HOW CURCUMIN AIDS TISSUE REPAIR & RECOVERY

DR. BUCCI’S RESEARCH REVIEW

Research on the effects of supplemental curcumin on muscle soreness after exercise has exploded in the past few years, offering a wealth of data and interpretation to support using curcumin or curcuminoids before, during, and after aerobic and anaerobic exercise leads to less muscle soreness, less loss of muscular strength or performance, faster recovery, and often reduced biomarkers of muscle damage, systemic inflammation, and oxidation in normal, healthy persons.

The research reviewed here is divided into two categories: endurance exercise, which is directly applicable to First Endurance, and resistance exercise, which is less directly applicable but does connect to the same root causes – muscle soreness, exercise-induced inflammation, and connective-tissue injuries and conditions.

ENDURANCE EXERCISE

A majority of human studies found significant reductions in muscle soreness (peak pain and pain duration) after damaging exercise, an anti-inflammatory effect after damaging exercise, antioxidant effects after damaging exercise, and signaling effects that led to faster recovery from damaging exercise.

The conclusion is that the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant qualities of curcuminoids streamline the inflammation/recovery process after exercise while also positively impacting chronic issues in joints, tendons, and muscles that commonly plague endurance athletes. Some of that research is excerpted and summarized here in a brief review.

• Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions in chronically exercising cyclists when taken for an extended time (Chilelli 2016).
• Differences in nine inflammatory proteins and 39 mRNA expressions that signal improved exercise recovery (Tanner 2020a).
• Demonstrating inflammatory protein and mRNA changes conducive to accelerated muscle recovery (Tanner 2020b).
• Reducing inflammatory accelerators immediately after and one hour after exercise.
• Reduced heart rate, inflammation responses, body temperature, and heatstroke risk while training in higher temperatures than an athlete is acclimated to (Szymanski 2018).
• Reduced GI barrier damage and facilitated uptake of carbs, electrolytes and water during long-term exercise (Szymanski 2018).
• Increased total antioxidant capacity before and immediately after exercise. Minor improvements in decay and destruction signals (Roohi 2017).
• Significantly reduced muscle soreness and muscle damage markers. Increased VO2 max as a measure of recovery (Amalraj 2020).
• Reduced muscle protein breakdown after exercise and during rest afterwards (Cardaci 2020).
• Significantly reduced muscle soreness and serum biomarkers of muscle damage and systemic inflammation. Reduced muscular injury by half (Drobnic 2014).
• Improved measures of recovery and reduced levels of muscle destruction and inflammatory signals (Jager 2017, 2019; Oliver 2017).

RESISTANCE EXERCISE & HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING LITERATURE REVIEW

Although resistance training (weightlifting), high-intensity interval training, and other short-term, exhaustive exercises are not the same kind of exercise as long-term endurance, they’re undeniably intense and fatiguing and can lead to the same issues facing endurance athletes. Since the biological mechanisms for responses are similar, effects from shorter-term, intense exercises are also applicable to intense, long-term endurance exercise.

I won’t detail them here, but 16 relevant studies with curcuminoids found varying degrees of reducing oxidative damage, normal exercise-induced anti-inflammatory biomarkers, and muscle/joint soreness. These mostly positive results were seen in several types of agony-inducing exercise, from single muscle-joint combo (biceps flexes) to whole body motion (drop jumps).

OTHER REVIEWS STATISTICALLY SUPPORT CURCUMIN BENEFITS

The above is my own summary of research; however, as I noted earlier, studies of curcumin have exploded in the past few decades. Unsurprisingly, research reviews of those studies have also seen a corresponding – albeit necessarily delayed – increase.

Seven other recent meta-analyses echo my findings after reviewing subsets of the studies presented herein (Campbell 2021, Doma 2020; Fang 2021; Fernandez-Lazaro 2020; McFarlin 2019; Hewlings 2017; Yoon 2020). Some of these analyses also included results from in vitro and animal studies.

The studies shown above only focused on human studies, but the in vitro and animal studies further support human study findings, adding ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ to explain the evident ‘whats.’ Here are excerpts from these analyses and other scholarly reviews.

