Health Check Day and New Curcumin MD Anderson Article

I had to go to my doctor’s office yesterday because he wanted to have another look at me but was unable to make a house call. After listening to my wheezy chest, he insisted that I have an X-ray, so I had to go to the nearest radiology center to have that done. I will have the results this evening. Anyway, by the time we (my parents and I) got home, I was too pooped from the effort of driving (etc.) to write a post for my blog, as I had intended to do.

There is more health stuff. Since I was clearly not responding to the antibiotics I have been on since last Saturday, my doctor changed my course of treatment. So now my mother-in-law is giving me injections containing a different, stronger type of antibiotic twice a day (joy !), and I am also taking a different oral antibiotic. By now I must have more antibiotics than blood running through my veins! Well, the important thing is that the new type of antibiotics seem to be working, knock on wood. Since my dosage would probably have a positive effect on a sick animal the size of an African elephant, I feel weaker but am also coughing less violently this morning. Yes, I seem to have turned the corner. Finally. And my quirky dark sense of humour is back en force, always a good sign. It will be a long convalescence, though, apparently. Bummer. The bad news is that my parents (primary caregivers) are also ill. More or less with the same thing, even though they are not as ill as I have been. They may be forced to postpone their return trip to the U.S., though. I doubt they will be in shape to leave next Wednesday. Well, I would be happy to have them stay on, of course, but not for poor health reasons! Drat.

Since my parents and at least half of the residents of Florence are ill these days, I am feeling more upbeat about my brave little immune system. A friend of mine pointed out yesterday that all things considered I am doing quite well. She is right, of course! 🙂

On a brighter note. Yesterday that same dear friend sent me the link to a new MD Anderson article on curcumin. See: http://tinyurl.com/3d3xnn I was excited to read the news that a team of MD Anderson researchers is in the process of developing an intravenous, liposome-encapsulated delivery system for curcumin. Based on lab results, the researchers report that this system is very potent. I should mention that this is not the first time I have read about such delivery systems (see: http://tinyurl.com/2b699s, e.g., which discusses liposomal curcumin and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines), but the BIG news, in my view, is that the MD Anderson curcumin team hopes to schedule a Phase I liposomal curcumin clinical trial in 2008.

2008??? Why, that’s just a few months away! Patients with different types of cancer would be enrolled. Boy, if I lived closer to Texas, I would be very glad to participate in this clinical trial! The researchers, by the way, have filed a patent application for this particular delivery system, and those who are interested in reading more about it (it’s very long, so I haven’t read the entire application, yet) can go to: http://tinyurl.com/2qgt6z The curcumin research team also published an article in the April 2007 issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, discussing the growth inhibiting and apoptotic effects of liposomal curcumin on colorectal cancer in vitro and in vivo. See: http://tinyurl.com/yv9f9x Anyway, I urge you to have a look at the above-mentioned article, which also gives the results of a study done with pancreatic cancer patients. Be well, everyone!

Parthenolide Analog-Blood Cancer Clinical Trial Soon To Begin In England

I have already posted about parthenolide, extracted from feverfew, a traditional daisy-like medicinal plant used mainly in the treatment of migraines. See my page on parthenolide on the right-hand side of my homepage for more details. I have been following this research for a while, now. And I finally have an interesting update. This morning I received a Google Alert concerning a parthenolide water-soluble analog called dimethylamino-parthenolide (or DMAPT for short), which swiftly kills leukemic stem cells (LSCs) from both myeloid and lymphoid leukemias, and is also highly cytotoxic to bulk leukemic cell populations. Molecular studies indicate the prevalent activities of DMAPT include induction of oxidative stress responses, inhibition of NF-kB, and activation of p53. The compound has approximately 70% oral bioavailability [ ]. I took this from the abstract, which is publicly available at: http://tinyurl.com/2ytvoa

Thanks to a close friend (grazie!), I was lucky enough to get my hands on the full study, which was published in Blood on September 5, 2007. Here are a few of the more relevant excerpts. LSCs, the study tells us, are dormant and for that reason do not respond to chemotherapy, which targets only active cells. This is probably why relapses occur. Another problem with conventional leukaemia chemotherapy is that it is very toxic to normal stem cells. Not good.

