What You Didn’t Know
About Curcumin
By: John King
Curcumin is the most predominant polyphenol present in the spice Turmeric. It has been used to treat a variety of illnesses for over 4,000 years. Most who use curcumin do so for it’s powerful anti-inflammatory properties. But new research has shown that curcumin has far reaching benefits beyond just reducing inflammation.
New studies have revealed that curcumin protects the brain from the damaging effects of stress, is useful for the management of anxiety as well as depression and may aid in weight loss.
Chronic stress is a major factor in developing anxiety, depression and obesity. Stress promotes the release of cortisol, the body’s stress response hormone. Cortisol has many useful functions when released in a true “fight or flight” emergency. When released in a true emergency, cortisol readies us for battle by raising blood pressure, redirecting blood flow away from essential organs to muscles, slowing the immune and digestive systems and liberating sugar into the bloodstream to give us energy to fight. These are all very valuable functions in a true “fight or flight” situation. But chronically elevated cortisol levels due to everyday stress leads to the destruction of brain cells, hypertension, obesity, anxiety, depression, insomnia, suppressed endogenous antioxidant production, impaired immune function and cognitive dysfunction. Curcumin has been shown in studies to prevent and actually reverse damage to the body caused by chronic stress.
Anxiety and depression are well known consequences of chronic stress. Curcumin helps to alleviate these symptoms in several ways.
When given to rats, researchers found that curcumin normalizes the HPA Axis, reducing elevated cortisol levels and restoring normal adrenal function. The normalization of the HPA Axis is key to healing from chronic stress as our bodies tend to become stuck in the “fight or flight” response perpetuating a cascade of destructive processes within the body.
By lowering cortisol, curcumin helps to restore endogenous antioxidant production protecting the brain from dangerous stress-induced free radicals. Over time, the oxidative damage caused by free radicals causes a chronic low level inflammation in the brain leading to cellular dysfunction and premature cell death. In addition, curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant in and of itself.
A 2007 study showed that curcumin reverses impaired hippocampal neurogenesis enabling the brain to regenerate damaged neurons. The same study showed that curcumin increases serotonin receptor 1A mRNA and brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression, stimulating the production of new brain cells.
Curcumin has been shown to have a positive effect on anxiety and depression by boosting serotonin and dopamine levels as well as preventing their breakdown. In fact, these effects are vigorous enough to enable some to lower their doses of antidepressant and or anxiety medication. Two seperate 2015 studies demonstrated that supplementing with curcumin greatly enhanced the efficacy of antidepressant treatment for Major Depressive Disorder. This could be a big plus for those who are troubled by side effects from their antidepressant medication.
Most studies used 500mg of a standardized curcumin preparation twice per day, although doses of up to several grams per day are commonly used. For optimal absorption take standardized curcumin with a fat-containing meal. Although curcumin is present in the herb Turmeric, it is best to use a standardized preparation. For some, curcumin can cause stomach upset and be difficult to absorb which is why it is taken with meals. Hence, researchers developed a curcumin phytosome which is a molecule of curcumin bound to a phospholipid, usually phosphatidylcholine. Creating a phytosome provides for superior absorption and has shown greater efficacy when using curcumin for treating anxiety and depression. Curcumin phytosome can be taken at anytime without regard to meals.
So if you want to reduce the effects of chronic stress, improve feelings of wellbeing and protect your brain from inflammation, give curcumin a try. You can click the hyperlinks above to see all the healing benefits of curcumin and to receive my personal product recommendations. If you have any questions regarding the proper use of curcumin or it’s benefits feel free to contact me. As always, consult with your physician before reducing or discontinuing any psychiatric medication.
Best in Health,
John