[trasia]

Q: Is it true that there are absorption issues with curcumin and that the dosage needs to be high to produce a therapeutic affect?
A: I think there is a bit of a misconception regarding the absorption and dosage of curcumin. Remember, curcumin is a dietary agent, not a drug. It should not be tested as a drug because if dosages reach the drug level, it could become toxic. We have found that curcumin is circulated quickly and is taken up by tissues very quickly. Within 10 to 20 minutes it is already in the brain. When it is tested as a drug, ©2009 Natural Medicine Journal 1(4), December 2009 | Page 2
researchers are looking for curcumin in serum but they don’t find it because it has already been taken up by tissues. In 2008, Marczylo and colleagues demonstrated that very little curcumin was found in plasma and urine in rats after they were given curcumin; however, curcumin was found in intestinal mucosa, as well as liver, kidney, and heart tissue.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins reported that as little as 500 mg of curcumin per day resulted in a 60 percent reduction in polyps, whereas Celebrex at the same dose, which is very cardiotoxic, only resulted in less than 30 percent reduction in polyps as shown by physicians at M.D. Anderson. If bioavailability were an issue, we would not see these results. We have cancer patients at M.D. Anderson who are just on curcumin. They don’t have to be given chemotherapy or radiation, just curcumin alone, and we are witnessing significant results. There are more than 1,000 patients on curcumin right now at M.D. Anderson. Absorption of curcumin is not as big of an issue as people may think