Turmeric and iron?

drkelp · Jan 24, 2020

Wonder if this could help hematocrit?

Iron Deficiency Anemia Due to High-dose Turmeric

maxadvance · Jan 25, 2020

interesting, didn't say what dose he was taking of turmeric, scratch that it was about 3.25 grams a day

captain · Jan 25, 2020

Turmeric is harsh on the gut. When you get a bleeding ulcer it should lower your hematocrit. I used Turmeric at one time but my gut couldn't take it. 3 grams a day would have my gut messed up in a month and take 3 months to recover from it. I know that because I did it 3 times.

DragonBits · Jan 25, 2020

drkelp said:
Wonder if this could help hematocrit?

Iron Deficiency Anemia Due to High-dose Turmeric

Interesting, but tricky.

they say, turmeric absorbs intestinal iron.

So it will depend on when you take the turmeric and when you get the iron. If the turmeric is already passed then it should not affect iron absorbation. If both turmeric and iron are present at the same time in intestinal track, they iron absorbation would be blocked.

Another tricky thing is turmeric curcumin is not easily absorbed so most of it passes out of your body. But various supplements claim much higher absorbation, as high as 45 times greater bioavailability.

There are also curcumin implants being studied in humans. In the past they did these types of test in rats.

Curcumin Implants, Not Curcumin Diet, Inhibit Estrogen-Induced Mammary Carcinogenesis in ACI Rats

Curcumin Implants, not Curcumin Diet Inhibits Estrogen-Induced Mammary Carcinogenesis in ACI Rats

I was interested in the subject because after taking life extension curcumin elite my E2 dropped quite a bit. Not 100% sure it was the curcumin as I only did the one test of total T / E2 and it was coincidentally after being in the new supplement for a month.

maxadvance · Jan 25, 2020

hemoglobin dropped 1.5 points in less than 2 months, that's 5-6 points off your hematocrit. When he stopped the turmeric his hemoglobin went up 2 points in a matter of weeks. He took 3.25 grams of oral capsules, and who knows if they were typical poor bioavailability or they were enhanced with bioperrine.
It would seem that if one was willing to ingest 3-6 grams of curcumin/turmeric per day they would likely see a rapid decline of hematocrit in less that a couple months.

"Turmeric is among the spices known to inhibit iron absorption by 20%-90% in humans, reducing iron absorption in a dose-dependent manner [10]. The stoichiometric qualities of turmeric indicate it could bind nearly all absorbable iron and cause iron deficiency, and it does so in mice [3]. "