Previous studies, the researchers point out, show that NF-κB, a known regulator of growth and survival, is constitutively active in LSCs but not in normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Notably, many traditional cancer therapies induce activation of NF-κB, a potentially undesirable characteristic likely to facilitate survival of malignant cells. Now, this is fascinating. I didn’t realize that some conventional chemotherapy actually ACTIVATES NF-κB! Gee whiz. That is not good at all.

The study also reports that it is not enough to inhibit NF-κB in order to induce apoptosis in acute myelogenous leukaemia. The tumor suppressor gene p53 needs to be activated, and oxidative stress must also be induced by boosting the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to the point where the cell simply cannot survive any longer (as I understand it). The researchers report that their data suggest that the mechanism of LSC death involves combined inhibition of survival pathways and activation of tumor suppressor and/or stress pathways. They also discuss one of their previous findings, i.e., that the robust apoptosis of primary AML cells can be achieved with a single agent, the plant derived compound parthenolide (PTL), which is known to induce oxidative stress and inhibit NF-κB. Importantly, PTL also effectively eradicates AML stem and progenitor cells in vitro while sparing normal hematopoietic cells. So, parthenolide, or PTL for short, kills acute myelogenous leukemia cells (AML), including AML stem cells, but does not affect normal stem cells. I had actually already mentioned that (see my page), but it’s always good to repeat things, sometimes.

As we have seen happen with other compounds such as curcumin, though, PTL is poorly absorbable. So the researchers tested several PTL analogs, finally identifying DMAPT, which is over 1000 fold greater solubility in water relative to PTL. Wow! The study continues: DMAPT effectively eliminates human AML stem and progenitor cells without apparent harm to normal hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. The compound also eradicates phenotypically primitive blast crisis CML and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells. Excellent.

The lab tests were performed using primary human AML, CML, ALL cells, and normal bone marrow (BM) cells. For those who are more scientifically-minded, DMAPT was prepared from the reaction of parthenolide with dimethylamine, and the resulting dimethylamino analog was then converted to its water-soluble fumarate salt.

DMAPT was found to induce the apoptosis of dormant leukemic stem cells as well as rapidly dividing active leukemic cells. This is important, of course. Researchers tested DMPAT also on three dogs with advanced CD34-positive spontaneous leukaemia. The dosage, 50-100 mg per kilo, was well tolerated, and the results showed obvious in vivo activity of DMPAT on the dogs’ leukaemic stem cells through inhibition of NF-κB and induction of oxidative stress.

The study ends by stating that Taken together, the data indicate that DMAPT mediates in vivo biological changes in leukemia cells that will lead to their impairment and/or death. Moreover, given the strong efficacy of the drug for AML stem and progenitor cells in vitro, we propose that a similar effect is possible in vivo, and provide preliminary evidence that LSC-specific targeting can occur in spontaneous canine leukemia. Based on these preclinical findings, its oral bioavailability, and a favorable toxicology profile, DMAPT is proceeding to human phase I clinical trials in the near future.

And in fact, according to a recent University of Rochester Medical Center news release (http://tinyurl.com/28l75m), clinical trials are set to begin in England before the end of the year. Oh, and by the way, DMAPT seems to have an effect on multiple myeloma cells, too, according to Monica Guzman, one of the main researchers. YIPPEE, I say!

Blog Reader Suggestions On How To Take Curcumin

Spoonful of curcuminToday 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?Chocolate curcumin mixture

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.

What I actually drankHere 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! 😉

My New Enhanced (?) Bioavailability Experiment

PeekabooLast week I stopped taking the Doctor’s Best curcumin capsules, fearing a possible interference between the bioperine and my massive daily dose of antibiotics (I am not sure that that would be the case, but better safe than sorry!). Since I don’t want to stop taking curcumin for obvious reasons, though, I figured that now would be a good time to try one of the new increased bioavailability ideas.

