Almost All Turmeric (Curcumin) Brands are a Scam — Transcript

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1. 0:00Lies and deception, that's all the
2. 0:01majority of turmeric and curcumin
3. 0:03supplements are. Now, to be clear, there
4. 0:04are specific use cases for curcumin
5. 0:06supplements, but they need to be used
6. 0:08for the correct indication in the
7. 0:09correct form and from a good brand. So,
8. 0:11let's get into the scam so that you
9. 0:13don't get ripped off. Now, the first
10. 0:15sign that all was not well came in 2012
11. 0:17with the curcumin results from the
12. 0:18interventions testing program. So,
13. 0:20curcumin is the active ingredient in
14. 0:22turmeric. Much of the excitement about
15. 0:24curcumin had been due to its claimed
16. 0:25anti-inflammatory properties. So,
17. 0:27inflammation is an essential driver of
18. 0:29aging and age-related chronic diseases.
19. 0:31So, the question naturally arose for
20. 0:33whether curcumin might, through its
21. 0:35anti-inflammatory action, help to combat
22. 0:37the aging process and some early animal
23. 0:39trials showed promise. So, they tested
24. 0:41curcumin through the rigorous
25. 0:42interventions testing program. So, that
26. 0:44is the gold standard for assessing
27. 0:46potential interventions that could
28. 0:47extend mice lifespan, but there was no
29. 0:50apparent protective effect seen. To make
30. 0:52matters worse, an influential article in
31. 0:542017 raised serious worries about the
32. 0:56state of curcumin research. So, the
33. 0:58authors argue that it just isn't very
34. 1:00promising as a potential basis for a
35. 1:02medication. It's far too unstable a
36. 1:04molecule. So, half of it is broken down
37. 1:06in just under 5 minutes. Plus, the
38. 1:09natural bioavailability of curcumin is
39. 1:11terrible. Less than 1% of what we
40. 1:13swallow ends up reaching the bloodstream
41. 1:16and it gets even more troubling. But
42. 1:17first, I want to pause here and go back
43. 1:19to clarify something about the
44. 1:20interventions testing program. So, the
45. 1:22failure in that program, it wasn't
46. 1:24because of poor bioavailability because
47. 1:26before running their experiments, the
48. 1:28interventions testing program takes
49. 1:29steps to make sure that the compounds
50. 1:31that they're testing are absorbed
51. 1:32adequately into the bloodstream. So,
52. 1:34curcumin found its way into the blood of
53. 1:36the mice in that initial experiment.
54. 1:38It's just we don't have any measurable
55. 1:39impact after it got there. Now, back to
56. 1:42the 2017 article. So, their main
57. 1:44critique is more troubling. They argue
58. 1:46that many of the positive-looking
59. 1:47results seen in the lab tests are likely
60. 1:50due to false signals, to artifacts. So,
61. 1:52let me explain. When scientists test
62. 1:54whether a compound might work as
63. 1:56intended, they begin by checking its
64. 1:58activity in lab experiments. So,
65. 1:59ideally, if a compound shows activity in
66. 2:01these tests, it means that the compound
67. 2:03is actually interacting with a specific
68. 2:05target, like a disease protein, in a
69. 2:07helpful way. But, curcumin is tricky.
70. 2:09It's known for making lab tests look
71. 2:11positive, even when it's not actually
72. 2:13doing anything useful. So, it's like
73. 2:15getting a false positive on a test. So,
74. 2:17we need to be really cautious about
75. 2:18claims that curcumin has certain effects
76. 2:21in the lab. So, the authors of that 2017
77. 2:23study point out the troubling fact. At
78. 2:25the time that 2017 article was
79. 2:27published, millions of dollars had been
80. 2:29spent on research and thousands of
81. 2:31research papers had been published on
82. 2:33curcumin. And yet, despite all of that
83. 2:34research, it hadn't produced a single
84. 2:36FDA-approved medication for treating any
85. 2:39condition. They conclude with a damning
86. 2:41summary of where we are with curcumin
87. 2:43research. So, they claim that curcumin
88. 2:44has never been shown to conclusively be
89. 2:46effective in a randomized
90. 2:48placebo-controlled trial for any
91. 2:49indication. And now, it's been almost 10
92. 2:52years since that article came out, and
93. 2:53the claim still has a lot to be said for
94. 2:55it. So, there's been continued
95. 2:56disappointment in human clinical trials.
