A recently published study indicates Akay Natural Ingredients’ curcumin-fenugreek complex, CurQfen, can help support brain function in healthy animals.
CurQfen is a self-emulsifying food-grade formulation of curcuminoids using fenugreek galactomannan hydrogel scaffold as ‘curcumagalactomannosides’ (CGM). It is developed using a proprietary technology known as Fenumat, which is a water-based process without any synthetic emulsifiers.
“The key in brain health is the availability of free (unconjugated) form of curcuminoids in systemic circulation at pharmacologically relevant concentrations, such as >37 ng/mL, with significant elimination of half-life. In other words, brain tissue distribution can be considered as a litmus test for the free curcuminoids bioavailability of a formulation,” said Dr Krishnakumar, Chief Research Officer at Akay.
The complex was given to the animals in single and repeated dose, and the concentration of total curcuminoids at various parts of brain was evaluated at different time points using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation triple quadruple tandem mass spectroscopy (UPLC-ESIMS/MS) system. Another set of animals were also fed with CGM at single and repeated dose, and behavioural studies were conducted using open field test and radial arm maze.
Another set of animals received normal unformulated standard curcumin 95% with the same dosage of 100 mg/kg body weight. In this group, brain concentration of curcuminoids was 10 ng/g, whereas in the CurQfen group, the concentration of curcuminoids was between 173 and 220 ng/g.
Further, researchers also looked into the cognitive improvement of the healthy rats using a set of behaviour studies to see the effect of repeated dose of CurQfen supplementation for 28 days, also in comparison with standard curcumin. CurQfen significantly improved the cognitive functions in healthy rats, the company says. Though the cognitive effect of curcumin in some chemical induced brain injury models of animals have been reported, it claims, no research has previously been available for healthy animals.
“We are very excited to announce CurQfen as the one and only bioavailable form of curcumin in the nutraceutical market which has established the BBB-permeability and preferential distribution of curcuminoids in the hippocampus of the brain which is an important part of the limbic system, a cortical region that regulates motivation, emotion, learning, and memory,” said Emmanuel Nambusseril, Chief Marketing Officer at Akay.