Since I am not up to making chocolate candies yet, I decided to try my chocolate ganache idea. All I have in my kitchen right now is some 70% dark chocolate, which yesterday afternoon I melted over low heat, adding a small amount of organic butter, then some whole organic milk. I mixed about two grams of curcumin powder into this thick dark liquid and drank it. Now, keeping in mind that right at the moment I have quite a head cold and my taste buds are, consequently, a bit altered, this mixture tasted just fine to me. Quite an interesting color, too. 😉Peekaboo, my devoted nurse

This morning I upped the dose of curcumin to four grams. The taste was definitely worse but not horrendous. Once I get my hands on some double cream and some cocoa butter (which has a 50-57% fat content), I won’t need to use butter to increase the fat content of my fake ganache. Still, even without the cocoa butter etc., I can confirm that curcumin will dissolve easily in what is essentially warm (almost hot) chocolate milk, without sugar. Whether it works on my myeloma markers well, I won’t know that until I have my next set of tests.

My experiment continues.

Yesterday I took some photos of our 4-month-old kitten, Peekaboo, including these two. I think she could win a prize in a beauty contest, but of course I am totally biased!

Curcumin Bioavailability (Continued)

Two interesting comments to yesterday’s post. First, I would like to address Don’s comment. With my almost non-existent scientific background, I think the idea of swallowing the chocolate lozenge just as you would swallow a pill is in order for it to melt slowly not in the mouth but in the stomach. If it melts in the mouth, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose? How would curcumin bypass the stomach if it were not still encapsulated in fat? I could be totally wrong, of course.

Second, Marcelo’s comment. I agree, I would love to have a chemist comment on all of this, too! At any rate, his wife now dissolves curcumin in olive oil. A possible suggestion to improve taste would be to add herbs and spices to this concoction. In the past, I tried flaxseed oil, but the taste was so dreadful that after a couple of weeks I became nauseous just at the sight of this mixture, no matter how much I tried to think of it as a Harry Potter potion. However, I still think an oil mixture is a good way to take curcumin (and Biocurcumax would be proof of that, although where to get our hands on essential oil of turmeric is beyond me), perhaps THE best way, but you have to have a strong stomach for it. By the way, if you would like to read the Biocurcumax patent application, go to: http://tinyurl.com/2nqcjf I will go through this application more carefully soon.

As for “milk cream” (would that just be cream, Marcelo, as in whipping cream or double cream?), I would suggest heating it. It seems strange that your curcumin didn’t dissolve in cream. In the past, I tried the warm cream/curcumin (another yuck!) mixture, and the former dissolved rather easily. There may not be enough fat content in your “milk cream.” (?)

A good question would be: how to make all these great concoctions more palatable? I am very open to suggestions.

Here are a couple of things that I would like to try in the future. One is the chocolate lozenge idea; the other is the oil idea, with, as I mentioned previously, the addition of other spices (spices have anti-inflammatory effects, generally speaking, so I very much doubt that they would interact negatively with curcumin) in order to make the concoction more palatable. Speaking of palatable, I remember that last year, after preparing a huge Indian feast, I took my curcumin mixed in the oily part of the food, and it tasted absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t taste the curcumin at all when mixed with all those wonderful spices. Well, in my September 12th post ( Signaling Protein for Multiple Myeloma Identified ), I wrote about an Indian dish called Vindaloo. Given my previously-described successful (in terms of taste, anyway!) experiment with curcumin and spicy oil, this reinforced my idea of mixing curcumin with the warmed up oily part of this dish. That might well be the best way to take curcumin. Ahhh, with spices there really are so many different possibilities. I wish I could do one experiment for two weeks, have blood tests done, then do another experiment for two weeks, and so on. But patience is a virtue, no? And in fact, according to an Italian proverb, la pazienza è la virtù dei forti, which roughly means patience is the virtue of strong people. So I will be patient, I will be strong, and try one thing at a time, for two months at a time.

