Curcumin absorption in the body: how can you optimise it?
Neil Goffart
Neil Goffart
Turmeric offers many benefits, but it is curcumin that does almost all the work. As the spice itself is barely bioavailable, discover how to increase the absorption of turmeric.
Vous avez sans doute déjà entendu les louanges promulguées sur les bienfaits du curcuma. Pourtant, cette épice est très mal assimilée par l’organisme. À moins d’en ingurgiter des quantités astronomiques pour profiter de ses propriétés, il est nécessaire de trouver une solution, afin de rendre la racine plus biodisponible. Et si la réponse se trouvait dans certaines formes de la curcumine, le principe actif le plus efficace du curcuma ? Est-ce qu’une technique d’encapsulation hydrosoluble nouvellement utilisée ferait l’affaire ? Découvrez aujourd’hui quel curcuma est réellement bon pour notre santé et comment optimiser son assimilation.
Turmeric, or Curcuma Longa, is a rhizomatous plant from the same family as ginger, the Zingiberaceae. Far from being merely a tasty, colourful spice, it was mainly used several centuries ago as a miracle remedy for everyday ailments such as joint problems and digestive complaints.
What makes turmeric such a beneficial plant are the active molecules it is made of: the curcuminoids. Although they account for only 5% of the root, it is mainly these compounds that give turmeric its taste and pharmacological properties. The best-known active compounds are curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin.
In recent times, this spice has been in the spotlight day after day, singled out as the miracle remedy for countless complaints. Despite the tens of thousands of scientific studies that have highlighted the properties of curcumin, few health claims have so far been confirmed by the European Medicines Agency. So what do we really know about turmeric extracts? What can we conclude about the usefulness of curcumin?
Turmeric is a fat-soluble but hydrophobic root, which means it dissolves well in fats but not in water, unfortunately making it poorly absorbable by our body. In short, the proportion of active compound that actually enters the body and acts on it is very small.
As its bioavailability is insufficient, you would have to take large amounts of it to access its benefits. Consuming too much of this spice, however, can make you unwell, causing stomach ache and indigestion.
One popular technique for absorbing turmeric is to mix it with black pepper. The piperine contained in pepper is said to improve the body's absorption of curcumin. Yet no established study has confirmed this hypothesis, and some even specify that the free curcumin content, the part that delivers its benefits, is not affected by piperine . Moreover, pepper in general, and even more so when combined with turmeric, increases intestinal permeability, causing intestinal disturbances at high doses. So how can the bioavailability of turmeric and its active compounds be increased?
As water solubility speeds up the absorption of curcuminoids and generally increases the total bioavailability of the components, many researchers have looked into a curcumin-based solution that would be soluble in water. The aim is to support its intestinal absorption and benefit from the many effects of curcumin.
In order to cross the intestinal barrier, some companies have chosen to encapsulate curcumin in a cyclodextrin, a bubble formed of eight glucose molecules bonded together. As glucose is hydrophilic, it is absorbed by the intestine without difficulty, along with the active compound of turmeric nestled between its walls. Once the sugar capsule is finally digested, the curcumin is released into the body.
A study published in 2017 in the European Journal of Nutrition[3] compared different curcuminoid formulations, including Nutripure's new Active Curcumine formula, and analysed the bioavailability of curcumin.
Compared with a 95% curcumin extract, with curcumin added to essential oils, piperine, soya phospholipids or solid lipid particles, the encapsulated product is said to be absorbed 39 times better, with its blood curcuminoid concentration falling more slowly. Its absorption peak is reportedly reached within one hour, for an effect lasting twelve hours.
TurmiPure Gold® extract
Let us now turn not to a curcumin coating technology, but to one of its most effective forms.
To date, the turmeric extract best absorbed by the body is said to be TurmiPure Gold®. Developed by the Naturex laboratory in France, the product is organic, 100% natural and highly bioavailable.
The Sante Science website carried out a detailed comparison[4] of several patented turmeric extracts on the market. Here is a summary of the characteristics recorded for TurmiPure Gold® :
The other components of this complex are acacia fibres, sunflower oil and quillaja extract, all in organic form.
