Today I thought I would gather together a few more of my blog reader suggestions (if I have forgotten anyone, please let me know!), and also show a few photos documenting how I am currently taking curcumin (see explanation below). The curcumin powder here depicted (see photo on the left) is the C3 Complex curcumin, without bioperine, that I order from the Italian distributor for the Sabinsa Corporation. I keep it in a hermetically sealed ceramic jar so no air and light will make it deteriorate.

A blog reader with a plasmacytoma (diagnosed three years ago) is currently stable. He takes curcumin together with a product called Barley Green, which, from what I gathered on Internet, is composed mainly of organic barley grass containing active enzymes, minerals, B-vitamins, amino acids, essential fatty acids, carotenoids, bioflavonoids, and chlorophyll. This mix allegedly gives a boost to the immune system and reduces inflammation. I have never tried it, but I HAVE been curious to try wheatgrass, which is not readily available here in Italy, though. I love what this blog reader says about myeloma cells, i.e., that they don’t like green. When I visualize, I focus sometimes on things that my myeloma cells don’t like, and it makes sense that they don’t care for healthful diets full of green veggies. So this is interesting. Does anybody else here take a similar green product?

Another blog reader suggests letting curcumin rest in the flaxseed or liquid preparation for about a half hour before drinking it in order to give it time to go through and finish its chemical processes. This is analogous, I suppose, to letting fresh homemade pasta dough “rest” before rolling it out. An interesting idea. The only thing that would concern me is that curcumin is not happy when exposed to air and light. But perhaps mixed in a liquid would lessen its chances of losing any of its healthful properties. Any thoughts on this?

Blog reader number three dissolves curcumin powder in very warm milk and then adds the omega 3 oil from a capsule (Omega 3-6-9 lemon flavor from Nordic Natural). She says this makes it very palatable. When she mixed it with coconut milk (as yours truly used to do), she did not like it (neither did I). It was the smell from the milk what make her sick (no kidding! Me, too!). Sometimes she adds coconut oil to her concoction, which tastes very good, too, she reports.

A fourth blog reader does the following: I mix the caps of curcumin in a teaspoon or two of organic flax seed oil – it dissolves easily. Then I add about 1/3 cup of organic fruit yoghurt and stir it up. Next I add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries (or other small frozen fruit). Stirring this turns it into a kind of frozen yoghurt “ice cream” which doesn’t taste wonderful but is palatable due to the fruit flavour and the cold (which reduces the flavour). This is also an interesting method. I tried mixing curcumin powder in organic fruit yoghurt in the winter of 2006, between November and January 2007, and my IgG numbers didn’t decline at all. I just checked, though, and my monoclonal component did indeed decrease, which is important. So, that method might work after all, even though there is no heat involved (remember the abstract on increasing the bioavailability of curcumin by heating it up?). At any rate, in January 2007 I switched to curcumin capsules with bioperine, and my subsequent tests showed a decline in my IgG count, the first decline since November 2006, but also a slight increase in the monoclonal component. Sigh, this is SO hard to figure out.

Here are three not-so-great photos documenting my now daily chocolate curcumin preparation (two preparations/day). The photo at the top shows a full teaspoonful of curcumin, about four grams; the second photo shows four grams of curcumin powder sprinkled over the warm, almost hot, chocolate, butter and milk mixture, and the third shows what I actually drink, which is lighter in colour compared to the mixture in photo 2, obviously. The taste is not bad at all. And this is also not a bad way to get my chocolate hit for the day! 😉