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Turmeric Curcumin: Effects on Performance & Health​

Curcumin's benefits for human performance and health are staggering. Here's a snapshot of the many conditions this supplement can help.​

Curcumin Benefits: the Most Effective Supplement Ever?​

Curcumin may very well be the most effective supplement of all. Go ahead and subject it to all the scrutiny you want. It'll more than weather the investigative assault.

While curcumin was initially recognized as a highly effective pain reliever and anti-inflammatory, the scientific world soon found out, incrementally, that it also boosts testosterone, blocks estrogen, improves heart health, makes you stronger, burns fat, dissolves arterial plaques, stops your knees from aching, reduces the risk of diabetes, and even blocks many types of viral infections, among other things.

Skim the following list of its benefits and try to come up with a reason you're not using it already.


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Curcumin Reduces Knee Pain​

Most lifters address the achy-knee problem with chondroitin and glucosamine, but they soon figure out that the beneficial effects of those compounds, if any, are woefully modest. With no other recourse, most hit the ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) bottle. Too bad because they should be using curcumin.

Curcumin has a long history as a pain killer, but most scientific studies investigate its theoretical effects on pain. In other words, scientists know, through their research, that curcumin disables certain enzymes that ordinarily lead to the production of inflammatory chemicals associated with pain.

However, a recent study (Kuptniratsaikul,2014) conducted by Indian scientists tested the real-world effects of curcumin specifically on knee pain. They recruited 331 people, all of whom had osteoarthritis in their knees, and put them on either 1200 mg. of ibuprofen or 1500 mg. of the spice turmeric (of which curcumin is the most bioactive component). Each subject filled out a questionnaire on multiple occasions during a 4-week period to measure their knee pain (the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index).

The people who used turmeric (curcumin) reported just as much of a reduction in pain and stiffness as those using ibuprofen. Functioning of the knees improved equally in both groups. Those using turmeric, however, experienced less bloating and stomachache and less wear and tear on the liver.

Curcumin Better Than NSAIDS for Athletes in Pain​

A lot of athletes, despite current best advice, still take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to combat post-training soreness and inflammation. Their motivation is, of course, to reduce pain and improve their recovery time.

The problem is, NSAIDs appear to block the first stage of healing and don't necessarily restore muscle performance, and may hinder recovery. Furthermore, long-term use might negatively affect the nervous system and damage the liver.

Curcumin, however, can limit inflammation and oxidative stress without the negative consequences of NSAIDs, thus allowing athletes to train harder and more often.

It does so by a dose-dependent decrease of an enzyme named COX-2, which is responsible for the conversion of arachidonic acid into prostaglandins and thromboxane, two lipid compounds that initiate swelling and the feeling of pain. This is similar to the action of NSAIDs, but less pronounced and without the negative side effects.

The authors (McFarlin, 2019) of a paper on the subject pointed out a few examples of human studies in which curcumin mitigated inflammation and soreness from training. The highlights:

• One study found that when curcumin (5.3 mg/kg) was given 48 hours prior to a bout of downhill running, subjects accumulated less muscle damage (as measured by MRI) and experienced a significant decrease in serum IL-8 (a pro-inflammatory cytokine) at 2 hours after exercise.
• Subjects who did 60 reps of leg press at 110% of their 1RM (eccentric movements only) had decreased serum creatine kinase (an indicator of muscle damage) and decreased levels of IL-8 after taking 400 mg. of curcumin for 2 days prior to the test and 4 days after the test.
• Subjects who took 1,000 mg. of curcumin a day experienced no loss in muscle strength * after a bout of downhill running. Subjects training for a half-marathon were given 1,000 mg. of curcumin a day (in combination with pomegranate extract, another polyphenol). They were able to put in 11% more training mileage and 20% more caloric expenditure when compared to placebo, despite a similar number of training sessions in the 30 days prior to a half-marathon race.

This led the authors of the paper to speculate that curcumin, given in steadily increasing doses during a long-term training program (leading up to a competition or event), could greatly benefit an athlete.

Curcumin Improves Strength and Endurance​

Evidence suggests that small amounts of curcumin can improve strength and endurance in pathways unrelated to increased testosterone (although studies show it does that too).

Researchers at National Taiwan Sport University divvied mice up into four groups, each of the first three groups receiving different doses of curcumin while the fourth served as the control group (Huang, 2015).