The strength of TurmiPure Gold® lies in the origin of its trials. Where most of its competitors test their curcumin in India, where people are used to the spice, the Naturex formulation was tested on French subjects, both in its free form and in conjugated form. All 30 people in the sample had their metabolite analysed. The result, published in the renowned journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, showed that TurmiPure Gold® in free form is 340 times better absorbed than 95% turmeric, making this the most effective product on the market.
Many brands sell curcumin-based supplements, all convinced they have the most bioavailable and most effective product. However, most do not specifically make use of curcumin and settle for capsules or raw turmeric powder.
We have seen together the effectiveness and the recognition of the TurmiPure Gold® formulation. With that in mind, the Lepivits laboratory decided to build on the Naturex study to develop a curcumin food supplement, following in the footsteps of other laboratories that have adopted the complex. 100% natural and free from nanoparticles and additives, it is perfectly absorbed by the body. However, although the benefits of these food supplements are relatively similar, the Lepivits curcumin comes as a 500mg capsule rather than 300mg, for greater effectiveness.
In short, we can state without hesitation that curcumin on its own has far more significant properties than plain turmeric powder, which does not contain a sufficient amount of it. Note that two solutions help optimise the absorption of curcuminoids: the water- and fat-soluble encapsulation used in the French TurmiPure Gold® formula.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Curcumin has a low oral bioavailability, notably because of its poor solubility in water, its limited intestinal absorption and its rapid conversion into metabolites, mainly glucuronidated and sulfated. After ingesting conventional curcumin, only a small amount of unconjugated curcumin generally reaches the bloodstream. This is why various formulation technologies have been developed to improve its dispersion, its stability and its digestive absorption.
Turmeric powder is the dried, ground rhizome of Curcuma longa, in which curcuminoids account for only a fraction of the composition. A standardised extract, by contrast, can concentrate these compounds and state their exact amount. However, a high curcuminoid content alone does not guarantee better absorption: formulation, solubility and digestive fate also play a major role. Pharmacokinetic studies show substantial differences between the technologies used.
Piperine can alter the pharmacokinetics of curcumin, but the results depend heavily on the doses and formulations used. A small historic human trial reported a substantial increase in exposure after 2 g of curcumin combined with 20 mg of piperine. Conversely, more recent comparative studies found no significant advantage for certain curcumin-piperine combinations over a standard extract. Piperine is therefore not the only strategy for improving bioavailability.
Several approaches have been studied: micelles, phytosomes, cyclodextrins, lipid or colloidal matrices and other dispersible systems. In a crossover trial in 12 adults, a micellar formulation and a curcumin–γ-cyclodextrin complex in particular achieved higher plasma exposure than native curcumin. Another study in 12 volunteers reported a relative curcuminoid bioavailability around 39 times higher with a γ-cyclodextrin formulation than with an unformulated extract.
TurmiPure Gold® is a formulation in which the curcuminoids are incorporated into a water-dispersible matrix combining acacia gum, sunflower oil and quillaja extract, among others. The Curcuvits Gold formula contains 300 mg of TurmiPure Gold® per capsule, including 105 mg of turmeric rhizome extract standardised to more than 30% curcuminoids. A crossover trial in 30 adults showed high curcuminoid exposure compared with several other formulations after normalising for the dose administered.
No. Better bioavailability indicates greater exposure of the body to the compound or its metabolites, but does not automatically demonstrate a greater clinical benefit. Pharmacokinetic studies measure blood concentrations, AUC or peak plasma levels, among others; they do not necessarily measure the improvement of a symptom or of a physiological function. This distinction matters particularly when comparing patented extracts: an increase in absorption must not be translated directly into a proportional increase in « effectiveness ».
The current Curcuvits Gold product sheet recommends 1 capsule a day with a glass of water at mealtimes. It advises consulting a doctor or pharmacist if you are taking anticoagulants or other medicines, or in the event of liver or gallbladder disease. The product should not be used during pregnancy or breastfeeding, or by anyone under 18. These precautions take precedence over any general recommendation regarding turmeric.
[1] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/mp700113r
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3579260/
[3] https://www.nutripure.fr/img/cms/Purpura_et_al-2017-European_Journal_of_Nutrition_CAVACURMIN.pdf
[4] https://www.santescience.fr/bien-choisir-curcumine-gelules/
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