Post by Marcelo Oliveira on Aug 18, 2008 13:45:36 GMT -5
Hello everybody 
My name is Marcelo, I´m brazilian, 45 yo, and I have Becker´s muscular dystrophy. I would like to share some information about the experience I have been doing with curcumin.
All started when about a year ago I read the following paper:
"Curcumin Attenuates Dystrophic Pathology in mdx Mice through Inhibiting NF-κB Activation
M. S. Zhu, C. Chen, Y. L. Hu, S. Chen - China
The dystrophin-glycoprotein complex has emerged as a scaffold responsible for the membrane docking of signaling proteins. There is no definitive cure available currently. In dystrophin-deficient muscular dystrophy, abnormal activation of signal pathways may play important roles in dystrophic pathogenesis. In this report, we found a natural botanical gradient, curcumin, capable of attenuating dystrophic pathology significantly and the mechanism underlying was involved in NF-κB inhibition. After treating X-linked muscular dystrophy (mdx) mice with 1 to 10 mg of curcumin, the sarcolemmic integrity assessed by Evans blue staining and muscle strength determined both by grip strength test and traction test were improved significantly. Histological analysis demonstrated that curcumin reduced severity of myofibril necrosis and extent of regenerating fibers as well as the variability in size of fibers. Creatine kinase level and the expressions of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukine-1 beta and inducible nitric oxide synthase were decreased also after curcumin treatment. Consistently, elevated NF-κB activity in muscle fibers of mdx mice decreased after curcumin administration. Since curcumin is a non-toxic compound derived from C.longa, which was widely used in healthy food. The possible effect of curcumin may be worth studying in Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapy.
(46th Annual Meeting American Society for Cell Biology - San Diego, December 2006)"
I got really curious about the substance. Then I began to search about it on the net, and found lots of good information not only from lay sources, but also from the Pubmed repository and others.
More information here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curcumin
Curcumin have lots of good properties, and for those who would like to learn a bit more, I can e-mail you lots of information. It is a very powerful antioxidant, lowers NFK-beta (which seems to be good to MD), etc.
I found out also that curcumin was already being tested against many other diseases: multiple myeloma (MD Anderson), Alzheimer, Cystic Fibrosis, colon cancer, etc, etc, and all works stated that as far as it could be checked, curcumin is pretty safe, even at higher doses like 8 grams.
The major problem with curcumin is its very low bioavailability, because it is very poorly soluble in water and badly absorbed in the intestines. So the major issue regarding curcumin is to find a good way to improve its bioavailability (more about this latter).
Through the net I contacted a fine woman in Italy who has taking 8 grams/day of curcumin for more than a year, and has fighting her multiple myeloma cancer with great success . Her blog has also lots and lots of good information on curcumin.
margaret.healthblogs.org/
Since everything pointed to the fact that curcumin was a secure substance, I decided to give it a try and started my own experience.
At that time I didn´t had curcumin in capsules, as is available in the US and europe, so I bought curcuma longa in powder form. Yes, the spice. Its is very cheap here in Brazil, and the curcuminoids are extracted from its roots.
But here began my problems: curcuma longa´s roots have only 4 to 5 percent of curcuminoids per weight. So, to take 300 to 400 mg of curcuminoids, I would have to take about 10 grams/day of curcuma longa´s root. Nevertheless I decided to go ahead, and began taking 3 grams daily of curcuma longa´s root. As soon as I was sure that everything was okay, I elevated the dose till I reached 10 grams daily.
Let me make some points clear:
Curcuma longa´s roots (the spice) have lots of substances in it, but only about 5% of curcuminoids. When I say curcuminoids, I´m saying curcumin, the principal curcuminoid, and the other two curcuminoids: demethoxycurcumin and Bis-demethoxycurcumin. Curcumin is the most important from the 3 curcuminoids, but some studies have shown that if the 3 are taken together, they work even better.
Another important thing is the fact that curcuminoids have a very low bioavailability. I read that only doses higher then 2 grams (of curcuminoids) reach the blood.
I do not recommend anybody to take the root (in powder) as I did, at least not 10 grams daily. I didn´t feel anything bad (not at least during the 4 months I took it), just the spice scent coming out from my urine and pores
. But the the ideal is to take curcuminoids in capsules, in a standardized extract. Some brands, as the one I take (more on it latter), mix the standardized curcuminoids with black pepper extract, which is said to improve bioavailability by 2000%.
www.bioperine.com/BioWithCur.htm
The outcomes:
See, I am an engineer, not a doctor, but I´m very criterious and I´m sure that what I felt had nothing to do with placebo effect !
After taking 10 grams of curcuma longa daily (the spice) for 4 months, which is about 400 mg of curcuminoids, I noticed an unmistakable improvement in my muscles. I felt a clear step upward, and was getting much less tired at the end of the day. Before it, I used to go to bed at about 10 PM REALLY TIRED ! After it, I was still fine at 11-12 PM.
