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08.05.2013

Curcumin boosts positive effect of exercise on blood vessels

Cardio training makes your blood vessels healthier. Raising your heart rate rejuvenates the epithelium layer of the walls of your blood vessels. This process of rejuvenation is helped not only by training, but also by taking curcumin [structural formula shown here], researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan discovered.

Curcumin
Curcumin is the primary active ingredient in turmeric. It has a broad range of positive health effects. Curcumin has an anabolic/anticatabolic effect in muscle tissue, it inhibits the conversion of amino acids into energy, it protects the prostate against androgens, boosts the blood vessel widening effect of NO – and may also possibly slow the rate at which your hair turns grey. Not bad.

Study
Japanese researchers recently published studies in which they studied the effect of curcumin on the blood vessels of post-menopausal women. [Nutr Res. 2012 Oct; 32(10): 795-9.] After the menopause women are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, and the researchers looked at whether a simple exercise programme could do something to alleviate this.

At the start of the programme the researchers got 22 subjects to walk or cycle for 30 minutes three times a week at 60 percent of their maximal heart rate. At the end of the test the women were doing 40-60 minutes at 70-75 percent of their maximal heart rate.

Eleven women did the exercise only [Exercise]. Eleven other women exercised and also took a daily 150 mg curcumin [Curcumin]. The women used Theracurmin, a product manufactured by the Japanese Theravalues Corporation. According to the manufacturer the body absorbs this form of curcumin better than regular curcumin.

A control group consisting of another ten women did nothing at all [Control].

Before starting on the exercise programme and at the end the researchers measured the women's flow-mediated dilation. They closed off a blood vessel in the arm, and then released it so that the blood could flow freely and measured the extent to which the blood vessels widened. The bigger the widening, the healthier the blood vessels.

Results
The figure below shows that the flow-mediated dilation increased significantly in the Exercise and Curcumin groups. The effect is slightly stronger in the Curcumin group, but the difference between the improvement in the Exercise and the Curcumin groups is not significant.

The researchers showed a greater success in another publication, from a study in which they had looked at a different indicator of blood vessel health: the carotid arterial compliance. [Am J Hypertens. 2012 Jun; 25(6): 651-6.]

The carotids are the blood vessels that supply the brain with blood. Because the brain's blood vessels are vulnerable, the carotids have to be able to supply large quantities of blood, but at the same time the blood pressure in the brain mustn't get too high. They achieve this by widening. The higher the carotid arterial compliance is the suppler the carotids are and the better they do their work. Ageing causes a reduction in the carotid arterial compliance, and this speeds up after the menopause.

The figure below shows that exercise increased carotid arterial compliance, and that curcumin supplementation boosted this effect significantly. Click on the figure for a larger version.

On this occasion the researchers also had a group of women that took curcumin but did not exercise.

How curcumin boosts the effects of exercise the Japanese researchers don't know. They speculate that curcumin blocks the effect of the inflammatory protein TNF-alpha, but have no data to back this up.

Conclusion
"Curcumin ingestion alone increases arterial compliance in postmenopausal women", the researchers conclude. "Combining curcumin ingestion with aerobic exercise training more effectively increases arterial compliance than curcumin ingestion or aerobic exercise training alone."

"Regular curcumin ingestion and aerobic exercise may be effective lifestyle modifications for minimizing and reversing the loss of carotid arterial compliance with advancing age in women."

Source:
Nutr Res. 2012 Oct;32(10):795-9.

More:
The effects of curcumin in healthy people 05.04.2013
Isoflavone + curcumin cocktail cuts chance of prostate cancer 18.03.2012
Curcumin, isoflavone and androgen mix protects prostate 03.09.2011

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Curcumin

Combination of fish oil and curcumin activates anabolism in inactive muscles If you do not use your muscles, your body breaks them down. The elderly, the seriously ill, injured athletes and astronauts know all about it.	More muscles in old age thanks to curcumin supplementation As you get older, your body loses more and more muscle mass. Initially the decay of your muscles is so slow that you hardly notice it, but every year the decay process runs a little faster than the year before.	Curcumin enhances the effect of running on muscle cells Intensive exercise makes your muscle cells function at a higher level. They will repair themselves better and protect themselves better against damage, generate more energy and absorb more glucose from the blood.