If you're not familiar with curcumin, you're probably at least familiar with turmeric, which is a root-based spice used in a wide variety of Asian food dishes. Its vibrant orange color is also used as a dye for fabrics, and it's got a long history of use in Ayurvedic medicine. As tasty as the spice is, it's that last point you should make yourself more familiar with. Even if you never use it on cooking, you can spice up your movement with curcumin.
Curcuminoids are the active metabolites of turmeric root and they deliver most of this popular spice's health benefits. Those include potent antioxidant effects, as well as a belief by many that it carries anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory effects.
Curcumin is an excellent addition to your herbal supplement intake because it blocks free radicals and boosts your body's natural antioxidant mechanisms, so it's got a natural ability to support your general health and well-being. It's also an extremely popular natural supplement to help alleviate the issues associated with chronic inflammation.
As a spice, turmeric root is complimentary to many Asian dishes, other foods, and tea, but to make use of the renowned nutritional benefits, it's the curcumin extract you need. When used as a spice, the curcumin content in turmeric root is in the low single-digit percentage range. That makes it difficult, if not next to impossible, to reach the high concentration required for health benefits when using it to spice up your foods. If you want to ensure optimal health benefits, supplemental curcumin is a no-brainer for your natural medicine cabinet.
Turmeric root makes a fantastic spice for many foods, but to maximize the nutritional benefits of curcumin, you should really be sure to get up to 1,000 mg per day from a high-quality source. It's a good idea to take it in two 500-mg doses with meals that contain a bit of healthy dietary fat to aid in absorption and assimilation.
To truly get the most from your curcumin, combine it with piperine (black pepper extract) to ensure maximum absorption. SAN's Curcumin C3 is an ideal source of the patented and proven Curcumin C3 Complex® used in some of the most prominent research into the health benefits of curcuminoids.