Speaking of patience and strength, it’s time for my health update! 😉 Yesterday morning my doctor finally gave me an ultimatum (he was nice but firm about it): “you will have shots of antibiotics OR ELSE!” (I hate shots!) I didn’t have to ask what OR ELSE! meant. I know it meant going to the hospital. So, after many phone calls (after all, it was Saturday!) we found a professional nurse who came over almost immediately to give me my first shot. What a sweetheart! A sweetheart with a steady but gentle hand, to boot. She didn’t hurt me at all and also played with my cats, with little Peekaboo in particular (we finally had to shut our curious little kitten out of the room, since she was getting a bit too interested in the proceedings!). A lovely lovely lovely person. Anyway, I will have a total of six big shots/three days. But hey, it is working: I am feeling almost normal today. What I don’t know yet is if what I have is acute bronchitis OR pneumonia. It’s a fine line between the two, I have read online, and only an X-ray would tell for sure. Forget the X-ray. Whatever it is, I am going to have to be careful for the next couple of weeks. Well, being housebound will give me time to do some research. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? (Oh dear, I am speaking in proverbs today! A possible side effect from the massive amounts of antibiotics?) 😉

Myeloma Cells, Hara-Kiri And Chocolate Curcumin Truffles ?

A blog reader recently wrote me a fascinating (private) message. With his permission, I am posting parts of it (it’s a long message, so I had to edit it a bit). This is a brilliant presentation of the bioavailability of curcumin with a few interesting suggestions on how to increase it:

Biocurcumax is giving us curcumin that is predissolved in 10-15% oil by weight. Isn’t that what I am doing by mixing curcumin with full fat yogurt: predissolving it before ingesting it? Could it be that those of us who predissolve in oil are already getting the benefit of the improved bioavailability that Biocurcumax wants to offer us? And why does the dissolution of curcumin in oil help the bioavailability? I believe it is because the way the body digests fat is that it the chunks go through the stomach and then it becomes emulsified when bile is added to the initial end of the small intestine. Then those small droplets of oil, containing molecules of dissolved curcumin, are small enough to pass through the vilii of the small intestine into the network of lymph ducts that parallel all the network of blood veins, into which other molecules enter through the vein pores in the walls of the vessels (but the fat droplets don’t). Fats are not digested much in the stomach or the small intestine, but enter the lymph system, along with the enzyme lipase, which breaks down the fat globules and converts the fats into glycerol and fatty acids, both of which are soluble in water. So when the lymph is dumped back into the blood vein system up near the thorax, the fat has been changed into water soluble components. Presumably, the curcumin that was dissolved in the fat globules (dissolved means that it then existed in molecular form, not crystalline form), now remains attached to the fatty acids molecules or exists as free curcumin molecules in the blood to be carried throughout the body to find their home on some ugly little cancer cell in the bone marrow, where it frightens that cancer cell into committing hara-kiri, or your favorite word APOPTOSIS. So my theory is the Biocurcumax improves bioavailability by dissolving part of the curcumin in the oil, making easier for part of it to get into the blood stream through the lymph system. But I want to dissolve ALL of the curcumin in oil so that All of it gets into the blood stream through the lymph system. Maybe we already are there and don’t know it because no one ever measured.Finally, I have two more brainstorm ideas to push on you. First, you must realize that curcumin will dissolve in alkaline aqueous solutions, but not acid solutions. The stomach is very acidic but the small intestine is very alkaline. First idea is to ferry the curcumin through the stomach, where a lot of it gets turned into curcumin glucorinide and curcumin sulfate, neither of which are bioactive, and into the small intestine by encapsulating the fine curcumin powder in an enteric coated capsule that can resist the stomach acids, but will dissolve in the alkaline environment of the small intestine, releasing its contents, which promptly dissolve in that environment and enter the vein system in molecular form. Some may still get lost through conjugation into glucorinide and sulfate, but more will at least get dissolved and able to enter the blood stream because it wasn’t conjugated while in the stomach.Second idea is to dissolve the curcumin into some kind of fat (how about cocoa butter?) that is hard at room temperature, like chocolate, and form it into a capsule form, which gets swallowed whole. As it makes it way through the stomach it slowly melts and the fat breaks into droplets with the curcumin still dissolved in them. These droplets are then emulsified in the small intestine and go on their way into the lymph system to be digested by the lipase, as in the above description. The main advantage of this approach is convenience. Just pop a few delicious chocolate-flavored lozenges into your mouth and swallow them WHOLE, and your curcumin is on its way to lymph heaven.

