2 replies to this topic

[LexLux]

There's a few suppliers offering Theracurmin now and at wide range of prices. The list of ingredients which is often confusing -

 

• Integrative therapeutics is the easiest for me to understand, it say 600mg theracurmin per capsule/1.8g per serving. It's the most expensive, but you do get 600mg per capsule and the theracurmin has 27 fold better bio-availability. 
• Swanson says each capsule contains 300mg theracurmin but in brackets "standardized to minimum 8.5% curcumin". What??
• Bioclinic Natural's Theracurmin-Pro says - Curcumin (Curcuma longa) (rhizome)......................................30 mg
  (From 300 mg of Theracurmin™, a reduced particle size, colloidal dispersion of curcumin from turmeric root)??
• Zoi Research Curcuin Theracurmin says - it contains 300mg of theracurmin (Providing a surface controlled colloidal dispersion of 30mg of curcumin from turmeric...)??

What I don't understand is this 300mg theracurmin providing 30mg curcumin. Is the rest of the weight something else? Seems like Integrative therapeutics is the most straightforward. The others are cheaper but I am not sure what I'm getting. Is the Integrative therapeutics one also "Providing a surface controlled colloidal dispersion of 30mg of curcumin from turmeric..."? it doesn't say that on the label. 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Mind, 04 June 2014 - 07:22 AM.

[blood]

All the items you have listed contain the same ingredient, theracurmin, which is ~10% curcumin by weight, and is manufactured by Theravalues in Japan. There is no difference in the raw ingredient, so you might as well choose based on price.

 

- The best value product is Swanson's theracurmin. You get 30 caps containing 300 mg Theracurmin (~30 mg curcumin) for $7.

- the worst value is the Integrative Therapeuitics theracurmin product. Each capsule contains twice the dose found in the Swanson product (so 600 mg theracurmin, providing ~60 mg curcumin per capsule) but the price for 45 caps is $56 (RRP). If you crunch the numbers, the Integrative Therapeutics product is almost 3 times more expensive than the Swanson product (per mg of curcumim).

 

For those who aren't aware, Theracurmin is comprised of very small curcumin particles (~100x smaller than other curcumin products) and emulsifiers. The combination of small particle size curcumin and emulsifiers is what (apparently) leads to greatly improved absorption. 

 

Theracurmin contains a relatively low percentage of curcumin (around 10% by weight).

 

I assume (don't know for sure, haven't bothered checking) that the rest of the product (90% by weight) is emulsifiers for improved absorption.

 

The packaging of the Natural Factors theracurmin product (which contains 300 mg theracurmin, providing approx. 30 mg curcumin) contains the following claim:

 

 

 

Oral absorption (bioavailability) of curcumim has been quite low, until now. With Thereacurmin researchers have shown that blood levels equal to those of 8000 mg regular curcumin powder can be obtained by taking only one capsule of CurcuminRIch [which contains 30 mg curcumin].

 

 

 

 theracurmin.png   443.52KB   1 downloads

 

Not sure what the research is that allows them to make this claim.

 

Edited by blood, 04 June 2014 - 05:41 AM.

[LexLux]

Wouldn't taking this this with bioperine (piperine) yield some insane bioavailability? 

 

In this study financed by the German government it was listed at 27 fold increased bioavailability compared to regular curcumin (or turmeric?). Their micronized powder and liquid micelles made them look wimpy (me wants).

 

Schiborr, C. et al.,The oral bioavailability of curcumin from micronized powder and liquid micelles is significantly increased in healthy humans and differs between sexes. Mol. Nutr. Food Res. (2014), 58: 516?527. 

"The use of adjuvants, such as piperine [28] or turmeric essential oils [37], enhanced curcumin bioavailability (based on AUC) 20- or 7-fold, respectively (Table5). Incorporation of curcumin into lecithin (mainly phosphatidylcholine) liposomes resulted in a ca. fourfold better absorption (based on AUC) than native curcumin in nine healthy volunteers [38]. The bioavailability of a micronized form of crystalline curcumin (Theracurmin, prepared from curcumin, ghatti gum, and water), compared to native curcumin, was 27-fold increased (Table 5) [39]. Thus, our micellar delivery system, which enhanced curcumin bioavailability 185-fold (all subjects), appears to be superior to all hitherto tested formulations, while our micronisate (ninefold increase in AUC) is similarly effective as previously reported strategies (Table 5). Furthermore, the C_max achieved with a single oral dose of 410 mg curcumin from our micellar formulation (women, 3.7 ?mol/L; men 2.6 ?mol/L) are higher than those observed after the intake of 8 g of native curcumin [31].

The present study revealed sex differences with respect to the plasma AUC of curcumin. Women absorbed curcumin to a larger extent (higher C_max and AUC) than men (Table 2). This could be due to the reportedly higher expression and activity of the hepatic drug efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (MDR1) and some isoforms of the glucuronosyltransferases and sulfotransferases, enzymes involved in curcumin biotransformation, in men [47]. However, the differences in bodyweight (Table 1), blood volume, and body fat, which ultimately lead to smaller volumes of distribution in women, may also account for the observed differences [47].

Less than 0.2% of the oral dose of curcumin was excreted with urine within 24 h. Thus, >98.8% of the ingested curcumin was either excreted via the bile and feces or may have been distributed to body tissues where it may potentially exert biological activities.

Free curcumin concentrations as low as 100 nmol/L reversed disease state and reduced IL-1? in Alzheimer's disease models [48, 49], therefore our newly developed curcumin formulations may be suitable vehicles for the delivery of pharmacologically relevant doses of the phytochemical in human intervention trials."