So what's the consensus, ditch your longvida and stick with turmeric? Any other studies worth reading?
I would think it might be more the opposite...keep longvida since it's the only one that's been shown to make it into the brain. I just wish it didn't have SSRI-like side effects (at least, for me). However, even with that it's still the best supplement I've taken.
For what it is worth, LongVida(SLCP) curcumin is not the only one shown to increase levels in the brain.
The most cited article I've seen regarding LongVida's improved brain levels is Frautschy, SA “Improving bioavailability of curcumin by solid lipid particle for treatment of Alzheimer's (AD)” at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience , Washington DC, November 15, 2008 which, as far as I can find, was never published. The abstract for the presentation states
... After ingestion of 4-10 gms of Curc, plasma levels in humans are < 25 nM, seemingly too low for efficacy in trials for neurological diseases, including AD. Therefore, we investigated stability, blood levels and brain delivery of a new formulation of solid lipidated curcumin particles (SLCP) designed to stabilize the drug and improve bioavailability in neuroinflammation and Alzheimer's (AD) models. ...
Gavage of 5 mg of SLCP formulation A1 into rats, produced 0.635 μM plasma and 2.149 μM brain curc. Without formulation, gavage of plain Curc powder resulted in negligible plasma an brain levels. We established EC50’s (1-2 μM) for inhibition of LPS-induced iNOS, carbonyls and IL-1β. 2 week feeding of SLCP formulations at 500 ppm to mice resulted in brain levels well in excess of these EC50s 9 hours after drug withdrawal. Higher dosing in chow with the highest potency formulation SLCP-176 produced sustained cancer chemotherapeutic brain levels (>20 μM). Gavage of the same SLCP A1 formulation to old, amyloid-laden, but not young APP transgenic animals for as little as 4 days significantly increased levels of Aβ 40 and 42 in plasma and CSF which was interpreted as amyloid clearance from brain. Chronic Curc feeding to triple TG mice suppressed behavior deficits. Therefore, our SLCP formulations are sufficient to improve brain delivery of oral curcumin and suppress inflammation, oxidative damage and amyloid and should be considered for future clinical trials for AD and possibly other CNS conditions with chronic neuroinflammation or amyloid. Higher potency SCLP-176 can be used at low mg doses as opposed to current multiple gram capsules. ...
Looking at studies for other formulations one can find things like this detailed CurQFen study
The delivery of significant concentrations of biologically active free curcuminoids (curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin) at the target tissues has always been regarded as a major limitation for the efficacy of curcumin. Herein we report the blood–brain-barrier permeability, tissue distribution and enhanced bioavailability of free curcuminoids following the oral administration of a food grade curcumin formulation in comparison with the standardized native curcumin, for the first time. UPLC-ESI-MS/MS analyses of post-administration tissue samples of Wistar rats (200 mg/kg body weight) demonstrated significant (p < 0.001) enhancement in plasma bioavailability (25-fold), in vivo stability and blood–brain-barrier permeability as evidenced from the tissue distribution of free curcuminoids at, (ng/g), brain (343 ± 64.7), heart (391.7 ± 102.5), liver (445.52 ± 83), kidney (240.1 ± 47.2), and spleen (229.72 ± 42.2), with extended elimination half-life of 3 to 4 h. Standard curcumin, on the other hand, detected only 1.4 ± 0.8 ng/g of curcumin in the brain tissues.
→ source (external link)
I wish there was more actual information regarding the SLCP presentation!
5mg seems like a real low dose considering that the SLCP formulation is 80mg curcumin (400mg LongVida). Assuming the A1 formulation matches up with the researched and patented formulation then 5mg would be 1mg curcumin. Most studies I've found use much higher dosages of curcumin than that! For instance, the CurQFen study was 40mg curcumin (100mg CurQFen) with the remainder being fenugreek and the rats in the study are ~210g giving ~16.8mg curcumin.
Interestingly it looks like curcumin formulations (cur-PLGA-NP, 'clicked'-sugar curcumin, curr-PLGA-PEG, etc...) that take advantage of BBB glucose transport may yield higher levels with even lower doses. I'd love to be able to take a low dose of something like MetaCurcumin for general availability and another low dose of a PLGA formulation particularly for the brain...