I would love to hear reader comments on this message. Publicly and/or privately. I particularly liked his second idea: chocolate, my favourite thing in the world, AND curcumin? I must do some experimenting. And why not mix curcumin with a ganache, i.e., warm cream with unsweetened dark chocolate? Ahhh, the possibilities are endless.

Yesterday morning I was suddenly struck by the thought that curcumin probably wouldn’t interfere with my antibiotics, but bioperine might. So today I am going to try the curcumin chocolate ganache idea, since I still have some C3 Complex curcumin powder, and I hate the idea of not taking curcumin for more than a few days. Unfortunately, since I have lost my sense of taste, I won’t be able to report on THAT part of the experiment (perhaps just as well!). 😉

Health update: I felt lousy yesterday, my fever returned and I had a nasty cough, but today I am feeling a bit better. My doctor is monitoring me, and will probably change my treatment today. Anyway, no worries!

Croaking Like A Frog

Well, here we go again. I had been feeling better for days, then last night my sore throat was back, and I started croaking like a frog. Today I have been feeling icky, hardly able to speak, and coughing up, well, you don’t want a description. Are the antibiotics not working? Is curcumin interfering? Just in case, I stopped taking curcumin. Stopped taking WHAT? I know, I know. It probably doesn’t make any sense. Just for a couple of days, though.

I spoke with my doctor this morning and will speak with him tomorrow, too. We have to do something. This is ridiculous.

On a more cheerful note, my cousin sent me a link to an animated short film commissioned by the Tuscan Region for the U.N. Water Year 2003. It has been selected as part of a short film festival dealing with ecological themes. Absolutely brilliant. See: http://tinyurl.com/yuforx

I am so proud of you, my very talented and sweet cousin! Bravissimo!!!

September Test Results

They finally arrived! Okay, there is no getting around it, my IgG count has increased from 30,60 to 34,30 g/L. And the monoclonal component has also increased, from 24,1 to 25,7, the highest it has been except for the period last fall when I took four grams of curcumin a day by mistake (having misread the instructions on the bottle regarding serving size, sigh), when it went up to 25,9. HOWEVER, I have some good news. My IgM and IgA have remained exactly the same (low, but stable). Now, going down the list of my tests, in order:

My white and red cell counts both increased a little bit, and so have my haemoglobin and hematocrit. I should note that they have always been within the normal range.

My platelet count went from 283 to 296, which is higher than any of my pre-curcumin values (so much for the widespread belief that curcumin depresses platelets). Excellent.

My blood viscosity went up 10 points, from 45 to 55, but it is still nowhere near my all-time high, which was 95 (!). Not too bad.

Creatinine and LDH have both decreased somewhat. They have always been way within normal range. My triglycerides and my total cholesterol also went down. My cholesterol is still above normal, but it’s under 300 mg/dL, at least!

My ferritin (iron stores) have gone up slightly, from an abysmally low 7 to a less abysmally low 8 (the low end of the normal range is 10). At least it’s going in the right direction…

My total protein has decreased slightly, from 8,6 to 8,5, which puts it even more within the normal range. My calcium has gone from 9,4 to 9,2 mg/dL. Uric acid has also gone down a bit. Albumin is still stable and within the normal range.

