Curcumin is an incredible compound that has staked a permanent claim in the hearts of health enthusiasts the world over. Its use has grown more prevalent every day ever since its initial discovery. Even now, you are likely to find curcumin supplements that will enable you to enjoy the full range of benefits the substance offers.
While it is true that curcumin has a few shortcomings that require some additional components to make it more effective, it remains a highly sought-after supplement. However, the fact that curcumin requires a little bit of mixing to enhance its potency makes a few people wonder how it might be combined with other substances.
Curcumin is often mixed with black pepper to help compensate for its low bioavailability. However, just because it can safely be mixed with some substances does not mean it can be universally combined with any health-bolstering substance with impunity. One of the most commonly considered products for combination with curcumin is fish oil.
While fish oil does come with some pretty beneficial health effects when consumed, it remains to be seen whether or not it can be safely consumed with curcumin.
What Can Curcumin Offer?
Curcumin is the chief curcuminoid found in the Curcuma longaroot, also known as turmeric. The uses of curcumin have become a growing sensation in the world of holistic medicine thanks to the wide assortment of benefits the spice offers to those who take it.
One of its most notable benefits is an anti-inflammatory that can be used to manage symptoms of worse conditions. Curcumin itself is a known compound whose bioactive profile enables it to successfully reduce the levels of inflammation in the human body, which can be essential thanks to modern research.
Recent studies have determined that chronic inflammation can play a significant role in developing more serious conditions. So, using curcumin to manage your inflammation will serve as a way to help combat these conditions in a more natural method than most pharmaceutical options available for prescription in the modern era. This is not to say curcumin can flat-out replace modern medicine, but it does serve as a highly effective supplement.
One of the main conditions that can result from inflammation that curcumin can be used to manage is heart disease. Given that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the world, curcumin's ability to manage it makes it a huge boon. Aside from handling inflammation, however, curcumin can help to improve the function of the human endothelium, which serves as the lining for our blood vessels.
When the endothelium stops functioning correctly, our bodies lose the ability to regulate our blood pressure and clotting. Curcumin can help restore and improve the functionality of our endothelium to minimize heart disease born from its dysfunction. Curcumin's many benefits for the bloodstream are part of what makes it such a beloved supplement. However, it is far from the only thing it has to offer concerning your health.
One of the most exciting benefits that curcumin offers is concerning one of the world's most sinister and feared diseases. We are, of course, referring to cancer. While cancer has no cure and remains, to this day, one of the most devastating diseases in the world, there is some evidence that curcumin can offer benefits to combat it.
While it is far from the solution to cancer as a whole, it can offer defenses against some of the traits that lead to cancer symptoms. For example, there have been studies showing that curcumin can kill cancer cells, reduce the rate of angiogenesis, and reduce metastasis. All of which are significant aspects of cancer development. Knowing that curcumin can be so effective in managing such things only serves to compound the benefits of taking supplements.
Another shocking benefit of curcumin applies to the mental health of the person taking it. Some studies imply curcumin can even be used to mitigate the effects of depression by bolstering the neurotransmitters that regulate the deployment of serotonin and dopamine. There was even a study that compared curcumin to the use of Prozac. It showed similar results, and those who took both simultaneous had the greatest results.
However, understanding the benefits of curcumin is still not enough to decide. We now need to understand what benefits fish oil has to offer.
What Can Fish Oil Offer?
Fish oil is harvested from species of fish known for having particularly oily compositions. While still a more natural substance than most chemically created products, fish oil's effects remain in the category of holistic medicinal treatment since it is not the sort of thing that a doctor will prescribe. However, despite the lack of professional appreciation for fish oil from doctors and their staff, the beneficial applications of fish oil remain present for all to enjoy.
One of the biggest relates very closely to those offered by curcumin. Specifically, fish oil has been found to offer some remarkable benefits for the health of the human heart. Studies show that individuals who consume higher concentrations of fish are less prone to developing heart disease.
One major component of this has to do with the fact that fish oil works wonders for your cholesterol. It increases your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) content while lowering your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) content. Since our cholesterol is critical to the health of our hearts, among other parts of our bodies, the fact that fish oil can help manage it is nothing short of wondrous.
However, another major cause of fish oil's effects on heart health is that it can reduce our blood pressure. For this reason, fish oil can offer some benefits. Although, it goes beyond bolstering the health of your heart. There has been research indicating that fish oil can offer some assistance in improving vision and the health of your eyes.
