It’s yet another half truth that has to be explored in greater detail.
Turmeric is a plant that we do use for cooking purposes. Its root (the rhizome) makes it look somewhat similar to the ginger root, and as such they are classified within the same plant family.
Within this turmeric rhizome lies a compound known as curcumin. Curcumin is an anti-inflammatory compound that can regulate the inflammatory signalling pathways that our cells use, namely the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway.
As such, curcumin is considered to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. When we do introduce curcumin directly to the cells in petri dishes, we can observe that happening — the NF-κB transcription activity is indeed inhibited.
However, the nutritional quackery comes in the form of advocating turmeric consumption. While we may see the effect that curcumin has when it is directly introduced to a cell, can we extend those observations to the curcumin that we do ingest from our food?
The answer is, of course, obviously, NO.
The curcumin that works so well with regulating NF-κB when directly applied to the cell in a petri dish does need to traverse the digestive juices and eznymes in our stomach as well as pass through our intestines before it gets absorbed into our blood.
And, according to this article: Curcumin has been confirmed to exhibit very poor bioavailability, with many studies showing very low, or even undetectable, concentrations in blood and extraintestinal tissue. Major reasons postulated are due to its poor absorption, rapid metabolism, chemical instability, and rapid systemic elimination.
So the problem is that our bodies won’t absorb the curcumin that we consume from natural turmeric that readily.
However, as it is the case with marketing and economics, as I outlined in The Invisible Hands Of Economics Guiding The Decision Making Behind Human Health.
We do tend to see a lot of decision making favour financial/economic gain over physical health.
I could easily then ride on the superficial understanding that curcumin works wonders for health issues related to inflammation and cancer, so that of course we can then have products with jacked up prices for all things turmeric related, such as turmeric spice lattes and curcumin supplements that don’t really work, isn’t it?
But of course, that’s the problem with “natural”, unmodified turmeric.
There are curcumin products that have been modified and tested on different patients, such as the Meriva® variant. Its enhanced bioavailability was shown to reduce the inflammation being experienced by people experiencing joint pain.
It is therefore necessary for us to understand that whatever nutrition that appears to be useful when directly applied to cells may not necessarily be effective in the cells of a human body, especially when it has to traverse the gauntlet that is our digestive system!
If you are experiencing some form of osteoarthritis or joint pain, do have a look at 10 Nutrients That Support Healthy Joint Function too. One of the nutrients that I do recommend there? Meriva®-based curcumin, of course. Other patented formulations may work equally well, but I have no working experience with those and therefore cannot comment as such.
This article was originally published in Medium.
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