Summary
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What are turmeric and curcumin?
Turmeric is a spice used for its flavor and orange-yellow color. Curcumin is one of several curcuminoid compounds found in turmeric that give turmeric its color and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, making turmeric root powders and extracts useful as dietary supplements (see What It Is).
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What did CL's tests of turmeric find?
As shown in the Results Table below, one supplement was discovered to be contaminated with lead. Amounts of curcuminoids found ranged from just 42 mg to more than 1,000 mg per serving.
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Best turmeric/curcumin supplement?
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Best ground turmeric spice?
We identified a Top Pick Ground Turmeric Spice that provides a significant amount of curcuminoids (33 mg per ½ teaspoon) with less lead than other ground turmeric spices and at lower cost. To get the most from turmeric spice, use it in a meal that contains fats or oils, as well as some black pepper.
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What are the health benefits of turmeric?
Small clinical studies suggest that curcumin from turmeric is helpful for indigestion, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, seasonal allergies and depression. Turmeric/curcumin may improve cognitive function in healthy older adults, but little benefit has been found in people with Alzheimer's disease. Other compounds may also be active (see What It Does).
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How much turmeric should I take?
The typical daily dose ranges from 500 mg to 2,000 mg of curcuminoids (most of which is curcumin) from turmeric extracts (see Dosage), which can often be as much as 95% curcuminoids of which around 80% is curcumin. Be aware that turmeric powder in some supplements provides no more curcumin than turmeric spice, which is only about 3% curcuminoids of which around 50% is curcumin, i.e., half a level teaspoon of turmeric powder (about 1 gram) provides about 35 mg of curcuminoids.
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How do forms of turmeric differ?
Turmeric and curcumin are not well absorbed on their own and it's generally best to take turmeric/curcumin with food containing some fat in order to increase absorption. If you can't always take turmeric or curcumin with food, see Absorption and Bioavailability to learn about bioavailability enhancement with ingredients such as BCM-95, C3 (which includes the black pepper extract piperine, known as Bioperine), CurcuWin, Longvida, Meriva, NovaSol, and Theracurmin.
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Turmeric/curcumin safety and side effects:
Turmeric/curcumin supplements are generally safe, but gastrointestinal side effects may occur with higher doses and they can cause problems for people with gallbladder disease, kidney stones, or those taking blood-thinning or blood-sugar-lowering medications. Rarely, liver injury has been reported. One of the bioavailability enhancers commonly added can potentially affect a number of drugs (see Concerns and Cautions).
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In addition the results of its expert testing, ConsumerLab uses only high-quality, evidence based, information sources. These sources include peer-reviewed studies and information from agencies such as the FDA and USDA, and the National Academy of Medicine. On evolving topics, studies from pre-print journals may be sourced. All of our content is reviewed by medical doctors and doctoral-level experts in pharmacology, toxicology, and chemistry. We continually update and medically review our information to keep our content trustworthy, accurate, and reliable. The following sources are referenced in this article:
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You must be a member to get the full test results along with ConsumerLab.com's recommendations and quality ratings for turmeric and curcumin products. You will get results for 12 turmeric/curcumin supplements selected for testing by ConsumerLab.com as well as for four others that passed the same testing in CL's voluntary Quality Certification Program. You will also get results for three popular turmeric spices used for cooking.
In this comprehensive review of turmeric and curcumin supplements and spices you'll learn:
- Which turmeric and curcumin products failed to pass testing, which passed, and which are CL's Top Picks
- How turmeric and curcumin products compare on curcumin and total curcuminoids, ingredients, quality, and price
- How the bioavailability of curcumin may be enhanced with ingredients such as black pepper extract (Bioperine) and with formulas such as BCM-95, C3, Curcugen, CurcuWin, Longvida, Meriva, NovaSol, and Theracurmin... and how to increase absorption of curcumin even without an enhanced formula!
- Dosing for specific uses of turmeric and curcumin, including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, depression, ulcerative colitis and proctitis, uveitis, psoriasis, blood sugar control, and cancer
- Safety and side effects of turmeric and curcumin supplements
- Cautions and potential drug interactions with turmeric, curcumin and black pepper extract
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