META-ANALYSES

Campbell 2020:
“Various curcumin-based interventions have improved self-perceived measures of pain and tenderness, reduced evidence of muscle damage, ameliorated inflammatory markers, increased markers of antioxidant capacity, diminished markers of oxidative stress, reduced markers of AGEs, and attenuated loss in mean power of single-leg sprints.”

Doma 2020:
“Accordingly, selected root plants minimised the level of several biomarkers of muscle damage, inflammation and muscle soreness during periods of exercise-induced muscle damage.”

Fang 2021:
“The current evidence revealed a [sic] efficacy of curcumin in reducing CK serum levels and muscle soreness index among adults. Therefore, curcumin may be known as a priority EIMD recovery agent in interventions.”

Fernandez-Lazaro 2020:
“In summary, the administration of curcumin at a dose between 150-1500 mg/day before and during exercise, and up until 72 h’ post-exercise, improved performance by reducing EIMD and modulating the inflammation caused by physical activity.”

Hamidie 2017:
“Based on our previous experiments we conclude that indeed curcumin treatment have [sic] ability to increase performance through regulated mitochondria biogenesis on skeletal muscle.”

Hewlings 2017:
“It may also help in the management of exercise-induced inflammation and muscle soreness, thus enhancing recovery and subsequent performance in active people.”

Yoon 2020:
“Although conflicting results regarding the effects of curcumin supplementation on DOMS exist in literature, it may be considered as a method of nutritional intervention for reducing post-exercise DOMS.”

REVIEWS

McFarlin 2019:
“To date most exercise studies have used curcumin acutely to impact short-term recovery. Given these effects, it is reasonable to speculate that curcumin might be a beneficial addition to a long-term training program.”

Sorrenti 2020:
“In conclusion, curcumin can be considered an effective natural remedy to modulate oxidative stress and inflammation, improving athletic performance.”

Suhett 2021:
“In conclusion, the evidences presented indicate that curcumin supplementation in human beings is likely safe and beneficial for sport and physical activity, due to the reduction of inflammation and oxidative stress, reduction of pain and muscle damage, improved muscle recovery, sport performance, psychological and physiological responses (thermal and cardiovascular) during training, as well as the GI function.”

CONCLUSION: THE ‘WHAT’ IS CLEAR; THE ‘HOW’ IS TRICKIER

The ever-increasing body of in vitro, animal, and human studies creates a compelling picture of the benefits curcuminoids have on exercising humans; however, one variable is true for all of these studies: curcuminoids must be delivered in their free, unaltered states in order to produce these effects. This obstacle is the reason why curcuminoids have taken off in the supplement industry but not in the space of conventional medicine. It’s also the obstacle that HALO clears.

We patented HALO because combining curcuminoids with the omega-3 phospholipids in Superba2™ creates the most effective delivery mechanism I’ve tested or researched. No other formula, supplement, or solution protects, delivers, and promotes uptake of active curcuminoids as effectively as HALO.

With HALO, we cracked the code to unlock curcuminoids’ full potential. In the next blog installment on HALO, I’ll explain the problem – and its solution – in depth.

If you’d like to learn more about other multivitamins and immune health, check this blog out.