96. 2:58So, for instance, there's Alzheimer's
97. 3:00disease. So, there was early promise in
98. 3:02mouse studies, but clinical trials have
99. 3:04often failed to show any significant
100. 3:05improvement in mental functioning
101. 3:07compared to a placebo. A 2018 analysis,
102. 3:10for instance, found that patients with
103. 3:11Alzheimer's, they actually did worse on
104. 3:13a cognitive test when they were treated
105. 3:15with curcumin. Then, there's Crohn's
106. 3:17disease. So, in one double-blind study,
107. 3:19curcumin was found to be no more
108. 3:20effective than placebo at preventing
109. 3:22disease recurrence following bowel
110. 3:24surgery. And actually, those who were
111. 3:26taking curcumin had higher rates of
112. 3:28severe recurrence. And then, there's
113. 3:30weight loss. So, curcumin might help
114. 3:31with the inflammation generated by fat
115. 3:33tissue. Yet, there's no consistent
116. 3:35evidence that curcumin acts as a major
117. 3:37weight reduction agent. So, it doesn't
118. 3:39appear to cause any clinically
119. 3:40meaningful reductions in body mass index
120. 3:42without changes to diet and exercise.
121. 3:44But, like I mentioned at the start of
122. 3:46the video, there are specific areas
123. 3:48where curcumin may help. But, curcumin
124. 3:50needs to be given for the correct
125. 3:51indication, at the correct dose, in the
126. 3:53correct form. So, specifically for
127. 3:55inflammatory conditions, it may work
128. 3:57sometimes as well as other medications.
129. 4:00So, for instance, there's ulcerative
130. 4:01colitis. So, in clinical research, they
131. 4:04tested the effects of using curcumin
132. 4:05alongside standard medications for this
133. 4:07condition. And the standout result here
134. 4:10is that over 50% of the patients who
135. 4:12took curcumin, they got their colitis to
136. 4:13a state of remission after 4 weeks. None
137. 4:16of those in the placebo group did. And
138. 4:18there's also been positive results for
139. 4:19knee arthritis. So, a meta-analysis
140. 4:22found that curcumin seemed to improve
141. 4:23pain and joint function. And in some
142. 4:25trials, curcumin appeared to be just as
143. 4:27effective as pain medications like
144. 4:29standard nonsteroidal
145. 4:30anti-inflammatories, such as diclofenac
146. 4:32for instance. Next, curcumin has shown
147. 4:34effectiveness in treating chronic
148. 4:36indigestion. In one study, it was
149. 4:38compared to omeprazole. So, omeprazole
150. 4:40is a common medication for managing
151. 4:41indigestion. And curcumin worked just as
152. 4:44well as omeprazole. One final example is
153. 4:47prediabetes. So, in a clinical trial
154. 4:49lasting 9 months, researchers tested
155. 4:51curcumin supplements compared to a
156. 4:52placebo in a group of 240 prediabetics.
157. 4:56And at the end of the treatment period,
158. 4:5816.4% of those in the placebo group had
159. 5:01progressed to type 2 diabetes. But in
160. 5:03sharp contrast, no one in the curcumin
161. 5:05group had done so. They also showed
162. 5:07improvements for relative biomarkers.
163. 5:09But even if curcumin might work for
164. 5:11certain indications, many curcumin
165. 5:13supplements are just utter garbage. So,
166. 5:15here's what you need to watch out for.
167. 5:17So, sometimes brands they play games
168. 5:19with labeling to mislead consumers about
169. 5:21what's actually in the product. So, on
170. 5:23the front, it might say something like
171. 5:24turmeric curcumin 1,650 mg. But to find
172. 5:28out what that actually means, you need
173. 5:30to carefully check the ingredients. So,
174. 5:31often a large chunk of that 1,650 mg
175. 5:34dose is just turmeric root powder. It
176. 5:37contains at most 10% of curcumin, which
177. 5:40is the active ingredient. So, that's a
178. 5:42tiny dose that doesn't match the doses
179. 5:44used in human clinical trials. Then you
180. 5:46might see turmeric extract. So that's a
181. 5:48concentrated form that contains higher
182. 5:50levels of curcumin, but they don't
183. 5:52specify how high. So it might not be
184. 5:54that much higher. So what you want to
185. 5:55see is 95% standardized extract. So that
186. 5:59indicates 95% curcumin. So look at this
187. 6:02example. It's a product on Amazon. So
188. 6:04you can see 1,750 mg is just turmeric
189. 6:08root powder. The supplement yields at
190. 6:10most 150 mg of curcumin, potentially a
191. 6:13lot less. Now, I'm not cherry-picking
192. 6:16products here, either. This is really
193. 6:17common. But have a look at this example
194. 6:19as a way of contrast. And I'm not
195. 6:21affiliated with any of these curcumin
196. 6:22supplements, by the way. So all 2,250 mg
197. 6:26that appears on the front of the label
198. 6:28is actually a 95% standardized turmeric
199. 6:31extract. But even if you get the dose
200. 6:33right, there are potential issues with
201. 6:34ingredient sourcing. So you might think
202. 6:36that you're buying a natural herb, but
203. 6:38manufacturers can take shortcuts, and
204. 6:40they can use synthetic curcumin derived
205. 6:42from fossil fuels. So one organization
206. 6:44tested turmeric supplements and found
207. 6:46evidence of this in four out of 23
208. 6:48brands that they analyzed. But the
209. 6:50biggest issue is bioavailability, and
210. 6:53we've touched on this already.
