Scientific review finds that this stuff reduces inflammation and leads to superior recovery and muscle performance.
The same is true when it comes to taking Micellar Curcumin ➔ Buy at Biotest.
Some people have read about curcumin helps relieve depression. Some take it because it acts as "erection insurance" by keeping blood vessels healthy and boosting nitric oxide. Lifters take it to deal with aches and pains. Physique-focused lifters take it because it helps keep them lean.
Whatever the reason, they all take curcumin. And now, a recent research review adds to that list of reasons. This study looked at all the curcumin studies related to working out.
The Study
In this systematic review – Effects of Curcumin Supplementation on Sport and Physical Exercise – researchers reviewed curcumin's effects on human performance. Here's what they found:
- Post-exercise soreness: Excess oxidative stress leads to excessive and debilitating muscle soreness (DOMS) and screws up progress. Curcumin mitigates excess soreness, allowing for quicker recovery.
- Post-exercise muscle damage: Elevated CK (creatine kinase) indicates muscle damage from intense exercise. Curcumin subjects had lower CK values 24 and 48 hours post-lifting.
- Recovery and performance: Curcumin improved jump performance after resistance exercise, reduced power lost between sprints, and improved range of motion 3-4 days after exercise.
- Oxidative stress: Curcumin reduces biomarkers of aging and degenerative processes, along with higher values of antioxidant potential after aerobic exercise.
- Training strain and stress: Curcumin users have a lower body temperature while training, lower heart rate, and ranked lower on the physiological-strain index during aerobic exercise.
- Heat stress: Curcumin users have lower exercise-induced heat stress markers.
Bioavailable Curcumin: How to Get It in You
As cool as these findings are, not every curcumin study shows positive benefits. Why? It's usually because the researchers didn't use enough of it or the right kind. Regular curcumin has a historical problem – poor bioavailability. Adding piperine to curcumin helped a little, but now we have something better: micellar curcumin.
By using solid lipid curcumin particles invented by neuroscientists at UCLA, micellar curcumin produces 95 times more free curcumin in the bloodstream than curcumin with piperine. In short, it's the kind you absorb.
This form of lipidized curcumin is found in Biotest Micellar Curcumin ➔ Buy at Biotest. Each capsule contains 400 mg of solid lipid curcumin particles.
References
- Suhett LG et al. Effects of Curcumin Supplementation on Sport and Physical Exercise: A Systematic Review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2021;61(6):946-958. PubMed: 32282223.
- Jagieta GC et al. 'Spicing up' of the immune system by curcumin. J Clin Immunol. 2007 Jan;27(1):19-35. PubMed: 17211725.
- Kuptniratsaikul V et al. Efficacy and safety of Curcuma domestica extracts compared with ibuprofen in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a multicenter study. Clin Interv Aging. 2014 Mar 20;9:451-8. PubMed: 24672232.
- Wu LY et al. Curcumin Attenuates Adipogenesis by Inducing Preadipocyte Apoptosis and Inhibiting Adipocyte Differentiation." Nutrients. 2019 Sep 28;11(10):2307. PMC: PMC6836120.
- Zorofchian SZ et al. A Review of Antibacterial, Antiviral, and Antifungal Activity of Curcumin. Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:186864. PubMed; 24877064.