The scientists then measured their exercise performance and resistance to fatigue by measuring forelimb grip strength and how long they could swim.

The higher the dose of curcumin, the stronger the mice got and the longer they could swim. The curcumin mice, especially the high-dose curcumin mice, exhibited lower levels of fatigue-associated biomarkers like lactate, ammonia, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), along with fewer tissue damage indicators such as aspartase transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and creatine kinase (CK).

Curcumin also increased muscle glycogen significantly, which is a good thing for muscular endurance.

The researchers theorized that the increases in strength might have been caused by curcumin's anti-catabolic effect and/or curcumin-influenced development of nerve pathways used by the brain to stimulate muscle.

As far as the increases in endurance, it might have to do with curcumin-induced growth of new blood vessels that supplied the muscles with additional oxygen and nutrients.

Curcumin Aids Muscle Recovery and Performance​

A 2015 study found that curcumin improved jump performance in humans both 24 and 48 hours after resistance exercise. Another one conducted in 2017 reported lower average loss of power in sprints in curcumin users over placebo.

While we don't know for sure if curcumin affects mitochondrial biogenesis in humans, we do know that it does so in animals (Hamadie, 2015). The more mitochondria you have, the better your recovery, performance, and athletic potential. It's not a stretch to assume that curcumin might have the same effect in humans, which might explain the findings above.


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Curcumin Helps Athletes Prepare for Competition​

As per McFarlin, et al's recommendations (2019), athletes can use curcumin to aid in their training for an event. They can begin by taking between 400 to 600 mg. of curcumin a day. As the weeks go by and training volume increases, so should the amount of daily curcumin, steadily climbing from the "starter" dose of 400 to 600 mg., then progressing to 600 to 800 per day; then 800 to 1,000 a day; and finally, as the competition draws near, peaking at 1500 mg. a day.

They also prescribe periodic "booster" doses of 500 to 1,000 mg. during days of particularly intense training when greater amounts of muscle damage are incurred.

The model is cool, but regardless of whether you're an endurance runner, a powerlifter, or a bodybuilder, it reflects a simple truth – that curcumin, in addition to all its health-promoting superpowers, is really an excellent ergogenic aid.

Curcumin Enhances the Effects of Exercise​

Sahin, ett al. (2016) showed that curcumin enhances the effects of exercise, helping muscles perform better, generate more energy, and repair themselves better.

The researchers acquired 28 Wistar rats and divided them into four treatment groups:

• Rats in the control group did nothing but while away the day in rat fantasies while receiving standard feed.
• Rats in a second, non-exercise group received a curcumin formulation.
• A third group of rats trained on a treadmill while receiving standard feed.
• The last group of rats ran on a treadmill while receiving a curcumin formulation.

The human equivalent to the dosages of curcumin they received is about 1,000 to 1250 mg. a day.

After 6 weeks, all four groups of rats ran to exhaustion on treadmills, which is a kinder version of the more conventional exhaustion test that involved throwing them into a bucket and seeing how long they could tread water.

The rats in the exercise-plus-curcumin group had by far the most endurance, but how it caused that is intriguing. At first glance, curcumin reduced the concentration of both glucose and lactic acid. That means muscle cells used sugar more efficiently and experienced less fatigue (or fewer fatigue factors).

Additionally, various fatigue and muscle damage factors were lowered, including kappa B and heat-shock protein 70. Further, various muscle markers indicative of exercise adaptation increased, things like SIRT 1 protein (which causes cells to heal faster, in addition to increasing lifespan), PGC-1-alpha (which causes mitochondria to divide and replicate), and GLUT4 (which led to the more efficient use of glucose).

Suffice it to say that if you had magical powers and could control time and space, this is how you'd have muscles react in response to exercise.


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Curcumin Leads to Better Erections and Sexual Functioning​

Erections are all about hydraulics. They involve biological plumbing or, more specifically, blood vessels, but the pressure in biological plumbing is regulated by chemicals like nitric oxide instead of turn-off valves. If you increase the integrity and health of the blood vessels and turn up the pressure by increasing nitric oxide, you maximize erections.

Curcumin is one of the few compounds that accomplishes both these things. In doing so, it improves nearly every aspect of arterial health. And if your arteries (and your cardiovascular system as a whole) are clean and functioning at 100%, it's only logical that you'll have stronger erections.