211. 6:54Naturally, our bodies are able to absorb
212. 6:56very little of the curcumin. So
213. 6:58researchers have developed ways that are
214. 7:00intended to boost bioavailability. So
215. 7:02common ones that you'll see are the
216. 7:03addition of piperine, for instance,
217. 7:05which is a derivative of black pepper.
218. 7:07Now, it's not clear, though, how
219. 7:08successful this has been. So in some
220. 7:10studies, they will show that these kinds
221. 7:12of strategies strongly increase the
222. 7:14amount of curcumin shows up in the
223. 7:15blood. But some other researchers
224. 7:17contend that the form of curcumin that
225. 7:19gets absorbed isn't actually the right
226. 7:20one to have beneficial impacts. As for
227. 7:23piperine specifically, several analyses
228. 7:25have found that it does not, in fact,
229. 7:27increase the amount of curcumin
230. 7:28absorbed. The claim that it does seems
231. 7:31to be based on a single study all the
232. 7:32way back in the '90s. The lesson here is
233. 7:35to take label claims about
234. 7:36bioavailability with a huge grain of
235. 7:38salt. So in many cases, most of the
236. 7:40curcumin is likely just passing straight
237. 7:43through the digestive system without
238. 7:44having any effect. And finally, turmeric
239. 7:47powder as opposed to the extract can
240. 7:49also have issues with lead
241. 7:50contamination. But as we've seen, there
242. 7:52is some clinical evidence of helpful
243. 7:54effects in certain circumstances. So if
244. 7:56you do want to try curcumin, what is the
245. 7:58best way to proceed? Well, of course,
246. 8:00speak with your doctor first because
247. 8:01there have been reports of liver injury
248. 8:03with curcumin supplements, so do tread
249. 8:05carefully. But if you do want to
250. 8:06proceed, here is what I tell my
251. 8:08patients. First, be smart about
252. 8:10selecting the right brand. So
253. 8:11supplements are poorly regulated, and
254. 8:13it's not always clear about what you're
255. 8:14getting in the bottle. Third-party
256. 8:16testing websites like labdoor.com or
257. 8:18consumerlab.com are a great starting
258. 8:20point. Next, be sure to confirm the
259. 8:22amount of curcumin, not just turmeric
260. 8:24root. And it's vital that the product
261. 8:26include some sort of bioavailability
262. 8:28enhancer. But as we saw earlier, it's
263. 8:30not clear that all enhancers work as
264. 8:32advertised. The research here is mixed,
265. 8:34but that same study that cast out on
266. 8:36piperine actually did find that Novasol,
267. 8:38which helps curcumin dissolve in water
268. 8:40more easily, was the most effective way
269. 8:42in raising blood levels. And an analysis
270. 8:44of pre-existing research compared
271. 8:46several enhanced bioavailability
272. 8:48products and also placed Novasol on top.
273. 8:50And again, I'm not affiliated with them
274. 8:52in any way. And finally, some evidence
275. 8:54shows that consuming curcumin alongside
276. 8:56fatty foods can help with absorption.
277. 8:58But do make sure to watch out for
278. 8:59gummies, which tend to be a rip-off. And
279. 9:01what about dosing? Well, in clinical
280. 9:03trials that we've seen tentative
281. 9:04evidence of health benefits, they're
282. 9:06often using dosages in the range of 500
283. 9:08to 2,000 mg of curcumin. But we're not
284. 9:11at a point where we've got standardized
285. 9:12guidance about optimal dosing for
286. 9:14particular health issues yet. We simply
287. 9:16lack the research. So overall, I tend to
288. 9:18encourage my patients not to pursue
289. 9:19curcumin supplements because of the
290. 9:21issues outlined in this video. But if
291. 9:23they do want to try it, then hopefully
292. 9:24by following these strategies around
293. 9:26indication, dose, form, and brand, it
294. 9:29gives my patients a better chance of
295. 9:30successful outcomes. And curcumin isn't
296. 9:33the only supplement where the hype has
297. 9:34gotten way ahead of the science. So make
298. 9:36sure to check out this next video here
299. 9:38to find what recent study data has done
300. 9:40to our understanding of NMN and NAD
301. 9:42supplements for anti-aging.