A Final Consensus on Curcumin?

Dear All,

Have been following the curcumin threads and need to relate some new information.

While I tend to agree with Claudia that a "natural" source of curcumin (turmeric) may offer some biochemical synergy that we don't get from capsules, we are getting relatively LITTLE curcumin from a half teaspoon of turmeric a day.

Even so, I WOULD use it in cooking at least once a day, preferably with pepper and olive oil to enhance absorption.

The BEST source of greater quantity, however--capsules--continues to perplex.

My own integrative doctor used to prescribe a brand called Meriva; a newer integrative doctor just ordered a brand that, to my dismay, contains "maltodextrin," which--albeit in tiny quantity--is a form of sugar, surely to be avoided.

Life Extension (with impressive board of medical directors) had been producing Super-Curcumin with bioperine (black pepepr) to enhance absorption. Not a bad thing. But NOW they've come out with a new version, Bio-Super-Curcumin, which supposedly is far more absorbable through some liposomal formulation. (During chemo, I was advised by one of their doctors to take just two a day--40 mgs each--because the absorption is so great.)

In a prior post, I'd cited Dr. Russell Blaylock's advice that, whatever capsule one is taking, dissolving it in a tablespoon of olive oil will enhance it further. (So a few of you who are tossing a capsule or two into simmering olive oil are showing good sense.)

But here's the clincher:

One of you recently wrote that "the doctor at MD Anderson who did all the curicumin/turmeric research takes it in pill form daily. He also has a vested interest in the company that makes the pills." Would you PLEASE clarify the source of that information? (This is a very serious charge that would have to call into question the authenticity of his allegedly dispassionate information about curcumin!)

Life Extension has many doctors on its Board of Directors but claims they are not allowed to have vested interest in the products. (And would MD Anderson allow one of its most prominent researchers to be publishing claims based on a vested interest in the product he's promoting?

I don't mean to be naive; I know that doctors often profit from the meds they are prescribing--but PUBLISHING major research that support one's own financial interests seems a far greater transgression and one would hope that a major research institute such as MD Anderson would prohibit such blatant conflict of interest. (I thought at the end of clinical articles, doctors have to CONFIRM that there is no conflict of interest!)

So could we please have the source of this claim?

Finally: The following daily dosage of curcumin are those I've been either prescribed or have seen recommended. Curcumin apparently isn't very toxic. But wonder if your own dosages are different:

Cancer prevention - 1500 mg to 8000 a day

Chemotherapy? 500 mgs x 3 a day