You may have noticed so far that the words "curcumin" and "turmeric" are utilized interchangeably; however, there are significant differences between Curcumin and Turmeric that you need to understand in order to get them right when buying a nutritional supplement.
What is Turmeric?
Turmeric is a plant (Curcuma longa) known by its root that is grinded to turmeric powder and used in the Indian traditional cuisine as a faimous spice with a brilliant deep yellow color and pungent flavor.
There are lots of nutritional supplement based on Turmeric powder and extract.
However, you will find various Turmeric supplements at different doses because Turmeric powder itself is composed of substances that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities that appear to work better together.
Basically, Turmeric root powder it is just the raw material from where Curcumin, the prized concentrated component is extracted from.
So can you simply eat turmeric powder that you put in every meal of the day to get the benefits of its curcumin? Unfortunately, not this way.
What is Curcumin?
Turmeric root contains many active compounds, but only one group, the so called curcuminoids, has the greatest health benefits that have been researched so far.
The group of curcuminoids consists of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin. Out of these Curcumin is the key active ingredient with most health benefits.
Curcumin itself just makes up around 2-5% from turmeric extract, so taking an unstandardized, powdered turmeric product means that very large amounts would be required to get even a small amount of the active ingredient-curcumin.
Moreover, regular Curcumin extracts have a very low rate of absorbtion, usually goes through our bodies without being absorbed in the blood stream hence can't give much of health advantages.
The solution to the bio-availability issue was to develop the standardized extracts with a curcuminoid group of up to 95% that offer high bio-availability and high rate of absorbtion with stable blood concentration even after 8 hours.
Curcuminoids such as BCM-95 can be found in Gardeno products formulation. This unique patented BCM-95 blends high-quality Curcumin with turmeric essential oil that is rich in beneficial turmerones, a component not found in other curcumin products and that significantly enhances its absorption. This pure concentrated ingredient BCM-95 presents significantly improved absorption and potency compared to standard curcumin extracts that are poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract.
What to choose?
There is no such advice on whether it’s best to take curcumin or turmeric supplements.
The only important aspect when choosing a supplement, it’s important to buy a formula that has a high-potency, concentrated standardized active ingredient that has been clinically tested and proven to be well absorbed, with superior bio-availability and potency that guarantees to deliver full health benefits.