The Basics of Curcumin

On this site I plan to tell the story of curcumin and help people understand what it can do, and what it probably cannot do. While there are encouraging findings on curcumin in human trials, (it repeatedly reverses Alzheimer's disease in animal models, and has a great safety profile) its benefits for people have not been conclusive, for several reasons difficult for many people to understand. And since everyone is out marketing their various snake oil form of curcumin/turmeric, the really important info, such as what to take, how much is the dosage, and when to take it is not clearly communicated or understood by most of us. But rest assured I will try to clear the haze as a scientist myself. So to start is a basic introduction on curcumin. Look for more to follow in the coming weeks:

Curcumin is the deep yellow, lipid-soluble biphenolic compound from Curcuma longa, or turmeric root. Curcumin is anti-inflammatory and chemopreventive in models of cancer and inflammation, and neuroprotective in models of ischemia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Mostly small clinical studies have explored the use of curcumin for Alzheimer's, various cancers, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and other inflammatory disorders. The clinical literature shows mixed results in subjects with various diseases, and these results are thought to be the result of the poor bioavailability of standard curcumin.[i]

(NOTE: You will find my next paragraph boring unless you are a medical researcher or doctor. Hang in there and wait for my next posts! I think you probably will want to bookmark this blog for when I post some good meat you can bite into!)

Curcumin’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are mainly responsible for its therapeutic effects. Curcumin inhibits the activity of lipoxygenase by binding lipoxygenase itself [ii] or in phosphatidylcholine (PC) bound micelles.[iii] Curcumin is a potent inhibitor of the activation of various transcription factors including nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB), activated protein-1 (AP-1), signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-g (PPAR-g), and b-catenin. [iv] Curcumin exhibits protein-binding properties, inhibits kinase activity, and regulates a number of transcription factors in its regulation of cytokine, inflammatory enzyme, and cell survival protein expression. Curcumin also down-regulates cyclins D1 and E and MDM2, and upregulates p21, p27, and p53.[v] Plasma levels of 0.1µM free curcumin have been determined to be therapeutic and sufficient for in vivo anti-inflammatory, and anti-amyloid effects.[vi] Human bioavailability studies of standard curcumin show few instances of therapeutic levels being achieved, and only at doses as high as 10,000-12,000mg per day.[vii]

[i] Goel A, Kunnumakkara AB, Aggarwal BB. Curcumin as "Curecumin": from kitchen to clinic. Biochem Pharmacol. 2008 Feb 15;75(4):787-809. Epub 2007 Aug 19.
[ii] Skrzypczak-Jankun E, Zhou K, McCabe NP, Selman SH, Jankun J. Structure of curcumin in complex with lipoxygenase and its significance in cancer. Int J Mol Med 2003;12:17–24.
[iii] Began G, Sudharshan E, Appu Rao AG. Inhibition of lipoxygenase 1 by phosphatidylcholine micelles-bound curcumin. Lipids 1998;33:1223–8.
[iv] Shishodia S, Singh T, Chaturvedi MM. Modulation of transcription factors by curcumin. Adv Exp Med Biol 2007;595:127–48.
[v] Aggarwal BB, Bhatt ID, Ichikawa H, Ahn KS, Sethi G, Sandur SK, et al. Curcumin–boiological and medicinal properties. Turmeric: the genus Curcuma. Taylor and Francis Group; 2006. p. 297–368.
[vi] Ono et al, 2004 Curcumin has potent anti-amyloidogenic effects for Alzheimer's beta-amyloid fibrils in vitro. J Neurosci Res. 2004 Mar 15;75(6):742-50.
[vii]Lao CD, Ruffin MTt, Normolle D, Heath DD, Murray SI, Bailey JM, et al. Dose escalation of a curcuminoid formulation. BMC Complement Altern Med 2006;6:10.