Due to a bad surgery I had in 2000, my respiratory muscles got very weak. So at 10 PM I used to be breathing hard, crazy to put my bipap on.
After the curcuminoids, at 11-12 PM I was much better, breathing much better, much less tired.
Before I started taking the curcuma´s longa powder, I did a CPK measurement: it and it showed 169. After 4 months it went down 9% ! And this doing things the worst way: taking curcuma longa´s powder.
The next month, my standardized curcuminoids arrived, and I began taking 5 grams daily. But now, it was a "concentrated" mix of curcuminoids with piperine, an additive intended to improve the bioavailability. My CPK went down to 144 (down 17%), and stopped there.
I feel stronger, get less tired, and my respiratory muscles got even better. Believe in me: I can now even whistle. My wife keeps asking me to speak lower (and talk less also LOL).
Recently I had to stop taking my curcumin for 1 month. Just to check, I measured my CPK: it went up to 214 ! Then I restarted my curcumin and one month latter I measured the CPK again: it went down to 139, a 54%
variation !!!
Some considerations:
1. For me, its hard to have a good feeling about my strength, if I´m stronger, or not, etc, because I´m a 45 yo Beckers´s MD and my muscles ARE weak. But because I do feel less tired now, and breath much more easily, speak more etc, I infer that my muscles got better due to curcumin.
2. I cannot explain the fact that some researchers says that curminoids reach the blood only in doses above 2 grams, and while I was taking only 400 mg of curcuminoids (during my curcuma´s root powder phase), I was already feeling better. The answer to this question I don´t know, but I was really feeling better !
Maybe the answer is that because I was taking the whole root, I took something more than just curcuminoids. And this "something more" did the trick. In fact, oriental people (indians, etc) has been using curcuma as a medicine for 3000 years, in dietary quantities (as a spice), and nevertheless getting lots of benefices !
3. This is the curcumin brand I take (5 grams daily), and it was the curcumin of choice of the MD Anderson´s multiple myeloma trial. It also has piperine (bioferine).:
www.vitacost.com/Doctors-Best-Best-Curcumin
4. If you are going to start curcumin for muscular dystrophy, don´t forget to measure your son´s CPK before beginning. It´s not a determinant parameter, but I think it is something easy to measure for a posterior comparation.
5. And as happens to most complements, don´t wait results as soon as you start. To me things improved only after 3 to 4 months, so be patient.
Best regards
Marcelo
My name is Marcelo, I´m brazilian, 45 yo, and I have Becker´s muscular dystrophy. I would like to share some information about the experience I have been doing with curcumin.
All started when about a year ago I read the following paper:
"Curcumin Attenuates Dystrophic Pathology in mdx Mice through Inhibiting NF-κB Activation
M. S. Zhu, C. Chen, Y. L. Hu, S. Chen - China
The dystrophin-glycoprotein complex has emerged as a scaffold responsible for the membrane docking of signaling proteins. There is no definitive cure available currently. In dystrophin-deficient muscular dystrophy, abnormal activation of signal pathways may play important roles in dystrophic pathogenesis. In this report, we found a natural botanical gradient, curcumin, capable of attenuating dystrophic pathology significantly and the mechanism underlying was involved in NF-κB inhibition. After treating X-linked muscular dystrophy (mdx) mice with 1 to 10 mg of curcumin, the sarcolemmic integrity assessed by Evans blue staining and muscle strength determined both by grip strength test and traction test were improved significantly. Histological analysis demonstrated that curcumin reduced severity of myofibril necrosis and extent of regenerating fibers as well as the variability in size of fibers. Creatine kinase level and the expressions of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukine-1 beta and inducible nitric oxide synthase were decreased also after curcumin treatment. Consistently, elevated NF-κB activity in muscle fibers of mdx mice decreased after curcumin administration. Since curcumin is a non-toxic compound derived from C.longa, which was widely used in healthy food. The possible effect of curcumin may be worth studying in Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapy.
(46th Annual Meeting American Society for Cell Biology - San Diego, December 2006)"
I got really curious about the substance. Then I began to search about it on the net, and found lots of good information not only from lay sources, but also from the Pubmed repository and others.
More information here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curcumin
Curcumin have lots of good properties, and for those who would like to learn a bit more, I can e-mail you lots of information. It is a very powerful antioxidant, lowers NFK-beta (which seems to be good to MD), etc.
I found out also that curcumin was already being tested against many other diseases: multiple myeloma (MD Anderson), Alzheimer, Cystic Fibrosis, colon cancer, etc, etc, and all works stated that as far as it could be checked, curcumin is pretty safe, even at higher doses like 8 grams.
The major problem with curcumin is its very low bioavailability, because it is very poorly soluble in water and badly absorbed in the intestines. So the major issue regarding curcumin is to find a good way to improve its bioavailability (more about this latter).
