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?) 😉
Prayers for you and prayers for the shots and prayers for the doctor and the nurse.
With best wishes and love
Hi Margaret,
I am glad to hear that you are feeling better. Hang in there, it will pass. Rest and take your remedies.
To make my curcumin concoction more palatable, I dissolve the podwer in very warm milk and then add the omega 3 oil from a capsule. The one I purchase has lemon flavor. If it is ok, I will say the brand. Doing it this way, I can drink it fine. Actually, I even look forward to it. When I mixed it with coconut milk, I did not like it. It was the smell from the milk what make me sick. Sometimes I add to my concoction coconut oil and it tates really good.
I hope you will be well very soon.
Dios te bendiga.
Fixing the message…
Margaret, every time I tried to conceal curcumin’s taste, I failed bad :)) So I began to think of my curcumin mixture as a medicine. And as a medicine, I just pray and drink it :)) Well, particularly I like olive oil very much, so for me it’s easy to eat a plain mixture of virgin olive oil and curcumin. I’m taking now 2 grams of Doctor Best curcumin, what means 4 caps. Then I prepare 2 spoons containing 2 curcumin caps plus olive oil each, let them rest for half an hour, and just eat them. Its not so bad 🙂 The taste even don’t change that much. For somebody who eats salads daily, it would be a nice spice. I’m serious :)))
Peace
Marcelo
Yeah well, my chemistry is a half century old, but if the cucumin actually dissolves in the cocoa butter, then melting the solution shouldn’t make the curcumin separate out. Maybe, hypothetically.
I am so glad that you are feeling better, and hoping that continues.
Be well, Don
Hi JHope, of course you may say the brand. Anything that helps is most welcome. I must admit that I was wondering HOW in the world you could swallow milk with omega 3 oil! Yuck! 🙂 But lemon flavored sounds better than just plain oil. Thanks for all of your comments, by the way. Take good care, Margaret
Don, your chemistry may be a half century old, but mine is completely nonexistent. I did take a chemistry class in my fourth or fifth year of Italian high school, but it made almost no sense to me (we had a terrible teacher!), and we certainly never discussed the bioavailability of substances melted in cocoa butter in class (drat!). 😉 I will try to find a chemist among my acquaintances. Until then, it’s a guessing game. You be well, too, Margaret
The fish oil supplement I put in my curcumin concoction is Omega 3-6-9 lemon flavor from Nordic Natural, and I order it from Vitacost.
Good luck.