Both Tobias and I have been suffering from chronic back and shoulder pains all our life. Mine came from a series of sport injury (riding, aikido, tennis, badminton, volleyball), Tobias just being a tall guy who grew up too quickly when he was a teenager.

Although the level of inflammation has been strongly reduced by changing our diet, we still cannot fully get rid of joint pain. Sometimes I also get some mild psoriasis on my skin when I am under a lot of stress. This is also a form of inflammation.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THAT?

Well, TURMERIC seems to be the most obvious answer. We had been taking both turmeric powder as much as we can, but here is the first problem: you need to take quite a lot, and turmeric is not really the most pleasant spice to take! The maximum we can take per meal is 1/2 teaspoon for a curry dish. Burping turmeric out of your mouth is also not so nice.

One thing to note: TURMERIC IS NOT THE SAME AS CURCUMIN.

• Curcumin is an active ingredient of turmeric
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric contains around 200mg of curcumin (which is efficient to remove inflammation)
• 2 teaspoons or more is needed for pain relief (400mg)

Another problem: unformulated curcumin is difficult to be absorbed. With oil, it can be absorbed easily, but it can be still less bioavailable as it is relatively easily broken down before reaching the source of inflammation.

There is a way to improve the bioavailability and absorption of curcumin: encapsulation of curcumin, phytosome curcumin.

• Phytosomal formula primarily focuses on inflammatory disease, including liver detox.
• It has shown to raise the level of CURCUMIN METABOLITES in blood more than the level of curcumin itself, which have POWERFUL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECT.
• It is reported to be efficient for inflammatory diseases such as: arthritis, uveitis, MS, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, joint pain and stiffness.
• Its antioxidant activity is also efficient for fighting cancer.
• They are the most pre-clinically and clinically documented curcumin bioavailable formulation.

There are numerous studies available online about Meriva phytosome curcumin.

Phytosome derives from non-GMO soy lecithin. They are bound to phosphatidylcholine (PC), which is naturally created by our body. This is why our body absorbs it better than curcumin alone. Some people may freak out about "soy" but phosphatidylcholine is not the same as soy, it has no allergen left, and there is no estrogen to give you manboobs!

We will continue with this and see if it helps us to relieve pain - we will have something to report in 3 months. We will start with 1g a day, if not, will increase to 2g.

Personally I would be interested how much it can help to recover athletes from muscle soreness as well. Muscle soreness is a result of oxidative stress and inflammation. If the DOMS can be prevented somehow, you could perhaps reduce the intake of other supplements such as BCAA or whey. What do you think?

If you want to try, we offer phytosome curcumin in a bag of 60 capsules (450mg each, making it a month's supply if you take 900mg).