A new test, which supposedly yields my M-spike (?), gives me a value of 2,18. There are no reference ranges. In Italian, this test is called serum monoclonal component. Am I correct in assuming this is the M-spike?

My analysis. These tests were taken during a period of more-than-usual stress for me. I was about to begin a new job teaching English, and I hadn’t taught in years. And there were a few family problems, nothing major, but they did create a certain amount of stress. Could stress have played a factor? Possibly. And what about that rich southern Italian diet? Who knows.

However, I can draw only one conclusion from these tests: curcumin capsules without bioperine are not as effective as those with bioperine, not even taken with quercetin and flaxseed oil capsules. At least in my case. Simple as that. These bioperine-less tests aren’t bad, but they aren’t super, either. Perhaps a mix of capsules with bioperine and ones without would work. I will have to think about trying that in the future.

Right now, I am taking the Doctor’s Best curcumin capsules with bioperine (might as well fess up 😉 , since I have posted about brands!) and have added resveratrol to my regular intake. Next tests in November. We shall see.

Curcumin Brands/Sources in the U.S. and Europe: Powder and Capsules

Yesterday I received a blog comment that turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. In a good sense! Until then, I had rather stubbornly decided not to recommend or even list any curcumin brands or sources on my blog, but I realize that this type of information might be useful to those thinking of taking curcumin but with no idea where to buy it (so many websites sell it now, and it’s hard to separate reliable from unreliable ). So I have changed my mind. Of course, let me state first and foremost that I have no financial or other type of interest in any of the brands or sources that I will be listing below. Okay, with that out of the way, here goes.

Curcumin brands and sources in the U.S.A.: capsules

1. Please go see Don’s excellent list: http://tinyurl.com/34byoj. He does us the huge favour of comparing costs (per capsule, even). The only addition that I would make is that Doctor’s Best can be bought a bit more cheaply at Vitacost, which is where I generally order most of my supplements. Okay, I take that back, the price has recently gone up to $ 14.74. Still, a few cents cheaper. As we say in Italy, tutto fa brodo, which literally means everything makes broth, but is properly translated as it’s all grist to the mill, hey, even just a few cents. 😉 Ok, seriously, now. Don has also posted a lot of good information about curcumin, and, in particular, I would suggest a read of his post on curcumin and nanotechnology: http://tinyurl.com/3as7we Of the brands listed by Don, I have taken NSI and Doctor’s Best. I had fewer stomach gurglings with the former, but of course that doesn’t mean it is better or worse. I know that Don mixes and matches his capsules a bit, which I think is a good idea, especially in order to avoid taking too much bioperine. I read that too much black pepper is not good for us in the long run (I have posted about this), so please remember not to add black pepper to your food if you are taking eight grams of curcumin WITH bioperine.

2. There is also another source for capsules (and perhaps even powder, but that is a question you would have to ask the company) at: http://www.turmeric-curcumin.com/ I have never personally ordered from them, so I cannot say much except that their curcumin does not contain bioperine and is not the C3 Complex curcumin by Sabinsa. Just another option. Ah, if you scroll down their homepage, you will also find up-to-date news about curcumin, which can be very useful.

Curcumin Powder

There are two main U.S. sources for curcumin powder, as far as I know.

1. My first supplier was Supplemental Health Formulations, LLC, a very nice, friendly company. That was before I discovered the Italian distributor of Sabinsa based in Milan, which made my life much easier, of course. The SHF homepage is: http://www.shfnatural.com/ and the page that lists curcumin and many other supplements (I ordered some quercetin powder from them, e.g.) is: http://tinyurl.com/hgfma The price per kilo is $ 75.00 plus shipping. The SHF curcumin is not the C3 Complex type by Sabinsa Corporation (used in the MD Anderson myeloma clinical trial), in case you were wondering. Let’s see, what else? The SHF curcumin is coarser, stains less, and is less palatable (in my opinion) compared to the C3 Complex. However, if I lived in the U.S. I would order from this company again, and test and compare the two powders. If!

