Re: Alternatives for anhedonic depression and anxiety?

I concur with what Hugh said regarding curcumin. As far as I can tell, the type of curcumin that's used in the Super Bio-Curcumin product that Hugh was referring to is BCM-95, which to my knowledge is the version of curcumin that's been studied more extensively for depression in humans than any other form of curcumin. And as Hugh was saying, BCM-95 has been found to be better absorbed than other forms of curcumin. A study by Antony et al. (2008) found that BCM-95 had 6.93 times the bioavailability of "normal curcumin" and 6.3 times the bioavailability of a curcumin-lecithin-piperine formula. The two human trials that I'm aware of that evaluated the clinical effects of BCM-95 in patients with depression consist of a six-week study that found the efficacy of 1 g/day of BCM-95 to be statistically comparable to that of fluoxetine (Prozac) (Sanmukhani et al., 2014), as well as an eight-week study that found 1 g/day of BCM-95 to be no more effective than placebo after four weeks but significantly more effective than placebo after eight weeks (Lopresti et al., 2014). I know that there are a lot of different curcumin products that are commercially available, many of which say that they boost the bioavailability of curcumin by different methods. It would be my guess that each product has its pros and cons, and I haven't looked at all of the products in enough detail to offer much of a comparison of the pros and cons of all of the different versions of curcumin. However, I will say that two of the "pros" of BCM-95 are its superior bioavailability compared to "normal curcumin" and a curcumin-lecithin-piperine formula, as well as the fact that it's been studied more extensively for depression in humans than other forms of curcumin, at least to my knowledge.

I currently take curcumin (and yes, it's the BCM-95 version), and although it seemed to boost my energy and concentration and to help me sleep less excessively at first, the benefits that I had noticed at first have faded, and I'm not sure that the curcumin still offers me any mental health benefits. I do, however, also experience lower back pain, and I can say that I think the curcumin that I take is helping me in this area, because I've tried discontinuing curcumin a few times now, only to notice a strong worsening of my back pain each time I tried discontinuing the supplement.

At any rate, Axmann, I basically just wanted to write to concur with Hugh's point about curcumin and also to share some of my thoughts about the supplement with you. I wish you luck with any medication or supplement trials that you may undertake, and I hope that you'll find a treatment regimen that will offer you some of the benefits that you're looking for.

Antony, B., Merina, B., Iyer, V.S., Judy, N., Lennertz, K., & Joyal, S. (2008). A pilot cross-over study to evaluate human oral bioavailability of BCM-95(R)CG (Biocurcumax TM), a novel bioenhanced preparation of curcumin. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 70, 445-449. Article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792534/

Lopresti, A.L., Maes, M., Maker, G.L., Hood, S.D., & Drummond, P.D. (2014). Curcumin for the treatment of major depression: A randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 167, 368-375. Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25046624

Sanmukhani, J., Satodia, V., Trivedi, J., Patel, T., Tiwari, D., Panchal, B., et al. (2014). Efficacy and safety of curcumin in major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Phytotherapy Research, 28, 579-585. Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23832433

"Maybe someday
We'll figure all this out
We'll put an end to all our doubt
Try to find a way to just feel better now"

- Rob Thomas

Re: Alternatives for anhedonic depression and anxiety?

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