8 replies to this topic

[ToJump]

So everybody here is probably familiar with curcumin. You also probably know that piperine is supposed to enhance absorption. However, the Wikipedia page for Piperine states that it's highly soluble in acohol, while not very soluble in water:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piperine

Thus, if we need Piperine to absorb "basic" Curcumin (e.g.: not BCM-95, Meriva or Longvida), should we consume Piperine/black pepper with alcohol such as vodka?

[deeptrance]

As you are aware, you can ingest substances that are not water soluble that will be absorbed into the bloodstream from the gut. The world inside your stomach and intestines bears no resemblance to test tubes and beakers. 

 

In other words, there is no point in consuming alcohol with piperine, unless you simply want to.

[Kalliste]

As you are aware, you can ingest substances that are not water soluble that will be absorbed into the bloodstream from the gut. The world inside your stomach and intestines bears no resemblance to test tubes and beakers.

In other words, there is no point in consuming alcohol with piperine, unless you simply want to.

Did you start that rant without knowing a thing about curcumin? It is a compound with a very poor pharmacodynamics. It needs piperine, ginger, oil, cooking or specially made formulations, nanoforms, liposomal and so on or else the body will kick it out. I've wondered about alcohol in small doses myself.

[deeptrance]

If you look at the context of my post you will see that it is about the absorption of piperine, not curcumin. Also, in case English isn't your first language, the word "rant" doesn't apply in this instance. A rant is like a tirade and is usually longer. There was nothing angry or hostile about my comment. 

 

I will edit my post to quote the comment immediately preceding it so that the context is more obvious. If you have other relevant objections to my remarks then let me know. Thanks. *EDIT* - I see that there was only one comment in the thread and I replied to it, so now I'm very confused by your reply to me.

Edited by deeptrance, 07 February 2015 - 09:44 PM.

[Kalliste]

I did not understand your post and was in a bad mood writing that, I'm sorry.

[deeptrance]

No probz. I did something exactly like that last night, and I wasn't even in a bad mood. I just totally misunderstood what someone was saying on a political thread and I get pretty wild about certain political issues. 

[Galaxyshock]

Turmeric probably already contains synergistic compounds to make curcumin bioactive, yet there is this pharmaceutical perverted need to isolate compounds to make them drug-like, only to discover the benefits of the herbs are lost and you need to start adding other things to make them work, or ditch them as "inactive crap".

[deeptrance]

Galaxyshock, what you're saying is probably true in some cases and not in others. There's nothing about physical reality that is designed for humans, so we can't make any sweeping statements about how various aspects of our physical environment might affect us. I think we all tend to operate as though the world is made for us, and with that as an unconscious assumption we then generate conscious beliefs about how it works.

 

In the case of herbs, for example, we could adopt the philosophy that they must all be taken whole because they're already optimized for us by nature or God or whatever, and this seems to be the underlying belief behind Ayurveda and other traditional systems. 

 

The polar opposite approach is to see nature as raw material for us to refine and shape for our purposes, with the belief here being that nature or God endowed us with the capacity to reason and to improve on the found condition of things. 

 

I guess my paradigm is that the world is spectacularly complex and there is no formula we can apply to how any of it works at the level of complex adaptive systems and their responses to inputs and environmental conditions. So, with respect to curcumin and piperine, I think you could be right and I think you could be wrong. Fortunately there are objective ways to investigate such claims.

Edited by deeptrance, 17 February 2015 - 08:35 PM.

[Galaxyshock]

Not sure why I started ranting hehe, good post deeptrance, I agree with your points. Should look more into turmeric to see what else there is besides curcumin.