Curcumin is a natural orange-yellow pigment found in turmeric rhizomes. Widely used in food as a natural pigment, in China, natural color is used for coloring sausage products, canned food, soy sauce products, and other products in the United States.

Main applications of curcumin

The FDA approves curcumin for use as a food additive. It is also used as a natural herbal medicine in traditional medicine to protect the liver and delay inflammation. Recent studies have found that curcumin has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, lipid-lowering, and anti-aging properties. It can also strengthen enzymes that metabolize free radicals in the body, prevent them from attacking DNA in cells, and prevent cell mutation damage, thereby achieving anti-cancer effects.

Reasons for low curcumin bioavailability

Most active ingredients are ingested orally and need to cross a series of barriers in the process of reaching the site of action through blood circulation. Such as the solubility of the active ingredient itself, the role of acids, enzymes, microorganisms, and food in the gastrointestinal tract, the absorption of gastrointestinal epithelial cells, intestinal and liver metabolism, and so on.

However, the oral absorption of curcumin is poor, and most of it is excreted in its original form. When an adult takes 12g of curcumin orally, the highest blood concentration is only 57.6ng/ml, and its bioavailability is only 1%. Curcumin belongs to the fourth category of low solubility and low permeability.

Importance of increasing curcumin bioavailability

Therefore, it is very important to improve the biological response rate of curcumin. A novel carrier for enhancing oral absorption of curcumin. The turmeric is prepared in the form of a nano-colloid, and the original particle size of turmeric powder is reduced to 0.19um, which can improve the solubility, light resistance, and heat stability. 30mg of nano-turmeric was wrapped in a film made of starch and mixed with 100mL of boiling water for subjects to ingest.

After that, blood was drawn to test the content of turmeric in plasma, and it was found that the utilization rate of nano-turmeric was 27 times higher than that of turmeric powder. The current water-soluble curcumin not only improves the bioavailability of turmeric but also improves the stability of light and heat, which greatly improves the application of curcumin in food additives and functional beverages.

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