References

Amalraj A, Divya S, Gopi S. The effects of bioavailable curcumin (Cureit) on delayed onset muscle soreness induced by eccentric continuous exercise: a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical study. J Med Food. 2020 May;23(5):545-53.
Campbell MS, Carlini NA, Fleenor BS. Influence of curcumin on performance and post-exercise recovery. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2020 Apr22;1-11.
Cardaci TD, Machek SB, Wilburn DT, Hwang PS, Willoughby DS. Ubiquitin proteasome system activity is suppressed by curcumin following exercise-induced muscle damage in human skeletal muscle J Am Coll Nutr. 2021 Jul;40(5):401-11.
Chilelli NC, Ragazzi E, Valentini R, Cosma C, Ferraresso S, Lapolla A, Sartore G. Curcumin and Boswellia serrate modulate the glycol-oxidative status and lipo-oxidation in master athletes. Nutrients. 2016 Nov21;8(11):745.
Doma K, Devantier-Thomas B, Gahreman D, Connor J. Selected root plant supplementation reduces indices of exercise-induced muscle damage: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Vitam Nutr Res 2020 Nov16;1-21.
Drobnic F, Riera J, Appendino G, Togni S, Franceschi F, Valle X, Pons A, Tur J. Reduction of delayed onset muscle soreness by a novel curcumin delivery system (Meriva): a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014 Jun18;11:31.
Fang W, Nasir Y. The effect of curcumin supplementation on recovery following exercise-induced muscle damage and delayed-onset muscle soreness: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytother Res. 2021 Apr;35(4):1768-81.
Fernandez-Lazaro D, Mielgo-Ayuso J, Calvo JS, Martinez AC, Garcia AC, Fernandez-Lazaro CI. Modulation of exercise-induced muscle damage, inflammation, and oxidative markers by curcumin supplementation in a physically active population: a systematic review. Nutrients. 2020 Feb15;12(2):501.
Hamidie RDR, Masuda K. Curcumin potentially to increase athletic performance through regulated mitochondrial biogenesis. IOP Conf Ser: Mater Sci Eng. 2017;180:012202
Hewlings SJ, Kalman DS. Curcumin: a review of its effects on human health. Foods. 2017 Oct22;6(10):92.
Jager R, Caldwell AR, Sanders E, Mitchel JB, Rogers J, Purpura M, Oliver JM. Curcumin reduces muscle damage and soreness following muscle-damaging exercise. FASEB J. 2017 Apr;31(1 Suppl):lb766.
Jager, R, Purpura M, Kersick CM. Eight weeks of a high dose of curcumin supplementation may attenuate performance decrements following muscle-damaging exercise. Nutrients. 2019 Jul23;11(7):1692.
McFarlin BK, Tanner EA, Gary MA, Davis AA, Bowman EM, Gary RS. Does acute improvement in muscle recovery with curcumin supplementation translate to long term training? J Sci Sport Exerc. 2019;1:203-7.
Oliver JM, Caldwell A, Sanders E, Mitchell J, Rowlands D, Purpura M, Jager R. Novel form of curcumin attenuates performance decrements following muscle damaging exercise. FASEB J. 2017 Apr;31(1 Suppl):lb415.
Roohi BN, Moradlou AN, Bolboli L. Influence of curcumin supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress. Asian J Sports Med. 2017 Mar;8(1):e35776.
Sorrenti V, Fortinguerra S, Caudullo G, Buriani A. Deciphering the role of polyphenols in sports performance: from nutritional genomics to the gut microbiota toward phytonutritional epigenomics. Nutrients. 2020 Apr29; 12(5):1265.
Suhett LG, de Miranda Monteiro Santos R, Silveira BKS, Leal ACG, de Brito ADM, de Novaes JF, Dell Lucia CM. Effects of curcumin supplementation on sport and physical exercise: a systematic review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2021;61(6):946-58.
Szymanski MC, Gillum TL, Gould LM, Morin DS, Kuennen MR. Short-term dietary curcumin supplementation reduces gastrointestinal barrier damage and physiological strain responses during exertional heat stress. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2018 Feb1;124(2):330-40.
Tanner EA, Gary MA, Davis AA, Michalik S, McFarlin BK. Alterations in systemic inflammatory response following a half-marathon race with a combined curcumin and pomegranate supplement: a feasibility study. J Diet Suppl. 2020a Jul13;1-17.
Tanner EA, Gary MA, Michalik S, Davis AA, McFarlin BK. Optimized curcumin, pomegranate extract, and methylsulfonylmethane reduce acute, systemic inflammatory response to a half-marathon race. Altern Ther Health Med. 2020b Jul1;AT6137.
Yoon WY, Lee K, Kim J. Curcumin supplementation and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS): effects, mechanisms, and practical considerations. Phys Act Nutr. 2020 Sep;24(3):39-43.