Here are just some of the cardiovascular, "pipe-clearing" benefits attributed to curcumin:

• Prevention of arteriosclerosis
• Raising of HDL
• Lowering of total cholesterol
• Protecting arteries against homocysteine, a factor in cardiovascular disease
• Lowering triglycerides
• Protecting arteries against high blood pressure
• Lowering of fibrinogen, a chemical that increases clotting. Reducing it is a key factor in preventing heart attack or stroke.

It's all well and good to have clear pipes, but erections need something else: nitric oxide (which is how Viagra and other ED drugs work, too). The chemical relaxes the blood vessels leading to the penis so they can carry even more blood. Even small doses of curcumin (80 mg. a day) increase the amount of nitric oxide in plasma.

Curcumin's effects on sexual functioning don't end with hydraulics, though. The compound has also been found to have the following effects on the male reproductive system:

• Slightly elevated testosterone levels
• Improved sperm quality
• Protection of testicular function from alcohol consumption

Curcumin Makes Fat Cells Kill Themselves​

Liang-Yi Wu, et al. (2019) showed that curcumin causes fat cells to undergo apoptosis, which is the term for cellular suicide. When apoptosis begins, the surface of the cell starts to bubble and churn, almost like it's boiling. Then, its nucleus starts to fragment. Eventually, the cell tears asunder, spilling its disassociated guts into the interstitial sea of fluid.

A cellular clean-up crew of phagocytes, one accustomed to wet work, arrives to dispose of the corpses, and there's no investigation because they know curcumin was to blame.

This new curcumin research also shows that curcumin prevents pre-adipocytes – baby fat cells – from developing into full-blown adipocytes. These baby fat cells are urged to go into a different profession... or else.

The Taiwanese researchers who conducted this study already knew from a few recent studies that curcumin supplementation reduces a high-fat diet-induced increase in body fat, but they didn't know the mechanism behind curcumin's hate for plumpness.

To figure it out, they exposed mouse pre-adipocytes to varying concentrations of curcumin for varying time frames. They also exposed pre-adipocytes to a low dosage of curcumin for an hour, followed by a 24-hour incubation period.

The high doses of curcumin caused fat cells to commit the aforementioned apoptosis, while the lower doses prevented the maturation of the baby fat cells. They suspect it had to do with curcumin's modulating effects on something known as the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway, which helps determine the fate of cells.

The authors seemed pretty jazzed, writing:

"Curcumin supplementation could be an effective strategy for treating or preventing the development of obesity by a curcumin-induced reduction in the number of pre-adipocytes and the fat mass of adipocytes."

Curcumin Keeps Pounds Off After Dieting​

Research by Teich, et al. (2017) suggests that taking curcumin after you finish a calorie-restriction diet might limit the amount of fat you regain, even if, for some reason, you stop training, too.

The scientists took rats and split them into two groups. One group was on a calorie-restriction diet and had 24-hour access to one of those iconic rat running wheels. The other group didn't have a wheel, and they got to eat as much as they wanted.

After 3 weeks, the trained rats were divided into three groups. The first group was terminated immediately, and the second and third groups had their running wheels locked and were reintroduced to ad libitum (as much as they wanted) feeding for a week.

Additionally, one of these groups received a daily gavage (force-feeding) of curcumin (200 mg/kg), while the other group received a placebo.

When the rats no longer got to exercise and were given as much as they wanted to eat, body mass naturally increased, accompanied by a 9 to 14-fold increase in epididymal, perineal, and inguinal adipose tissue. In other words, they got tubby in all the places one doesn't want to get tubby in, but all these increases were attenuated in the curcumin group.

Furthermore, the curcumin-fed rats had a much more favorable insulin curve and much lower C-reactive protein (a measure of inflammation) than the non-curcumin group.

The researchers concluded: "Curcumin has a protective effect against weight regain and impaired metabolic control following a successful period of weight loss through diet and exercise, perhaps via inhibition of glucocorticoid action and inflammation."

Curcumin has Anti-Viral Activity​

Curcumin has a pretty good history of disrupting viral infection through multiple mechanisms 11. It's been shown to directly target viral proteins and block the entry of viruses into the cell, in addition to impeding replication and budding (how viruses exit the cell to infect others).

