Sunday 21 July 2019

Curcumin preparation type?

Apologies if this is going over some issues previously discussed: There are lots of different curcumin pills and potions around, and 1000-2000 mg+ (Longvida) has been recommended elsewhere on this site. There seems to be a world of difference in how much curcumin gets into the brain depending on in what form it is taken.
I wondered on what basis is Longvida's product recommended? I noticed this 2015 conference presentation: "Intratumoral bioavailability and changes in Phosphoethanolamin-MRI of the solubilised natural compound curcumin in glioblastoma patients", which demonstrated how curcumin accumulated in glioblastoma tumours when it was given orally as "solubilisated curcumin". With a bit of internet searching using the terms in this study description, it seems to be that they used NovaSOL curcumin, or something very similar ("Micelle solubilized curcuma extract") I'm not sure how the doses used in the study (apparently a total of 3g of solubilized curcumin per day, which sounds like a heck of a lot!) equates to the NovaSOL capsules that can be bought (each of which contains just '30mg Curcuminoids and 5.4μg Vitamin D' ). Less certain again is how this might equate to an actual clinical effect on the tumour when combined with chemotherapy, although the likes of review articles such as 'Curcumin for the Treatment of Glioblastoma' would say that it is definitely worthwhile adding to the mix.
All input greatly received from cocktail-makers!
Thanks,
Stu

1 comment:

  1. My basis for recommending Longvida is the fact that it was designed by UCLA scientists specifically for treating Alzheimers, and therefore for its ability to penetrate into brain tissue. There was a published abstract showing significant accumulation in rodent brains, though I would have to do a bit of searching to find it again. There is a page at the UCLA Alzheimer Translation Center with some good basic info on Longvida.

    https://alzheimer.neurology.ucla.edu/Curcumin.html

    I also like the fact that Longvida has a relative wealth of published clinical research compared to other brands and formulas. Also the fact that the Longvida studies measure unconjugated curcumin in the blood, while other brands measure total curcumin (which is mostly conjugated, as curcumin glucuronides, curcumin sulfates etc.)

    An example of this is in a study of the Meriva brand of curcumin, volunteers were given 5 or 9 capsules. No free, unconjugated curcumin was found in any of the plasma samples, and consequently all plasma samples were treated with glucuronidase/sulfatase to release the curcuminoids from conjugation prior to analysis.

    Clinical pharmacokinetic studies of Longvida have specifically quantified levels of free (unconjugated) curcumin in the blood.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20092313


    See also
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2527621/

    "For example, oral gavage of an optimized, lipidated curcumin formulation (Verdure Sciences, Noblesville, IN; www.verduresciences.com) resulted in 11-fold higher levels of curcumin in plasma and 4-fold higher levels in brain compared with equal doses of curcumin powder or curcumin-piperine extracts. A 5-mg curcumin dose delivered by acute gavage in this lipid rich formulation (n = 5) resulted in 2.15 ± 0.744 µM mouse brain curcumin levels after 3 h. After 2 weeks of lipidated formulation at 500 ppm curcumin in chow (n = 5), we observed 5.79 ± 1.22 µM mouse brain curcumin"

    This "lipidated curcumin" by Verdure Sciences was likely either Longvida or a precursor of it in the testing stages.

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