2. You can buy the C3 Complex used in the MD Anderson clinical trial directly from Sabinsa, apparently. The cost is $ 73.00 per kilo, plus shipping costs. I took this information from an e-mail exchange I had in January of 2007 with Kavita Subramanian, Senior Manager, International Business, Sabinsa Corporation, 70 Ethel Road West, Unit 6, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Phone number: 732 777 111 (ask for her extension). Please contact her for more information. My blog doesn’t allow me to post e-mail addresses for obvious reasons, but anyone who would like to have Kavita Subramanian’s e-mail address can leave me a comment here, and I will be glad to forward it privately. I should add that I have never ordered directly from Sabinsa U.S.A., but I have ordered from their Italian distributor, see below.

Curcumin brands and sources in Europe: capsules

U.K.: a couple of blog readers (thank you!) sent me their source for Doctor’s Best: http://tinyurl.com/yto9uh

Italy: as far as I know, the only source of capsules in Italy is the same that I will list for curcumin powder, i.e., the Italian distributor of Sabinsa, Sochim International. This is the Sochim homepage: http://www.sochim.it/ Their catalogue can be downloaded in English and in Italian. Sochim does not sell to private citizens, so you must order curcumin (capsules or powder) through your pharmacy or herbal store or whatnot. I have ordered both C3 Complex curcumin capsules and powder (both sans bioperine) from Sochim through my friendly pharmacist here in Florence. A slight drag, but it works.

There is also a French company called Anastore (the website may be viewed in four languages) that uses the C3 Complex curcumin: http://www.anastore.com/ I placed my first curcumin capsule order with Anastore, as a matter of fact. Prompt and free delivery. But it got to be a bit expensive because at the time they were making only a 400 mg capsule. Now I see that they make a 500 mg capsule. Much better. However, if I have done the math correctly (always double-check me, I am not good at all with numbers!), even the 3+1 offer would last only 15 days on eight grams a day. Not very long. Anastore is also my source for black cumin oil capsules, by the way.

Curcumin powder

I have ordered the C3 Complex powder from the Italian Sochim Int., see details above.

There is a Spanish distributor for Sabinsa, Goerlich Pharma Espana, S.L., but I don’t know if they sell curcumin to individuals, although I see that they do list the C3 Complex powder here: http://tinyurl.com/ytn2ng. The website also lists contact numbers, etc.

Sabinsa Europe is based in Germany, see contact information here: http://tinyurl.com/yq8m8t. Again, no idea if they sell to individuals. The only way to find out is to contact them directly.

I will make an effort to find other sources in Europe, which I fear won’t be easy until curcumin becomes a common household word. Of course, Sabinsa’s homepage lists their branches throughout the world. Easy.

Have I missed anything? Probably. As always, I welcome suggestions and comments. Thank you!

Cat Healing

I have no pain in the pleural region and no fever today, and am feeling much, indeed MUCH better. Almost my old self again. Thank you all for your get-well wishes (private and public ones). Much appreciated. Of course, many thanks go to my parents and husband for taking care of me, but I also wanted to mention that they received a lot of help from my cats, who took their nursing duties very seriously. Peekaboo by my sideThey did almost regular nursing shifts on my bed (see photo of little Peekaboo), but on Friday, my worst day, I had at least two cats on me or next to me at all times. It’s rather uncanny, when you think about it. How do they KNOW??? It’s a good thing that I was feeling too poorly to be reminded, at the time, of Oscar the Death Cat (see my July 26, or thereabouts, post). 😉 Seriously, though, I am sure my cats’ warm furry presence was an important factor in my healing so quickly. There is nothing like being surrounded by purring cats.

I tried to pick up on my CRP research this morning but am not up to that yet. So, research will have to wait a few more days. But Stefano is downstairs making me risotto with different kinds of cheeses, so life is returning to normal! Just a few more days.