Curcumin can also protect the lungs after viral infection, attenuating general inflammation, lung edema, hemorrhaging, neutrophil infiltration, and alveolar thickening. It can also ameliorate the pulmonary fibrosis (scarring of the lungs) that often follows such infections.

Curcumin is a Longevity Supplement​

In 2016, 47 cyclists displayed an increased reduction of endogenous glycation end-products (proteins or fats that are biomarkers of aging and degenerative diseases) and malondialdehyde (a marker for oxidative stress) after taking curcumin.

Additionally, a Japanese study found that curcumin reduced serum concentrations of "derivatives of reactive oxygen metabolites" and thioredoxin-1 (an antioxidant enzyme), along with higher values of antioxidant potential after aerobic exercise (2013).

We've established that curcumin has antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, chemoprotective, and anti-neurodegenerative capabilities, so, obviously, it has great promise as an anti-aging and longevity-enhancing supplement.

While it's impractical to do curcumin studies (or any other compound, for that matter) on the longevity of humans, scientists have performed such studies on certain species of short-lived roundworms, fruit flies, yeasts, and mice. Curcumin treatment led to increased superoxide dismutase (a powerful antioxidant) activity, along with reduced levels of malonadialdehyde (a marker for oxidative stress) and lipofuscin (an aging or "wear and tear" pigment), higher levels of each which are indicative of the aging process in general.

Curcumin has also been found to modulate various "signaling pathways" such as IIS, mTOR, PKA, and FOXO, each of which influence longevity.

Curcumin's Positive Effects on Stress and Strain​

In a 2018 study, curcumin users had lower absolute increases of internal temperature, lower average body temperatures, lower heart rates, and ranked lower on the Physiological Strain index during aerobic exercise than the placebo group.

Another study conducted in 2015 found that curcumin users weathered training-induced psychological stress better than placebo and control groups.

Curcumin Has Positive Effects on IBS​

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a multi-factorial condition, but the result is an exacerbated inflammatory response. Since it comes at you from so many different angles, it's historically difficult to treat.

However, curcumin has shown a lot of promise as a viable therapeutic agent in the fight against IBS. Clinical trials using different dosages of the polyphenol, e.g., 550 mg./three times a day for a month and 1 gram/twice daily for 6 months, have led to positive results.

The problem, however, has always been its poor oral bioavailability and equally poor absorption. However, recent developments have likely made those issues a thing of the past.


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Curcumin's Problem and How It Was Fixed​

The maddening problem with curcumin has always been its poor bioavailability, even when piperine is added to it. There are a number of hurdles curcumin has to overcome before it can work its magic. Here are a few of them:

• Poor absorption
• Low water solubility
• Quick metabolism
• Chemical instability
• Fast systemic elimination

Various technologies arose through the years that made dents into curcumin's absorption stubbornness, but none with as much success as what happened at UCLA. Neuroscientists at the university figured out how to make what they call a "solid lipid curcumin particle."

In simplest terms, the process consists of gently coating curcumin with lipids (DHA, lecithin, and stearic acid) to form a "micelle." To conceptualize this, just think of a ball of curcumin molecules surrounded by lipid molecules, kind of like a microscopic blackberry, only rounder and gold colored.

These curcumin micelles survive the acidic pH of the stomach. They laugh in the face of glucuronidation and scoot into the small intestine long before the bacteria in the colon even wake up for breakfast. The result is a 95 to 100-fold (or more) increase in curcumin blood concentration, along with a half-life that's extraordinarily long. You can take a single 400 mg. capsule and rest easy because it keeps working for 24 hours.

And none of this is just theoretical, either. The solid lipid curcumin particle technology was thoroughly tested using humans. The results were compiled, analyzed, written up, and submitted for peer review, culminating in a patent.

This solid lipid curcumin technology has only recently started to trickle into the open market, and Biotest is among the first to incorporate it. This new curcumin product is called Micellar Curcumin.

The invention has over 50 human, pre-clinical, and review papers in publication to support its efficacy, many of which are referenced and synopsized below.

Given this new delivery system and given the considerable evidence of curcumin's considerable healing and restorative powers, I recommend that this multi-talented polyphenol be considered an essential supplement, crucial to achieve and maintain optimal health.