Comparative Pharmacokinetics of Curcuminoids from Water-Dispersible Turmeric Extract Against a Curcuminoids-Piperine Combination: An Open-Label, Randomized, Balanced, 2-Treatment, 2-Sequence, 2-Period Crossover Study.

OBJECTIVE: Curcuminoids, the major component of which is curcumin, are natural polyphenolic compounds from the rhizome of Curcuma longa Linn. and possess extensive biopharmacological properties that are limited in humans due to poor bioavailability. Currently, most commercial bioavailable turmeric extracts use synthetic excipients or the addition of piperine to enhance bioavailability, and are needed in multiple daily doses to achieve clinical efficacy. This study was conducted to compare the bioavailability of a natural, water-dispersible turmeric extract containing 60% natural curcuminoids, the test product, WDTE60N (1 × 250 mg per day), with the reference product, turmeric extract capsules (500 mg curcuminoids and 5 mg piperine, CPC; 3 × 500 mg per day).

METHODS: Sixteen healthy adult male subjects fasted overnight for 10 hours and then were dosed with either one capsule of the test product WDTE60N or three capsules of reference product CPC orally (One capsule administered at every 6 hours interval i.e. at 0.00 hrs, 6.00 hrs and at 12.00 hrs) in each study period. Blood sampling before and after dosing was carried out at defined time points at -12.00, -02.00, 00.00 (within 10 minutes prior to dosing) hours in morning before dosing and post-dose (First dose) at 00.50, 01.00, 02.00, 03.00, 04.00, 05.00, 06.50, 07.00, 08.00, 09.00, 10.00, 11.00, 12.50, 13.00, 14.00, 16.00, 18.00, 20.00 and 24.00 hours in each period. Plasma concentration of curcuminoids was determined using a validated liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry bioanalytical method.

RESULTS: The Cmax (GLSM) for the test product WDTE60N was observed to be 74.56 ng/mL; and same for the reference CPC was 22.75 ng/mL. AUC0-t (GLSM) for test WDTE60N was 419.00 h∙ng/mL; and for reference CPC it was 359.86 h∙ng/mL for total curcuminoids.

CONCLUSION: The test formulation WDTE60N showed improved relative absorption and equivalent exposure at a 10-fold-lower dose of actives than the reference formulation CPC.