Curcumin for a Healthy Aging Brain
NUTRITION
Andrew Halpner
If you follow trends in the area of dietary supplements, you probably are aware that curcumin has been a rapidly growing segment of the market. Curcuma longa is a member of the ginger family, and its rhizome is the source of the common spice turmeric, which can be found in most any grocery store. Turmeric has a deep yellow color because of its main constituents, known as curcuminoids. These curcuminoids are hydrophobic polyphenols and aie composed predominantly of three compounds: curcumin (also known as diferuloylmethane), demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin. Turmeric has a long history of use in both food and medicine, dating back more than 4,000 years. The spice adds color and flavor to sauces and curries, and has been used traditionally in many cultures to address a wide variety of ailments. These cultural uses have been supported by the fact that research has revealed numerous physiological effects of curcuminoids in various models, including both in vitro and in
vivo systems. Curcumin has shown antioxidant, antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, and apoptotic effects, to name just a few. In just the first six months of 2015, at least 500 scientific papers have been published that are related to curcumin, the majority of which continue to show exciting potential for this plant-derived compound.
One of the challenges with the use of curcumin, however, is its relatively poor bioavailability and its extensive metabolism once it has entered the body. Due to a number of factors, including its extremely hydrophobic nature, curcumin is poorly absorbed across the intestinal barrier. Different technologies have been developed in an attempt to overcome this limited absorption, including liposomes, micelles, and nanoparticles, as well as phospholipid and other complexes. Most of these delivery forms attempt to increase the miscibility of curcumin with the aqueous environment of the gastrointestinal system, thereby increasing the amount of curcumin that can be delivered across the intestinal membrane. Once curcumin is absorbed, it is also subject to rapid and extensive metabolism and tends to exhibit a short half-life. This may in part be the reason that, in some clinical trials, curcumin supplementation yields low serum or plasma levels, poor tissue distribution, and varying clinical outcomes. Once curcumin is absorbed, both animal and human studies have shown that it undergoes conjugation to glucuronidated and sulfated forms, as well as metabolism to dihydrocurcumin, which in turn is transformed into other curcumin metabolites. A major question that has yet to be fully answered is: Are these conjugated forms biologically active and able to exert the beneficial activity that is observed in the in vitro studies? Reading the curcumin literature can be challenging to interpret because many studies only report the total amount of curcumin that was found after everything in the sample has been converted from its conjugated form to its unconjugated form. Unfortunately, this does not give any indication of the amount of free curcumin that may have been present prior to the conversion.
One particular curcumin delivery system has recently yielded intriguing and exciting results in the area of cognitive health. Longvida® Optimized Curcumin has clinical data supporting both bioavailability based on the principles of free curcumin as well as efficacy based on outcome measures.
The Ohio State Biomarker Study
Curcumin is a key regulator of several steps in the oxidative stress and inflammatory cascade that are correlated with healthy aging, but no studies have actually measured whether curcumin can impact these markers in healthy people. Dr. Robert DiSilvestro, PhD, from the Ohio State University Department of Human Nutrition, selected Longvida® (80 mg curcumin) for a landmark study on aging-related biomarkers in healthy, middle-aged adults due to its low dose, fast action, and high bioavailability. Results from this four-week study showed significant improvements in levels of several biomarkers key for healthy brain aging versus placebo, in-
■ ^Curcumin is a key regulator of several steps in the oxidative stress and inflammatory cascade that are correlated with healthy aging, but no studies have actually measured whether curcumin can impact these markers in healthy people.
eluding an 11% reduction in plasma amyloid-beta. In subjects taking Longvida®, a 72% increase in catalase (p&l;0.01) and an 11% reduction in C-reactive protein from baseline was observed in healthy subjects (DiSilvestro). After 30 days, a significant 14% reduction in plasma triglycerides was observed (p&l;0.05), coinciding with a trend for decrease of plasma cholesterol. After 30 days of Longvida®, a significant 14% reduction in vascular marker sICAM-1 (p&l;0.05) and a 37% increase in endothelial nitric oxide (p&l;0.05) was observed.
and contentedness (p&l;0.05) versus placebo. Excellent safety and tolerability were also reported.
More Evidence
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island found Longvida® significantly decreased nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels at concentrations ranging from 10 to 50 pg/mL, and reduced interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels in a concentration-dependent manner. Transient transfection experiments using a nuclear factor kappa B (NF-KB) reporter construct indicate that SLCPs significantly inhibit the transcriptional activity of NF-KB in macrophages.
At the University of Western Sydney, Longvida® was fed to GFAP-IL6 mice that were used as a model of chronic inflammation, which exhibit deficits in motor coordination and memory to determine potential rescue effects. Longvida® was found to improve motor coordination in the GFAP-IL6 mice and reduced microglial and astroglial activation in the cerebellum, cortex, and the hippocampus. Additionally, neutralization of IL-6 suppressed injury neuroinflammation and neuronal injury. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) has been shown to be a potential mediator of mild TBI-induced pathology.
Groundbreaking Clinical Results from Australia
The Ohio State study led to the selection of Longvida® by researchers at Swinburne University in Melbourne for another randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study. The results were groundbreaking, and the study was one of the first trials to show a nutritional supplement (specifically Longvida® Optimized Curcumin) can improve both acute and chronic cognitive function and mood in healthy older humans (Cox and Scholey). In this study, participants were randomly assigned to Longvida® (400 mg/day) or an identical placebo for 30 days using validated cognitive tests. Supplementation with Longvida® led to significant improvements in measures of working memory and attention, such as serial subtraction (p&l;0.05) and digit vigilance (p&t;0.05) tasks, and improved measures of mental energy (fatigue) (p&l;0.01), alertness (p&t;0.05), calmness (p&l;0.05),
Research contiues to emerge on the health benefits of curcumin. Although curcumin may have previously been thought to be associated predominantly with joint health, science is revealing other areas in which it can have a positive impact, especially brain health. The chiropractic physician should find significant benefits for patients from supplementation with bioavailable curcumin at clinically relevant doses.
References:
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4. Cox and Scholey, Psychobiology, British Psychological Society Annual Meeting, 2013.
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Dr. Andrew Halpner is the vice president of product development at Douglas Laboratories, a manufachirer of innovative, science-based supplements such as the Optimized
Curcumin with Neurophenol™product for healthy brain aging, www.douglaslabs.com
