curcumin from turmeric, rather than supplements

The Curcumin 95 supplement contains 475 mg of curcumin (since the pill weighs 500 mg, and 95% of its mass is curcumin). According to a study that I found, turmeric powders on average are about 3.14% curcumin by mass (link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17044766). So a serving of 5g turmeric would correspond to 5000 mg * 0.0314 = 157 mg of curcumin. A 5g serving is quite manageable...it's a couple table spoons. Last night I mixed this amount of turmeric with some water, and sprinkled in a little bit of black pepper for the piperine, which enhances the bioavailability of the curcumin. I downed the solution. It tasted disgusting, but it's a small price to pay if it means keeping my hair. Doing this three times would correspond to a daily intake of 471 mg of curcumin. I bet the absorption of curcumin from turmeric powder is much better than the absorption from the pill supplement. Not to mention what other beneficial compounds and phytochemicals are present in the actual turmeric powder.

What do you fools think?

mphatesmpb wrote:The Curcumin 95 supplement contains 475 mg of curcumin (since the pill weighs 500 mg, and 95% of its mass is curcumin). According to a study that I found, turmeric powders on average are about 3.14% curcumin by mass (link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17044766). So a serving of 5g turmeric would correspond to 5000 mg * 0.0314 = 157 mg of curcumin. A 5g serving is quite manageable...it's a couple table spoons. Last night I mixed this amount of turmeric with some water, and sprinkled in a little bit of black pepper for the piperine, which enhances the bioavailability of the curcumin. I downed the solution. It tasted disgusting, but it's a small price to pay if it means keeping my hair. Doing this three times would correspond to a daily intake of 471 mg of curcumin. I bet the absorption of curcumin from turmeric powder is much better than the absorption from the pill supplement. Not to mention what other beneficial compounds and phytochemicals are present in the actual turmeric powder.

What do you fools think?

Well I take the pills for the sake of convenience, however I don't disagree with your basic reasoning of also getting the other beneficial compunds.

I would try taking resveratrol 100mg to 200mg a day as well, as the curcumin/resveratrol combo has really helped my hair.

yes pills are more convenient and I'm sure there could be large variation in the curcumin content, but if you want to add more absorption put the turmeric in some oil like raw olive, or coconut. Curcumin is fat soluble so even if you take pills having some fat along with it is not a bad idea like raw milk,or along with a fatty meal.

Balthier wrote:yes pills are more convenient and I'm sure there could be large variation in the curcumin content, but if you want to add more absorption put the turmeric in some oil like raw olive, or coconut. Curcumin is fat soluble so even if you take pills having some fat along with it is not a bad idea like raw milk,or along with a fatty meal.

Balthier,

Can you direct me to some scientific literature which indicates that mixing turmeric with oil will improve the bioavailability of curcumin? Since curcumin is fat-soluble as you said, maybe we could improve its bioavailability by heating up the turmeric-oil solution for a while. Just like the process involved in making cannabutter (used in marijuana food), which is based on the idea that THC is fat-soluble.

it's all over google just type curcumin,or turmeric + fat soluble here's one though http://www.soyouwanna.com/turmeric-curcumin-1517.html
heating would probably destroy the good stuff and a somewhat short soak is all that's needed to turn oil completely brownish yellow. Here's a recipe for butter+turmeric towards the bottom
http://www.alive.com/1917a5a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=89 and there's a product called nutmeric already almond butter+turmeric+black pepper
http://spreadhealthfoods.foodzie.com/nutmeric-turmeric-and-almond-spread-single-jar.html

I didn't know this, but it's on youtube too I actually don't think I would like it though because of the pepper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUoBXly03ZA