Turmeric Absorption

[Johnny2016]

Hi,

I want know how can one can enhance absorption of curcumin from tumeric for reducing inflamamation (joint and cardiovascular)?  Some say use black pepper and some say take fats or oils with tumeric, which one is it?

Waiting for somones reply.

[Paxiled]

Not sure why you'd want to do this.  With black pepper, what you're thinking of is an ingredient in black pepper called bioperine, not black pepper by itself.  When this ingredient is isolated and included with a supplement, some research shows increased absorption.  But it really doesn't matter that much with turmeric.  When you take curcumin, you're taking the herb turmeric standardized for a certain percentage of curcumin -- you don't have to take it this way, traditionally this technology didn't exist and you just used the herb as nature made it.  So you're still taking turmeric but with a guaranteed amount of curcumin in it depending on the reliability of the company your'e buying from.  But the truth about the use of herbs is, the frequency you take them is more important than the dosage so they stay in your system, and turmeric has many fat soluble compounds that make it stay in the system fairly long anyway.  Certain companies take advantage of this and use extraction techniques (in order to standardize an herb, you have to use an extract, not just the powdered herb) that maximize the extraction of fat soluble compounds.  This is why turmeric is traditionally more for liver support than the now more common use as an anti-inflammatory.  You also don't really want to overdo turmeric for the same reasons you don't want to overdo ibuprofen -- it's also a blood thinner and can also cause bleeding if you really go overboard on it.  It can also cause rashes.  There was a guy who has since been kicked off the website who suffered from blood clotting and decided to stop using his Warfarin and used powdered turmeric instead.  He put it on everything, and it burned a hole in this throat -- it's a very hot herb.  Either it's going to work for you in the recommended doses or it's not.  

[Paxiled]

And in herbal medicine, you usually combine remedies to get best results -- it's an allopathic technique to isolate things and just take one thing, which is why they are so often toxic.  Ginger has the same anti-inflammatory effects as turmeric, though turmeric is stronger, but combined, natural practitioners consider it better than taking a ton of just one.  There are also a host of other anti-inflammatory herbs.  I would recommend looking at New Chapter and Gaia for their turmeric products, as they use the best extraction techniques.  Good luck.