The reason is that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and fish byproducts are known to support ocular health, as a deficiency in omega-3 acids can increase the odds of eye disease. Hence, the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in older individuals. One study found that the use of fish oil reduced and mitigated the symptoms of AMD to an extent.
Can You Take Them Together?
Now we come to the ultimate question that needs to be answered. Can curcumin supplements safely be taken alongside fish oil supplements? We can say that you might be shocked by the answer here. The answer you are looking for is "no."
Curcumin should not be taken with fish oil supplements because taking both at once presents a health risk.
You might not have anticipated this risk since it relates to a shared benefit between the two supplements. The fact is that both curcumin and fish oil have anticoagulant and blood-thinning properties that can compound with each other and put your health at risk.
While fish oil's anticoagulant effect is mild compared to chemical anticoagulants, it can increase the odds of suffering a significant bleed when taken with other blood-thinning substances. The thinner your blood is, the more likely it is to escape from your body when you do not want it to. It also becomes exacerbated if you suffer a cut or wound that causes bleeding since it inhibits your body's ability to clot blood and stem the wound. Curcumin also offers a slight blood-thinning effect, making combining these two substances a risky endeavor.
There are a few ways they can be used together with relative safety. For example, taking curcumin supplements on a night when you plan on having fish for dinner should not cause a lot of concern. However, taking a concentrated supplement for fish oil simultaneously with a concentrated supplement for curcumin is a more significant risk. The two compounds only offer light blood-thinning effects, but they are strong enough that combining them is riskier than is worth the benefit.
Since fish oil and curcumin can lead to blood thinning, they can cause this same dangerous effect if you take them together. So, if you want to take advantage of the many benefits either of them has to offer, you will have to decide which one will be most beneficial to you. This can be a challenge if you still have questions about which one will offer the highest range of benefits for your health.
Which One is Best?
Determining if fish oil or curcumin is better can be a little arduous if you are not overly familiar with every detail about their respective benefits. This becomes a more significant challenge when you realize that there are few benefits that the other does not appear to offer.
However, each one can be easily analyzed to see where most benefits can be put into practical use and how effective they are. While most of curcumin's benefits are shared by fish oil, several are exclusive to it, specifically regarding mental health and protection against diseases like Alzheimer's and arthritis.
Some light research implies that fish oil can offer the same, but the research there is nowhere near as fleshed out as it is for curcumin. As a result, the favor tends to lean towards curcumin for most.
Embrace the Nu You
The use of curcumin and fish oil simultaneously might not be possible to ensure you enjoy the benefits in safety, but this does not lower their usefulness. While deciding which to use can be challenging given their similarities, it is probably in your best interest to opt for curcumin. It offers more benefits with a more reliable success rate, whereas fish oil only offers some general health benefits.
At the end of the day, however, the decision lies in what you feel is in your best interest. Be sure to avoid using supplements for both simultaneously if you want to ensure you do not suffer too much from the anticoagulant effect that might build on each other. That said, if you wish to make use of curcumin, you might be wondering how to go about acquiring some.
That is where we at NuVitality can offer some assistance. We offer a curcumin supplement that will allow you to reap the full range of benefits of the substance with the bioavailability necessary to ensure you feel the effects. In addition, our product is made using black pepper, which enhances the overall bioavailability of the otherwise dismal curcumin.
Given that curcumin can be a difficult substance to harvest and refine properly, acquiring a supplement is your best bet rather than trying to consume turmeric on its own, which contains little overall curcumin. So, check out our website and try our product out so you can become the Nu, healthier you!
Additionally, if you have any potential questions about curcumin, what it does, or what it can do for you health-wise, be sure to check out our wide collection of articles that we have written on the topic! We've spent a significant amount of time putting together this vast collection of knowledge which we hope you will find useful.
For example, are you not quite sure as to what exactly the difference is between turmeric and curcumin? We've written a detailed article all about that topic, describing their differences, what they can do for you, and much more! You can find that article right over here!
Or perhaps you're quite well-knowledged already as to what turmeric and curcumin are and would like more specific information, such as the time it takes for a turmeric curcumin supplement to start working. Luckily for you, we've written an article on that topic as well, in which we answered that question and provided additional information that you may find to be quite useful!
With a plethora of information that we've written on the topic, we highly urge you to check out our collection of articles for further research into the world of supplements and Nu-found health!
That being said, if there's anything that we haven't covered just yet, please feel free to reach out and contact us at any time! We'd be more than happy to answer any of your questions, and if there's specific information you'd like to see as an article, please let us know what it is!