NutraBio Curcumin Advanced Brings Bioavailability and Digestion

NutraBio keeps dropping some of the category-best products we’ve seen in years. February 2019 continues with January’s momentum, as the Mark Glazier-led brand released Curcumin Advanced, an ultra-bioavailable form of the all-around anti-inflammatory curcumin with some extra goodies included! Today we’ll discuss how the three-pronged bioavailability improvement helps take the turmeric-derived ingredient to the next level.

NutraBio Curcumin Advanced has a phenomenal extract used, two digestive support ingredients, and two absorption enhancing ingredients!

Better Supporting Ingredients, Better Bioavailability

Curcumin Advanced is a joint health, digestive health, and general anti-inflammatory supplement. We’re often surprised by the massive amount of pixie-dusted ingredients stuffed into a few capsules by the competition, but NutraBio takes a different route with Curcumin Advanced. It stands alone amongst the competition as the formula is designed around one potent ingredient: curcumin. One only needs to look to Amazon to realize that there are hundreds of curcumin offerings on the market. However, after looking how how they put this one together, Curcumin Advanced may be the one actually worth buying.

Reason being, Curcumin is often plagued with poor bioavailability. Typically, very little curcumin that is orally ingested is helpful to the body. Instead of making another kitchen sink joint health product, NutraBio attacked the weaknesses of curcumin to bring out its true potential.

We discuss NutraBio’s methods of improving absorption below, and then get into whether curcumin even worth taking… but first, you must sign up for PricePlow’s NutraBio news alerts below, because they’re on a tear with tons of free samples and new products!

NutraBio Curcumin Advanced Ingredients

A phenomenal curcumin extract, two digestive support ingredients, and two absorption enhancers. Let’s go:

• Curcumin C3 Reduct – std to 95% tetrahydrocurcuminoids (400mg)

  

  Curcumin C3 Reduct has 95% tetrahydrocurcuminoid content, but that’s not all in this one!

  Curcumin C3 Reduct is trademarked extract of curcumin that utilizes turmeric as its source like all other forms of curcumin. Turmeric is an astonishingly healthy compound and a popular supplement in its own right. But broad spectrum turmeric isn’t what we want — it’s thought that the benefits of turmeric supplementation occur due to its massive curcumin content — so an extract allows for a smaller dose while still enjoying the benefits you’d expect from dietary turmeric intake.^[1]

  How it works as an anti-inflammatory: COX-2 Inhibition

  Curcumin itself is a polyphenol that may improve joint health, digestion, immune function, and how the body handles inflammation.^[2-6] It acts akin to NSAIDs, as curcumin may inhibit cytokine formation through inhibition of the enzyme COX-2.^[5-6] COX-2, as opposed to COX-1, is generally only elevated in times of inflammation — so targeting this enzyme is preferred. Interestingly, NSAIDs that target COX-2 can cause cardiovascular issues but curcumin actually may be cardioprotective.^[7-8] This product may be smarter than taking NSAIDs — which is insane to think about. However, it’s always recommended to speak to your physician before using any supplement, especially if used alongside or in place of drugs (over-the-counter or otherwise) or if you have any medical issue.

  Back to bioavailability

  

  Joints not working as well as you wish they would? Get this in your stack and feel the difference!

  But then we get back to the bioavailability problems.

  While the above benefits sound amazing on paper — traditional curcumin isn’t digested well by the body.^[9] NutraBio utilizes Curcumin C3 Reduct from the Sabinsa Corporation as it’s standardized to a massive 95% of tetrahydrocurcuminoids by weight. What’s unique here is that it’s actually colorless — the hydrogenated compounds are demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin specifically, and are cascading antioxidants (and the major metabolites) of curcuminoids.

  So this is the first of our three-pronged approach in improving bioavailability — choosing a better-standardized raw material to begin with!

  According to the manufacturers of this extract, using tetrahydrocurcuminoids over other forms of curcumin allows for both rapid and enhanced absorption.^[10] Tetrahydrocurcuinoids are also shown to have primarily antioxidant characteristics with little pro-oxidant effects,^[11] a benefit we find more important than the heightened digestion rate, because we still have two bonus ingredients to help with the absorption problem.

  The dose here is perfect and clinically proven.

• Bromelain 2400GDU/g (175mg)

  Bromelain is the next punch in the digestive aid aspect of Curcumin Advanced. Bromelain is a protease (protein digesting enzyme) extracted from pineapple that helps the body break proteins down into their constituent amino acids. It also may improve joint health, reduce DOMs, and even help clear stuffy sinuses!^[12-13] The inclusion of Bromelain in Curcumin Advanced may be due to research showing that this enzyme may help large molecules be absorbed into the blood from the GI tract.^[14]

  

  Ginger does great things in the sports nutrition world for weight loss and even testosterone, but we all knew it first for its digestion qualities!

  We love Bromelain and believe it is chronically underutilized AND underdosed. Thankfully, NutraBio uses a massive dose for Curcumin Advanced.

