New area of efficacy for Meriva® – Indena’s curcumin
phytosome®: Clinical evidence shows it’s a natural and safe
help for body detox
Curcuma longa L. (a member of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae) is a perennial herb plant widespread in South East Asia and extensively cultivated in China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. Its iconic yellow colour derives from three chemically distinct compounds, which are the active components of the plant: curcumin, monodemetoxicurcumin and bisdemethoxyurcumin. All these curcuminoids are often collectively referred to as curcumin, both on the market and also in scientific literature. However, each curcuminoid has different chemical personalities and colours and, working together or individually, they have many fields of application linked to healthy body response to inflammation. Moreover, curcumin is one of the most studied botanical extract in the world, as about 100 human studies have been carried out on it, involving thousands of subjects. Since year, Indena has developed Meriva®, its turmeric extract formulated with Phytosome®, one of the signature products of the company. The efficacy of Meriva® is demonstrated by more than 35 scientific studies in humans, of which at least a third were conducted with the randomized controlled scheme, relating in particular to the areas of cardiovascular, intestinal and ocular health, nutrition in sports, joint health, healthy blood levels and supportive care. In these studies involving over 2000 subjects, no adverse reaction has ever been reported. That’s why Meriva® Curcumin Phytosome® is considered the real Life Guardian™. One of the strengths of Meriva® is its formulation with Phytosome®. As known, like many botanical ingredients also turmeric has poor solubility in water and is difficult to absorb by the intestine, with consequent limitation of its bioavailability. To face and overcome this problem, Indena has developed since years Phytosome®, a delivery system which optimizes the bioavailability and pharmacokinetic profile of active compounds of natural origin using 100% food grade ingredients (lecithin). Lecithins are natural surfactants which, together with bile salts, participate in the physiological process of absorption of lipophilic compounds and constitute the lipid double layer of cell membranes, making compounds, not readily soluble in water, more easily absorbable for example by the intestine. Despite its long history, Indena’s Meriva® Curcumin Phytosome® continues to reveal new areas of efficacy for human wellbeing. New clinical evidence shows that Meriva® is indeed an effective oxidative stress modulator, also in the support of kidney detoxing and filtering functions. Such evidence comes from studies which have been done by important Italian universities, specifically to evaluate the effectiveness of curcumin Phytosome® for kidney health support. Chronic renal disease is an inflammatory based disorder, and curcumin properties in modulating body response through its antioxidant properties are well known and scientifically proven. The mentioned studies showed significant effectiveness of Meriva® Curcumin Phytosome® in being a natural and safe help for kidney health support. The first, new study, by the University of Milan[1], focused on chronic kidney disease (CKD) subjects. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition due to the progressive loss of renal function and widely recognized as one of the most relevant risk factors for developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). In the pilot study, 24 CKD subjects and 20 healthy volunteers were recruited. CKD subjects followed nutritional counselling and were supplemented with Meriva® for six months. The parameters evaluated at baseline and after 3–6 months were uremic toxins, metagenomic of gut microbiota (which, as known, can play a pivotal role in controlling the origin of systemic inflammatory state and CKD progression) and nutritional, inflammatory, and oxidative status.
Curcumin significantly levelled plasma pro- inflammatory mediators and lipid peroxidation. Regarding gut microbiota, after 6 months of curcumin supplementation it was observed a more balanced composition of the intestinal microbial population. Again, the safety profile of Meriva® after long-term supplementation was confirmed, as no adverse events were observed in the supplemented group. This recent study extended the condition-of-use “maintaining kidney healthy” previously explored by the University of Chieti-Pescara[2] which had the aim to evaluate the supplementation of Meriva® in subjects with temporary kidney dysfunction (TKd) and increased oxidative stress levels. In the study held by University of Chieti-Pescara, subjects followed either standard management or standard management plus Meriva® supplementation and they were divided according to macroalbuminuria (AER >300 mg albumin on 24 hours) or microalbuminuria (AER 30 – 300 mg/day albuminuria), being albuminuria a marker of TKd. The clinical evidence showed that albuminuria decreased in all subjects, with a statistically significant positive effect in the supplement group compared with controls (P<0.05) due to its antioxidant properties. Oxidative stress level was high in all TKd subjects at inclusion: it was significantly positively affected in the supplement group (P<0.05) after 4 weeks. Most supplemented subjects at 4 weeks did not experience fatigue, another aspect where TKd impact. As for safety, compliance and tolerability to Meriva® were good. Indena’s Meriva® is the most studied curcumin on the market, in over 10 different health conditions including renal aging. Its formulation as a standardized turmeric extract containing the full bouquet of curcuminoids, not just curcumin, based on Indena’s Phytosome®, makes such ingredient actually unique.
References:
1. Pivari, F.; Mingione, A.; Piazzini, G.; Ceccarani, C.; Ottaviano, E.; Brasacchio, C.; Dei Cas, M.; Vischi, M.; Cozzolino, M.G.; Fogagnolo, P.; et al.. Nutrients 2022, 14, 231. https://doi.org/10.3390/ nu14010231
2. Gianni Belcaro et al., Panminerva medica 2019 december;61(4):444-8
