synthetic drugs, which typically work against only a single inflammation pathway, natural curcumin reduces inflammation through its effects on multiple inflammation targets.

Curcumin has been found to:

• Suppress the activation of the NF-kB, which regulates the expression of pro-inflammatory gene products.
• Down-regulate COX-2, the enzyme linked to most inflammation.
• Inhibit 5-LOX, another pro-inflammatory enzyme.
• Down-regulate the expression of cell surface adhesion molecules linked to inflammation.
• Inhibit the activity of TNF, one of the most pro-inflammatory cytokines (cell-signaling protein molecules).

Because of this anti-inflammatory activity, its ability to kill tumor cells, increase activity of protective antioxidants such as glutathione, and modulate tumor growth cell factors, curcumin is effective against hundreds of diseases.

Curcumin is also a potent antioxidant, able to neutralize unstable, reactive free radicals. The chain reaction of free radical formation (the free radical cascade) causes cellular damage that leads to inflammation and chronic disease. Curcumin, like other antioxidants, is able to stop free radical cascades without becoming unstable itself. Its ability to neutralize free radicals is extraordinarily strong.

The increased clinical interest shown in this botanical compound is the beginning of many more discoveries that will very likely change the face of medicine. However, in the case of curcumin, absorption has been a major and frustrating barrier to more widespread use in practice.

Unfortunately, the absorption of standard curcumin is poor. Because of this, many previous clinical trials have used increasingly larger dosages (up to 10-12 grams daily) in order to get even a small amount into the bloodstream. While no toxicity is associated with curcumin, even at these very high dosage levels, cost, comfort and compliance can be a difficult issue to resolve for many people.  But BCM-95® high absorption curcumin is different than the standardized extracts used in the past, which is why it is a preferred form for clinical research. This advance has resulted in studies showing curcumin to be as or more effective than standard medications for arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and depression in head-on studies, along with great promise for increasing treatment effectiveness in Alzheimer’s and cancer.

In fact, this specially prepared extract of curcumin — used in the clinical studies discussed in this article — has an antioxidant value of over 1,000,000 per 100 g — many times higher than that of blueberries (6,552), strawberries (3,577) or dark chocolate (powder) (40,200). The dual properties of curcumin as both anti-inflammatory and a strong antioxidant may also explain its lack of side effects in this same clinical research.