Curcumin compares well to antidepressant drugs

A highly absorbable form of curcumin (as BCM-95®,  distributed by Europharma) helped alleviate depression comparably to a couple of well-known antidepressant drugs in an animal study published in the journal Acta Poloniae Pharmaceutica (2011;68(5):769-75).

In the recent study, researchers compared BCM-95 to fluoxetine (active ingredient in Prozac®) and imipramine (active ingredient in Tofranil®) in an animal scientific model of depression.  They found the effect of the 100 mg/kg  curcumin was similar to that of the two drugs, but adding curcumin to the drugs had no amplified effects. They also found no adverse safety issues with the curcumin.

The researchers concluded curcumin's antidepressant- like activity could be due to an increase in brain levels of neurotransmitters including serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. "Curcumin can be a useful antidepressant especially in cases which respond to drugs having mixed effects on serotonin and catecholamines levels in the brain," they wrote.

BCM-95 is an extract of the spice turmeric, but only 2 to 5% of turmeric is curcumin. It was previously shown in human research to have 10-times the absorption of standard curcumin (Indian J Pharm Sci. 2008;70(4):445-449).

It does not matter how much you takeit matters how much you absorb," said Benny Antony, lead author of the absorption trial. On the recent depression study, Antony reasoned the absorption improvements are influential on health benefits seen in recent studies. "BCM-95 curcumin is not only significantly better absorbed than standard curcumin; the curcuminoids are absorbed in the ratio in which they occur in nature," he said. "I personally feel this plays a role in BCM-95s effectiveness, and I am glad to see more studies illuminating the health benefits of this extraordinary herb."