ENHANCING THE ABSORPTION OF CURCUMINOIDS FROM FORMULATED TURMERIC EXTRACTS

The Turmeric (Curcuma Longa.L) plant, a perennial herb belonging to the ginger family is cultivated extensively in South East Asian countries. The polyphenols Curcumin, De methoxy curcumin and Bisdemethoxy curcumin collectively known as curcuminoids ,which aid in the treatment of degenerative diseases like cancer, alzheimer’s, cardio vascular diseases, arthritis, diabetes and immune deficiencies .Curcuminoids are generally present in the rhizome in the ratio  Curcumin : DMC : BDMC 55-60% : 19 -21 % :20–24% respectively. When the rhizhome is extracted and the curcuminoids isolated from the extract,there is a composition change from what is naturally found in the rhizhome. The present study gives a comparative data of bio-absorption of two turmeric formulations containing curcuminoids in a varied composition compared to regular turmeric extract. Regular Turmeric extract with 96.5% curcuminoids and two different formulation containing 7.8% curcuminoids and 51% curcuminoids were orally administered to adult albino rats which were divided into 10 groups based on different doses of test item (50 mg/kg, 150mg/kg, 300mg/kg).The absorption of curcuminoids was studied by estimating the percentage of curcuminoids in faeces. The study shows that the absorption of curcuminoids in regular turmeric extract was 68 to 72% in three doses where as the absorption of curcuminoids of Formulation I and Formulation II were 97 to 99% and 99.6% to 99.7% respectively. An increase in absorption rate was evidently seen for turmeric formulations compared to the regular turmeric extract