Enhanced curcumin shows endothelial benefits for healthy people: Study
“Endothelial function is the ability of blood vessels to effectively balance vasoconstriction and vasodilation in response to stimuli and plays a role in cardiovascular health,” explained Lynda Doyle, VP of Global Marketing, OmniActive. The company funded the research. “FMD is a sensitive measure of endothelial function and serves as a predictive marker of cardiovascular risk. Therefore, improvements in endothelial function as measured by FMD are indicative of a reduced cardiovascular risk.
A daily 200 mg dose of curcuminoids (the form of 1,000 mg CurcuWIN) for eight weeks resulted in a 3% increase in flow-mediation dilation (FMD - a measure of blood flow and vascular health), compared to a placebo.
“Given that every 1% increase in FMD reduces cardiovascular risk by 9-17%, supplementing with CurcuWIN represent a 27-51% decrease in cardiovascular risk in healthy subjects,” said Doyle.
“This study suggests that CurcuWIN has clinical significance because it supports cardiovascular function in healthy individuals.”
The study’s findings were presented at the recent Experimental Biology 2016 Meeting in San Diego, and an abstract is available in The FASEB Journal.
Study details
Interest in curcumin/turmeric has sky rocketed in recent years, making curcumin/turmeric a top seller among herbal dietary supplements.
The science has continued to grow, too, with new studies supporting the potential brain, cardiovascular, joint, and muscle benefits of the ingredient
Researchers from Texas Christian University (USA), Massey University (New Zealand), and Increnovo, LLC (USA) recruited 59 moderately trained men and women with an average age of 21 to participate in their double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled parallel study.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: The first group received placebo, and the other two groups received 50 mg or 200 mg of curcuminoids per day in the form of 250 mg CurcuWIN or 1,000 mg CurcuWIN per day.
Focusing on the participants with lower FMD values at the start of the study (less than 7%), they found that FMD improved by 2.8% in the 200 mg per day of curcuminoids group, compared with a 0.8% decrease in the placebo group. No changes were observed in the lower dose CurcuWIN group.
“These data demonstrate 200mg CUR improves FMD (endothelial function) in healthy young subjects,” wrote the researchers in The FASEB Journal.
“Further research in clinical populations is recommended to clarify the true nature of the effect and potential mechanism(s).”
Source: The FASEB Journal
Volume 30, Number 1, Supplement lb340
“Novel Form of Curcumin Improves Endothelial Function in Young, Healthy Individuals”
Authors: J.M. Oliver, A. Caldwell, E. Sanders, D. Rowlands, M. Purpura, R. Jäger
