Inflammation Super Hero: Curcumin
The plant world is full of truly miraculous, anti-inflammatory remedies! In fact, most pharmaceuticals are synthetic versions (or standardized extracts) of a root or a leaf or a flower bud. Over the years, I’ve learned that many of us assume drugs are powerful and effective, while herbs or plants are more natural but also weaker, less effective alternatives. But did you know that aspirin was originally derived from willow tree leaves? Digoxin, an important drug for heart conditions, comes from foxglove. Taxol, an anti-tumor medication, is derived from the Pacific yew tree.
Plant components are often valuable to humans because plants too must have powerful immune systems to fight off infections and toxins for survival. When we think of what is “good for us” in plants, we tend to focus only on a small handful of “vitamins and minerals”. However, most plants have (literally) hundreds or even thousands of separate, valuable nutrients. Many of these are what we call phytochemicals – molecules such as lycopene from tomatoes, myristicin in parsley, phenols from green tea, isoflavones from soy, proanthocyanidins from cranberries, sulfides and allicin in garlic, chlorophyll in cilantro, or carotenoids from carrots. When we eat these foods or when we use their extracts medicinally, we too are benefiting from a plant’s immune system.
While I use a wide variety of tools in my practice, the herbal extract I recommend most often for inflammation is curcumin. Want to understand what inflammation really is? Check out this month’s subscriber question below. An ancient spice, turmeric is the bright gold ingredient found in many asian dishes, ubiquitous in curries. If you’ve cooked with it, you’ve experienced the permanent yellow stain it gives anything plastic or wood. Curcumin is a polyphenol and the component of turmeric responsible for its rich color. It has been used in natural healing for millenia, especially in India and Ayurvedic medicine.
Curcumin has been studied extensively and found to be a powerful antioxidant, antimicrobial, brain protectant, detoxification agent, and anti-inflammatory. Research in the past decade has even focused highly on its anti-cancer properties. The best part is that it’s extremely safe. My clients have used curcumin to reduce inflammation from arthritis, lower back pain, tennis elbow, joint replacement, cancer, infections, auto-immune diseases (e.g. multiple sclerosis), Crohns disease, Alzheimers, diabetes, and depression. Even if you struggle with just occasional achiness after a rough week or an aggressive workout, curcumin is a great choice.
But there’s a catch. Not all herb products are the same. To be effective, extracts must be pure and potent. Curcumin is also notorious for being poorly absorbed in the blood stream; it is largely broken down in the body via digestion. To ensure maximum efficacy, I recommend a specific formulation of curcumin that is a phytosome. That is, the curcumin is bound to a lipid (fat) molecule. This allows it to be absorbed into our lymph system for greater distribution to our body-wide blood supply. It’s called Mervia (a trade name, not a brand name, so it’s available from many suppliers). In fact, research shows that the bio-availability of Meriva is about 10 times that of plain curcumin. Yes, it costs a little more, but in my experience, it’s definitely worth it. It is easy to find on-line from a variety of outlets.
Ready to start feeling better?! For best effect, take curcumin regularly, or before and after you engage in an activity that you know might bother your body. Certainly you can start with any type of curcumin, even including it in your diet will help (try this month’s recipe!). But I highly recommend Meriva. Start with one 500mg capsule twice a day and see how you feel after a week or two. You may increase to two or three Meriva twice a day if necessary. Curcumin can have a natural blood thinning effect, so be careful with dosage if you’re taking Coumadin or daily aspirin. Curcumin often keeps the pains away and can help you with a wide variety of inflammatory symptoms long-term. Don’t settle for feeling poorly!
