Rheumatoid Arthritis and Turmeric with Bioperine - How Do They Work Together?

Nature has packed in the cure for every ailment within itself. One such natural medicine is turmeric with black pepper extracts (patented as Bioperine). It works magic for people who are suffering from Rheumatoid arthritis.

We all are familiar with turmeric and if you don’t know what turmeric is, let me explain. Turmeric is a plant that belongs to the ginger family; It has a yellow-colored rhizome (root) that is commonly used for cooking especially in Asian kitchens.

Besides giving the dishes a yellow tinge and a great flavor, it also holds some medicinal properties. Since the time of immemorial, turmeric is known for its therapeutic and healing properties. 

This is because of the anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antimicrobial, and healing properties that it has got. This golden spice has been found to do wonders with Rheumatoid arthritis as well. Now, you might be wondering, how can this piece of root heal my joint pains? For understanding this, let me give you an outline about the condition - Rheumatoid arthritis first.

What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that affects your joints. The pain is caused due to the damage that the joints undergo. According to a study, about 28.9% of women and 20.9% of men in the US have this painful condition.

Initially, the joint ache is bearable and shows up especially during cold climates or extreme physical work. After its progression, the pain won’t leave your side, and sometimes it’s so intense that you may go for painkillers. The damage, if it happens to one side of your body, is very likely to happen on the other side too.

As indicated, this is an autoimmune disease which means this is the result of your body attacking its body tissues. Now, why the body does such stupidity is seemingly unknown, and extensive research is still going on.

In this condition, the synovium, which is a protective layer between your joints for preventing friction, is inflamed. This inflammation leads to the thickening of synovium which in turn causes damage to your cartilages, bones, ligaments, and tendons. This will gradually lead to deformation of the joints and cause pain.

What Are Its Risk Factors?

1. Genetic factors. If someone in your family has Rheumatoid arthritis, the chances of you developing it increases.
2. Your age. Even if it can occur at any age, rheumatoid arthritis is most likely to develop during the middle ages.
3. Your sex. If you are a woman, you are at a higher risk of this condition compared to men.
4. The body weight. Unhealthy weight gains leading to obesity might put you at a higher risk of developing Rheumatoid arthritis.
5. Environmental factors. Exposure to pollutants like asbestos and silica is suspected of causing Rheumatoid arthritis.
6. Smoking. The severity of this condition exaggerates if you are a smoker; Smoking also increases the risk of developing this disease especially if you are predisposed genetically.

How Does Turmeric Help With Rheumatoid Arthritis?

The turmeric roots have an active compound called curcumin in them. This polyphenolic compound possesses anti-inflammatory properties. Curcumin tends to block certain chemokines, enzymes, and cytokines that are responsible for causing inflammation in your joints.

The turmeric extracts have an inhibitory effect on the inflammatory cell influx, periarticular osteoclast, and joint level prostaglandins all of which are responsible to initiate joint inflammation and cause subsequent pain.

The extracts of Curcuma longa aka the turmeric have two other active compounds similar to curcumin, these both are called curcuminoids. Together, they arrest the inflammation of the synovium and halt the deformation process of the bone. This, in turn, will dramatically reduce the pain and swelling that you might have.

A research study in 2012 studied forty-five patients with active Rheumatoid arthritis. Half of them were given 500 mg of curcumin and others were given 50 mg of diclofenac sodium (NSAID), an anti-inflammatory drug.

After the trial period, the patients who were on the curcumin extracts had lower disease activity scores when compared to the ones on the chemical drug. This points out the effectiveness of turmeric in healing this painful condition.

Turmeric is also safe for consumption and will not have any adverse effects on your health unless you are allergic to it. Besides having anti-inflammatory properties, turmeric also helps in digestion, fighting infections, cancer, depression.

However, there is a small problem with the effectiveness of curcumin, its bioavailability is low when consumed normally. This hinders the efficiency of this magic spice. There are lots of studies going on to enhance the oral bioavailability of turmeric so that its competence for healing diseases increases. 

How To Increase Turmeric’s Bioavailability?

The amount of curcumin present in the turmeric is just 4-5%. This is already a less amount and it has limited bioavailability as well. This is why the oral intake of turmeric is very less effective or not effective at all for Rheumatoid arthritis. There are few ways to solve this problem.

One of the most effective ways to make the curcumin about 2000 times more bioavailable when taken orally is to combine it with the black pepper. While black pepper has its medicinal properties, one of its active compounds called piperine patented as Bioperine, greatly increases the bioavailability of curcumin.

Buy it Here

This is where I would like to introduce you to Vita Organics Turmeric Curcumin. These teeny tiny pills are packed with all the goodness of the curcumin and guess what? It also has that miracle black pepper extracts aka piperine in it, to boost the curcumin’s bioavailability.

Let me explain to you the reason for this exceptional hike in bioavailability. When we consume active compounds like curcumin, our liver immediately tries to remove these from our body through its normal drug metabolism pathways. What piperine in black pepper does is almost inhibit this mechanism and thus curcumin isn’t excreted out and its levels in the blood skyrockets.

Another way is to consume turmeric with natural oils present in whole foods. These natural oils help in their absorption. Also, a cooking period of fewer than 15 minutes is found to enhance the bioavailability of curcumin in the body.

Conclusion 

I hope you might have got an idea about turmeric and its benefits for treating Rheumatoid arthritis. However, taking curcumin supplements is better than having the whole turmeric as it’s the curcumin who is the hero in this case.

Do you still have questions regarding turmeric effectiveness for Rheumatic arthritis? 

Comment below and we would make it clear!