Does Curcumin Relieve Inflammation and Joint Pain?

What is Curcumin?

Curcumin is an active component of Turmeric. Turmeric contains a yellow-color substance called Curcumin, which can be used in cosmetics, pigmentation, foods, and mainly for some clinical treatment purposes. 

Turmeric is the plant in the Ginger family. The stems and roots are ground into a powder used in much Asian cooking and the main ingredient in curry.

What is INFLAMMATION?

Inflammation is the body's protective response against infections or injuries. Inflammation mobilized defensive cells to the side of injury, limits the spread of pathogens, eliminates them, and initiates tissue repair.

If your body is a fortress inflammation like a soldier. If you get injured or infected with the disease or toxin or even if you're stressed out mentally, inflammation shows up to the crime scene and takes care of the problem. Inflammation can sometimes be a pain literally but without it, your body would have no way to wave a red flag and tell you that something is wrong.

There are two types of inflammation, Acute, and Chronic.

Acute inflammation

Acute inflammation is the response to sudden body damage, such as cutting your finger. To heal the cut, your body sends inflammatory cells to the injury. These cells start the healing process.

Basically, inflammation shows up and sounds the alarm and your white blood cells rush in like an army.

Chronic inflammation

Chronic inflammation is slightly different, it pops up in different parts of your body persistently. Like an annoying whack-a-mole game. Over time chronic inflammation is like a long long process. It can damage healthy cells and even trigger more serious conditions like tissue death and internal scarring.

Oxidative stress

There's also something called oxidative stress. That's important to unpack when it comes to chronic inflammation. Your body has highly reactive oxygen molecules that are kind of like hyped-up mercenaries. They're ready to fight pathogens whenever deployed. 

You also have antioxidants that function as nurses on the battlefield. They come in to stabilize those reactive oxygen molecules and restore balance. Oxidative stress is what happens that balance is disrupted. 

Basically during an injury or infection, your body activates its immune response and called macrophages to come to the front line. Macrophase cells generate that highly reactive oxygen molecules that are excited to fight the enemy. But too many charged-up mercenaries and too few healers to calm them down can cause chaos on the battlefield in your body. And as usual, when there's a problem like this inflammation shows up.

Does consuming Curcumin relieve INFLAMMATION

There are various animal studies that make known the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin.

There have been many clinical studies displaying that curcumin gives variant health benefits, the major one is its anti-inflammatory properties.

An analysis of ten observable trials supports the benefits of turmeric about 2000 mg/day in the treatment of INFLAMMATION. The patients relate improvement in morning walking abilities and joint pain after 3 months of treatment. It seems that the effects were similar to using non-prescription, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs.

Does it really work?

Curcumin the component of turmeric is generally used in the medical system and is specifically for inflammation. Turmeric contains a very heroic component called curcumin. Which helps to fight Acute inflammation and Chronic inflammation in your body.

This has been scientifically shown to be one of the most powerful anti-inflammatories found in nature and can be effective as ibuprofen for treating joint pain, muscle pain, and arthritis.

Is only Curcumin sufficient for anti-inflammatories?

If you decide to consume turmeric supplements, it is important to check if they also contain the piperine bio-active component of black pepper which helps with the absorption of curcumin. But If piperine is not in the right percentage with curcumin, it will not work properly.

So, don't use any type of nutraceutical products that don't contain the right percentages of curcumin and piperine.

Are there any side effects of high doses of turmeric?

Remember that high doses use of turmeric may reason gastrointestinal problems, similar to the NSAIDs. So, high doses of turmeric every day are not recommended for your body.

Bottom Line 

Recent studies have shown that up to 60% of the nutraceutical products on the market aren’t absorbed the way they are formulated. It’s also important to check the other ingredients in those supplements.

Studies suggest that combining the spice with piperine, found in black pepper, can increase the amount of curcumin that is absorbed by the body by up to 2,000%.

So, before using any type of nutraceutical product ensure that they contain the right percentages of curcumin and piperine.