As a nutrition coach, personal trainer, and all-around health and wellness obsessive, curcumin is probably the supplement I’ve recommended more times than any other to friends, family members, colleagues, and clients. I’ve taken a daily dose of curcumin, a natural anti-inflammatory active found in turmeric, for over three years and it’s as important to me as my daily multivitamin. As someone who trains five or six times a week, a large volume of that being running, curcumin helps with joint health, reduces muscle soreness, and aids recovery. If I don’t take it for a few days I start to feel soreness around my knees. I also find it beneficial for gut issues because of its anti-inflammatory properties.
I have recommended it for complaints about back and shoulder pain, swollen feet, colds, bruising, and more generally as a preventative aid for the inevitable inflammation that comes with age. Research on curcumin has also shown that its antioxidant properties can help reduce acne and support a healthy aging process, as well as ease inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and eye disorders. It can help with blood vessel function and brain health while working to tackle diabetes, cognitive decline, mood swings, and depression. Clinical trials have shown that it can play a part in killing cancer cells, so much so that it is promoted as a holistic cancer treatment.
So, what is curcumin?
If this list of benefits sounds familiar, that’s because curcumin provides the same gains as turmeric, its better-known host spice. “Curcumin is the active ingredient found in turmeric—and curcuminoids are the anti-inflammatory components,” explains sports nutritionist Ben Coomber. This is the bright orange/yellow compound found in the turmeric root, and it’s the part that offers the most benefits. By extracting it for use in supplements, you strip out the turmeric that offers fewer health gains.
“Research indicates you need 1500 milligrams of active curcumin per day to improve joint pain, osteoarthritis, and depression,” adds Coomber. “So, if you’re taking 1500 milligrams of turmeric, it’s very unlikely you’re getting anywhere close to the dose recommended by research. Turmeric’s still got curcumin in it, you’ve just got to take a lot of it.” In fact, turmeric only contains between two and six percent curcumin.
Nonetheless, turmeric remains the headline grabber, mainly due to marketing, easier accessibility to the spice itself, and the fact it’s a lot cheaper for supplement companies to produce than using expensive extraction processes, something Coomber, who is also the founder of UK-based Awesome Supplements, found early on. “Curcumin is a premium product. You can buy turmeric for around $12, but we spend that just to make our product.” Despite the costs and risks, Coomber was an early adopter and uses curcumin daily to help him recover from exercise and an inflamed elbow joint. He also added curcumin to the brand’s offering around four years ago. “The data around curcumin was just too strong to ignore, and the number of people that are now suffering with joint-based conditions and the proliferation of depression, two of the major things that curcumin can help with, prompted us to move into that space,” he explains.