Through the net I contacted a fine woman in Italy who has taking 8 grams/day of curcumin for more than a year, and has fighting her multiple myeloma cancer with great success . Her blog has also lots and lots of good information on curcumin.
margaret.healthblogs.org/
Since everything pointed to the fact that curcumin was a secure substance, I decided to give it a try and started my own experience.
At that time I didn´t had curcumin in capsules, as is available in the US and europe, so I bought curcuma longa in powder form. Yes, the spice. Its is very cheap here in Brazil, and the curcuminoids are extracted from its roots.
But here began my problems: curcuma longa´s roots have only 4 to 5 percent of curcuminoids per weight. So, to take 300 to 400 mg of curcuminoids, I would have to take about 10 grams/day of curcuma longa´s root. Nevertheless I decided to go ahead, and began taking 3 grams daily of curcuma longa´s root. As soon as I was sure that everything was okay, I elevated the dose till I reached 10 grams daily.
Let me make some points clear:
Curcuma longa´s roots (the spice) have lots of substances in it, but only about 5% of curcuminoids. When I say curcuminoids, I´m saying curcumin, the principal curcuminoid, and the other two curcuminoids: demethoxycurcumin and Bis-demethoxycurcumin. Curcumin is the most important from the 3 curcuminoids, but some studies have shown that if the 3 are taken together, they work even better.
Another important thing is the fact that curcuminoids have a very low bioavailability. I read that only doses higher then 2 grams (of curcuminoids) reach the blood.
I do not recommend anybody to take the root (in powder) as I did, at least not 10 grams daily. I didn´t feel anything bad (not at least during the 4 months I took it), just the spice scent coming out from my urine and pores
. But the the ideal is to take curcuminoids in capsules, in a standardized extract. Some brands, as the one I take (more on it latter), mix the standardized curcuminoids with black pepper extract, which is said to improve bioavailability by 2000%.www.bioperine.com/BioWithCur.htm
The outcomes:
See, I am an engineer, not a doctor, but I´m very criterious and I´m sure that what I felt had nothing to do with placebo effect !
After taking 10 grams of curcuma longa daily (the spice) for 4 months, which is about 400 mg of curcuminoids, I noticed an unmistakable improvement in my muscles. I felt a clear step upward, and was getting much less tired at the end of the day. Before it, I used to go to bed at about 10 PM REALLY TIRED ! After it, I was still fine at 11-12 PM.
Due to a bad surgery I had in 2000, my respiratory muscles got very weak. So at 10 PM I used to be breathing hard, crazy to put my bipap on.
After the curcuminoids, at 11-12 PM I was much better, breathing much better, much less tired.
Before I started taking the curcuma´s longa powder, I did a CPK measurement: it and it showed 169. After 4 months it went down 9% ! And this doing things the worst way: taking curcuma longa´s powder.
The next month, my standardized curcuminoids arrived, and I began taking 5 grams daily. But now, it was a "concentrated" mix of curcuminoids with piperine, an additive intended to improve the bioavailability. My CPK went down to 144 (down 17%), and stopped there.
I feel stronger, get less tired, and my respiratory muscles got even better. Believe in me: I can now even whistle. My wife keeps asking me to speak lower (and talk less also LOL).
Recently I had to stop taking my curcumin for 1 month. Just to check, I measured my CPK: it went up to 214 ! Then I restarted my curcumin and one month latter I measured the CPK again: it went down to 139, a 54%
variation !!!
Some considerations:
1. For me, its hard to have a good feeling about my strength, if I´m stronger, or not, etc, because I´m a 45 yo Beckers´s MD and my muscles ARE weak. But because I do feel less tired now, and breath much more easily, speak more etc, I infer that my muscles got better due to curcumin.
2. I cannot explain the fact that some researchers says that curminoids reach the blood only in doses above 2 grams, and while I was taking only 400 mg of curcuminoids (during my curcuma´s root powder phase), I was already feeling better. The answer to this question I don´t know, but I was really feeling better !
Maybe the answer is that because I was taking the whole root, I took something more than just curcuminoids. And this "something more" did the trick. In fact, oriental people (indians, etc) has been using curcuma as a medicine for 3000 years, in dietary quantities (as a spice), and nevertheless getting lots of benefices !
3. This is the curcumin brand I take (5 grams daily), and it was the curcumin of choice of the MD Anderson´s multiple myeloma trial. It also has piperine (bioferine).:
www.vitacost.com/Doctors-Best-Best-Curcumin
4. If you are going to start curcumin for muscular dystrophy, don´t forget to measure your son´s CPK before beginning. It´s not a determinant parameter, but I think it is something easy to measure for a posterior comparation.
5. And as happens to most complements, don´t wait results as soon as you start. To me things improved only after 3 to 4 months, so be patient.
Best regards
Marcelo
. 
No problem at all HB 
