Pure Turmeric Extract

Biohacker Review: __

As a man with flavor, I've long had a hankering for spicy foods - in my younger, more reckless years, I would heap eye-watering spices on the Mexican food I devoured (I would learn that this was seriously no bueno for a Northern-European-derived-gringo like myself when I read The Plant Paradox, thanks to all those lectins!)

I seldom enjoy Mexican food now but like my broccoli lookin' like this...

Scientific overview

Let's take a look at the recent science published on Turmeric and Curcumin as natural medicine, in this young(ish) decade alone there have been over 600 papers published on Pubmed, including 54 human clinical trials.

You've probably heard that it is a gamechanger for arthritis. Good news for the suffering from a recent placebo-controlled study of 101 Australians with knee Osteoarthritis who were given 500 milligrams of a Curcumin extract twice a day

Curcumin was also associated with greater improvements (p ≤ 0.05) than the placebo on the timed up-and-go test, 6-min walk test, and the JOA total score; but not the 30-s chair stand test or 40-m fast-paced walk test. Pain-relieving medication was reduced in 37% of participants on curcumin compared to 13% on placebo. The findings support the potential efficacy of curcumin for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee...

Although, I wouldn't call this yellow stuff "the cure" for Osteoarthritis, but I believe that liberation from pain and restoration of marvelous mobility is possible with a Biohacking stack that would include Collagen, a chelating detox protocol, and frequency medicine modalities like red light therapy and PEMF.

A recent Chinese meta-analysis looks more broadly at curcumin versus five different forms of arthritis, considering the data from 29 randomized controlled trials, totaling nearly 2400 human participants. The extract was found to be generally helpful in improving symptoms and inflammation levels in people with arthritis in dosages between 120 to 1500 milligrams. I also learned that some phase I and II clinical trials administer curcumin in dosages as high as 8 grams daily without adverse effects.

A 2020 Italian meta-analysis looked at Curcumin for depression, evaluating the studies and papers on the topic, totaling hundreds of human participants.

We found an overall significant effect of curcumin on [depressive and anxiety] symptoms, with large effect size. Curcumin was generally well-tolerated by patients. Our findings suggest that curcumin, if added to standard care, might improve depressive and anxiety symptoms in people with depression.

However, the authors are hesitant in championing it for the depressed due to the small sample sizes in the published studies.

Anecdotally, around social media, you can find a lot of people praising it as a game-changer for depression and anxiety, like Shea Whitney here. But it would be far from the top depression Biohacks I'd recommend, well after no fap (for men), exercise, meditation, brain training, and experiential Nootropics like Piracetam.

What's not a matter of contention are its fantastic properties as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. A 2023 Iranian meta-analysis crunched the numbers of 66 randomized controlled trials

Inflammation and oxidative stress are mediators of a plethora of chronic and/or metabolic diseases [1]. It is now evident that a low-state pro-inflammatory state, especially caused by accumulation of adipose tissue in obesity, might explain a lot of downstream consequences associated with obesity [2]; such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), type 2 diabetes mellitus, liver disorders, and cancer... In this systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature, we observed that collectively curcumin supplementation positively impacts markers of systematic inflammation and oxidative stress, such as CRP, TNF-α, IL-6, TAC, MDA, and SOD. However, we found that curcumin could not significantly improve IL-1β levels...

As a Biohacker, you're probably aware that inflammation is near the cause of many deleterious health conditions that make life suck. Getting some quality Turmeric in your diet regularly is an efficacious way of going on the offensive against them.

Those at risk for diabetes would be wise to get some of the yellow stuff on their plates daily, from a 2023 Iranian meta-analysis that crunched the data of 59 randomized, placebo-controlled trials

Our findings suggested that turmeric/curcumin supplementation was significantly effective in improving [fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin levels, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)]... Our results indicate that turmeric/curcumin supplementation can be considered as a complementary method in the management of disturbed glycemia. 

More good news, it's an autoimmune disease hack for Psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, and rheumatoid arthritis according to a 2022 meta-analysis that crunched the data of 31 Randomized Controlled Trials. These trials evaluated it as an intervention for 10 different kinds of autoimmune diseases, and the meta-analysis narrowed it down to three.

Treatment for autoimmune diseases depends on the type and severity of the condition. Commonly used drugs include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), biologically targeted drugs... and traditional immune-suppressing drugs... However, these drugs not only suppress the autoimmune response, but also inhibit the body’s ability to defend itself against foreign invasion, including infection-causing microorganisms and malignant tumor cells... Therefore, the treatment of autoimmune diseases is still a difficult problem, and researchers are increasingly interested in the treatment of autoimmune diseases with natural products...

Curcuma longa L. has been used as a traditional Chinese medicinal material mainly as turmeric for thousands of years in China... Numerous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown that curcumin can alleviate many human diseases, including autoimmune diseases, with the main mechanisms in regulating immunity and inhibiting inflammation. Also, curcumin is administered with few side effects, making it a potential alternative to NSAIDs and other drugs with known severe side effects...

Powdered vs capsuled

It's pretty affordable from PureBulk.com, both in powdered and capsuled form. Curcumin is poorly absorbed when taken alone, so I take it with freshly ground black pepper on my eggs (the best source of protein according to Dr. John Jaquish's book Weight Lifting Is a Waste of Time) or meat dishes. On days when nothing in my diet went well with the orange stuff, I would sip Turmeric Tea (aka Golden Milk) comprised of

500 milligrams of 95% Curcumin Natural Turmeric Extract
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper to enhance the absorption of curcumin
Warm goat or almond milk

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Would you like some LEAD with your Turmeric?

Bad news: almost all that tasty Turmeric you can find on store shelves (even at organic grocers) or served at fancy Indian restaurants is contaminated with the toxic heavy metal lead. From Food Forensics by Mike Adams, operator of an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited food spectrometry lab

Be careful with consuming turmeric to acquire more curcumin, however. Nearly all common sources of turmeric are contaminated with lead and sourced from India. In my lab testing, it is rare to find a turmeric raw material that isn’t significantly contaminated with lead. The only way to find low-lead turmeric is to ask the manufacturer or retailer for scientific lead test results on that particular batch. Sadly, virtually no one in the industry tests their turmeric for lead. (pp. 105-106)

Yikes! But good news, PureBulk.com's Turmeric is...

Purity-verified with COA

The final thing I like about this Curcumin is that it's verified as pure with a certificate of analysis from an accredited American lab. This evidence of purity is something you should demand that your local supplement shop or the sellers on Amazon likely can't provide.

Turmeric is a spice used to add flavor and color to many dishes, particularly in Indian cuisine. It belongs to the ginger family and is what gives curry its yellow color. Turmeric contains several curcuminoid compounds, with curcumin being the most bioactive. Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant with notable anti-inflammatory effects. It has historical roots in Ayurveda and continues to garner interest for its many beneficial properties.