Landing, NJ - A new study comparing patented BCM-95 (made by DolCas Biotech) with regular curcumin shows that the turmeric extract brand is more effective in easing symptoms of colitis.

Shusuke Toden, Ph.D., conducted and published the study inScientific Reports in April 2017. It detailed the bioactivity of both the BCM-95 and 95% pure curcumin in animal subjects that had been exposed to colitis for research purposes. BCM-95 is made up of 86% curcuminoids with the rest being a turmeric essential oil blend.

Over the course of a week, groups were treated with the curcumin or the BCM-95 at increasing doses (5 mg, 25 mg or 50 mg). At the same time, these groups were treated with 3% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) to induce colitis. Another set of groups were exposed to the DSS, but went untreated for control. Disease severity was checked daily according to the disease activity index (DAI).

Normal symptoms of colitis were detected: colon-shortening, changes in body weight, blood in stool, and irregular stool consistency as well as inflammation. BCM-95 lessened these symptoms more per DAI (p < 0.001) than standard curcumin over the week long progression of the disease and with the increased doses. Colon-shortening was minimized by BCM-95 where the curcumin made no change.

Along with significantly curbing inflammatory genes, BCM-95 also increased anti-inflammatory markers like IL-10 and IL-11.

Another experiment showed that even just using one of the turmeric essential oils is more beneficial than using curcumin. BCM-95 is unique in that it uses the combined strength of ar-turmerone-enriched essential oil (ETO) and curcumin to create a more valuable product.

“Of all the non-curcumin constituents evaluated thus far, such aromatic turmerones have been regarded as the most favorable in complementing the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant action of curcumin,” says Shavon Jackson-Michel, ND, medical and scientific affairs advisor for DolCas Biotech, in a press release. “The enhanced benefit realized by the combination ofar-turmerone enhanced essential oils with curcumin, as uniquely found in BCM-95, suggests that, while ETO does not offer significant benefit on its own, it adds to the anti-inflammatory profile of curcumin.”

DolCas Biotech, LLC,  and Arjuna Naturals Extracts have a joint ownership of the BCM-95 brand.