Kandhamal Turmeric Capsules

A randomized controlled trial in 100 patients with metabolic syndrome receiving standard care added 1,000 mg/day of curcuminoids (C3 Complex®) with piperine (100:1) or placebo for 8 weeks. Curcuminoids lowered LDL-C, non-HDL-C, total cholesterol, triglycerides and Lp(a) and raised HDL-C more than placebo.

A pilot crossover study in human volunteers, with a two-week washout, compared blood curcumin after BCM-95®CG (Biocurcumax) with normal curcumin and with a curcumin-lecithin-piperine formula. The relative bioavailability of BCM-95® was about 6.93-fold that of normal curcumin and about 6.3-fold that of the curcumin-lecithin-piperine formula.

A randomized, open-label crossover study in 30 healthy adults aged 18-45 compared a single 1,500 mg dose of standard turmeric extract with four other turmeric formulations. After dose normalization, total-curcuminoid exposure for the standard extract was 3.7 ng·h/mL/mg, versus 136 for a micellar preparation and 72.9 for a dried colloidal suspension. The piperine-curcuminoid combination performed similarly to the standard extract.

A randomized, double-blind crossover study in 12 healthy adults gave an equivalent 400 mg dose of unformulated 95% curcumin powder (323 mg curcumin) or a novel micromicellar formulation. Free curcumin peaked at 0.3 ng/mL with the 95% powder versus 2 ng/mL with the micellar product, whose absorbed curcumin per mg was 522 times higher.

An independent crossover study in 9 healthy men tested three curcumin formulations, including a high dose with and without piperine. Plasma unconjugated curcumin stayed below 2 nM in most cases, with similar results with and without piperine. The authors conclude that bioavailability claims should be based on unconjugated curcumin.