Turmeric is a common spice used in cooking and in traditional medicine for its widespread therapeutic applications. Curcugen is a specially formulated form of curcumin, one of the active components of turmeric. Contained within the Everyday Back Vitamin, Curcugen helps provide anti-inflammatory effects to support your back.
You may have heard of people using turmeric as a cooking spice or in the context of traditional medicine. Turmeric possesses many different phytochemicals, but curcuminoids are what give turmeric its therapeutic activity. Curcuminoids contain a mixture of curcumin and several other compounds, which have anti-inflammatory properties (1).
Curcugen is a turmeric extract that provides 39 times more curcuminoids to the plasma than standard curcumin. It is a clinically studied, food and beverage-friendly, and dispersible extract that can provide potent therapeutic action to any supplement. It is the only oleoresin-sourced turmeric active that is currently marketed, which allows for increased dispersion and absorption power.
Clinical studies have evaluated Curcugen and established its efficacy at doses between 500 to 1,000 mg daily. It has been shown to be effective in conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, exercise-induced pain and inflammation, and osteoarthritis (2).
Curcugen has a 100% turmeric active composition, composed of curcuminoids, turmeric essential oils, turmeric polysaccharides, polar resins, and more. It delivers the same ratio of curcuminoid analogues, which includes bisdemethoxycurcumin (BDMC) and demethoxycurcumin (DMC). It contains a concentration of 50% curcuminoids and is thus not hyper-purified like many other curcuminoid formulations. As such, it closely matches the ratios to what is naturally found in food.
What makes Curcugen stand out is its bioavailability. A clinical pharmacokinetics study in 18 subjects evaluated the absorption of Curcugen, which included 2,000 mg of curcuminoid equivalents. Results showed that it has 39 times enhanced bioavailability of free curcumin and 52.5 times enhanced bioavailability of total curcuminoids versus standard curcumin 95% (2).
Curcugen contains curcumin, which acts on certain molecules and processes that regulate the cell cycle. Curcumin has demonstrated efficacy in cardiovascular diseases, but it may even be helpful in chronic pain conditions. In particular, Curcugen has demonstrated effects in arthritis, and thus may be helpful for similar conditions involving back pain.
Curcugen exhibits therapeutic benefits because it is anti-inflammatory in nature. It acts on inflammatory enzymes and cytokines, including cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Celecoxib (Celebrex), a pain reliever, actually targets this same enzyme, meaning that curcumin might work similarly in minimizing pain (3).
Aside from its anti-inflammatory effects, Curcugen has the following potential benefits:
Supports overall well-being
Acts as an antioxidant
Reduces exercise-induced pain and discomfort
Supports immunity
Several studies have evaluated curcumin, a component of Curcugen, for its anti-inflammatory properties.
Study 1
One eight-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolled 101 adults who had knee osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a condition characterized by structural alterations of the joint, affecting the cartilage, bone, ligaments, and muscles. As such, osteoarthritis is particularly debilitating, leading to pain and decreased quality of life.
In this trial, over one hundred adults were randomized to receive either 500 mg twice daily Curcugen or placebo. Investigators measured its efficacy using knee pain ratings and several osteoarthritis scaling scores.
Results indicated that curcumin resulted in significantly decreased knee pain scores and ratings versus placebo. Additionally, it demonstrated improvements in a six-minute walk test, timed up-and-go test, and other scoring scales. In individuals taking curcumin, use of pain-relief medications was decreased by as much as 37 percent versus only 13 percent in the placebo. These findings indicate the potential of Curcugen in treating osteoarthritis, which has similar pathology to many cases of back pain (4).
Study 2
Another trial assessed the efficacy of curcumin in treating osteoarthritis pain. This study was published in the BMC and enrolled 139 subjects who experienced knee osteoarthritis symptoms, similar to the previous study. Subjects had at least moderately severe symptoms requiring nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) at baseline.
While the previous study compared curcumin versus placebo, this study compares curcumin versus NSAIDs. At enrollment, patients were randomized to get either an NSAID (diclofenac 50 mg twice daily) or curcumin (500 mg three times daily). After completing treatment, the study showed that curcumin alleviated arthritis symptoms to a similar degree as diclofenac. In total, 94 percent of individuals taking curcumin and 97 percent of individuals taking diclofenac had improvements by as much as 50 percent.
Additionally, subjects on curcumin experienced fewer side effects than those on diclofenac. Nobody taking curcumin experienced stomach upset, while 28 percent of those on diclofenac did (5).
Curcugen is available via a wide array of delivery systems, including in powders, gummies, capsules, beverages, lozenges, and more. You can find Curcugen in the Everyday Back Vitamin, which includes 19 other ingredients that target back pain support.
In summary, Curcugen is a potent, bioavailable form of curcumin, which is the active component of turmeric. Because of its high absorption ability, Curcugen has the potential to provide anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects to maybe help with symptoms of back pain. Thus, it is one of the main ingredients found within The Everyday Back Vitamin.
When lower back pain strikes, one of the first questions people ask is whether they should reach for a heating pad or an ice pack. It's a common di...
Walking is one of the most natural movements your body performs, so when it triggers lower back pain, it can be both frustrating and concerning. If...
If you've ever experienced both digestive discomfort and back pain at the same time, you might have wondered whether they're connected. The answer ...