• Ginger Root Extract 5% Gingerols (100mg)

  Ginger is likely the most well known digestion improving herb in the world. Beyond being delicious and pungent, it’s packed with substances called gingerols. This extract is standardized to 5% gingerols by weight — which is admittedly low compared to some products. However, the dose NutraBio uses here makes up for the less potent extract, which makes sense for digestion support (if going after weight loss, then higher 6-gingerol may make sense, but that’s not the primary goal here).

  As alluded to above, beyond its ability to improve digestive health, ginger supplementation may help treat obesity symptoms and reduce weight gain on high-fat diets.^[15-17] Oddly enough, ginger can speed up energy expenditure and may cause weight loss!^[18]

  We won’t dismiss this, although it’s not why most people are taking Curcumin Advanced. Just a fantastic root no matter which way you slice it.

• AstraGin (50mg) and BioPerine (5mg)

  This is where the game gets changed, and everyone at PricePlow gave the “PricePlow Approved” stamp when we saw both of these on the label. This is a combo we’ve wanted for years now and we’re psyched that NutraBio was the company that delivered it!

  Now for parts two and three of our three-pronged approach in improving curcumin’s bioavailability:

  • AstraGin

    

    Finally, someone uses AstraGin and BioPerine for the ultimate in Curcumin enhancement!

    AstraGin is a trademarked combination of astragalus and panax ginseng. While both of these compounds are adaptogens and great for general health, this combination is thrown into Curcumin Advanced as a bioavailability boosting agent.^[18,19] We sometimes prefer it over BioPerine due to the health benefits adaptogens confer to users, but we don’t have to choose this time! Better yet, the manufacturers have data showing that AstraGin helps curcumin absorption.^[20]

    Update: More Astragin + Curcumin Data

    We contacted NuLivScience to see how they substantiated their claims that AstraGin worked with curcumin. They rapidly responded with two PDFs,^[23,24] each of which citing a lot of research. Not only do they show that AstraGin can improve the uptake of curcumin, they show separate data on Curcumin with Piperine,^[24] which is exactly what we have here given the BioPerine ingredient below!

  • BioPerine

    BioPerine is a trademarked black pepper extract, standardized for 95% piperine (the pungent part of your black pepper that gives its flavor and scent). Our long-time fans are used to seeing BioPerine in almost every product. However, what’s the original ingredient that showed 2000% bioavailability improvement when paired with piperine? Curcumin!!^[21]

    

    Bioperine is the trusted, trademarked form of black pepper extract that promises 95% or greater piperine, the part of black pepper with all the activity!

    Companies use BioPerine to improve the oral bioavailability of all kinds of products, but curcumin is where it really works. There is a growing body of research showing that BioPerine works especially well with Curcumin,^[22] so this is a great add by NutraBio, regardless of what form of curcumin is used or if AstraGin is added.

On quality, third party testing, and USA manufacturing

Beyond its more digestible form of curcumin, Curcumin Advanced offers other advantages. The serving size is only two capsules compared to huge amounts other companies use as a serving size. It’s standardized to 95% of what we want. It has ginger as a supporting ingredient. And as always, the product is third party verified (in addition of the testing done in-house) — you can even look up your exact batch to know what you’re eating is real. Finally, it’s manufactured in the USA, a factor that we certainly care about given the brand’s close adherence to cGMP manufacturing guidelines.

NutraBio stepping up the herb game?!

NutraBio is a bit cautious when sourcing herbs, because Mark Glazier is so adamant about quality testing, and they often reject a lot of lower-yield materials before approving of a batch. This caused NutraBio’s Maca to go out of stock for a while, for instance.

Long story short, it looks like they finally found a good one in the Curcumin C3 Reduct in Curcumin Advanced, just like they did with KSM-66 Ashwagandha. The future is bright!

Two caps a day, but our bonus thoughts: take with a fat source like your fish oil!

Dosage: Two caps a day

Curcumin is lipophilic, meaning it’s fat soluble. So our suggestion? Take it alongside a fat source, a perfect example of which would be your fish oil!

Even though Curcumin Advanced has all of these great bioavailability improvements, it doesn’t hurt to have a “carrier” alongside!

Conclusion: Finally, what we want in a curcumin supplement

NutraBio’s Curcumin Brings Bioavailability and Digestion Support, and it’s of course third-party lab tested!

Curcumin Advanced is a home-run. We love the extract used, and we love the supporting cast — both for digestion and for bioavailability.

It’s easily our new-go-to recommendation for lifters suffering from joint pain or inflammation, but realize that NutraBio doesn’t just need to cater this one to athletes like many of their other supplements. Curcumin is something that nearly everyone should at least understand, and understand how to work around its “deficits” as done here.

Whether you’re in for protecting your joints from those long lifting sessions or are simply looking at cardiovascular and digestive help, your curcumin supplement needs to be well-formulated — and that’s exactly what Mark Glazier and team did with Curcumin Advanced here. If you find yourself constantly in pain, give Curcumin Advanced a try and let us know what you think below!

The full Curcumin Advanced Label