Inflammation never comes on its own
Most women over 60 have been handed the word inflammation as if it were the answer. Aches, stiffness, swelling, a marker on a blood test. He refuses to treat it as a starting point.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872Inflammation never comes on its own.
His phrase for it is that inflammation is not Houdini. It did not appear out of thin air. Something set it off, and until you name that, you are managing a symptom.
He is also careful not to make inflammation the villain in every setting. A fever is inflammation doing its job, an immune response trying to clear something out. The problem is when it never switches off.
Where he says it starts
His picture is two borders. The gut and the bloodstream in the south, the blood and the brain in the north.
Your blood should be pristine, he says. The gut wall is what keeps what belongs in the gut out of the blood. When that wall gets permeable, things cross that were never meant to, and blood goes everywhere.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872Leaky gut, leaky brain.
He names one common trigger for that, and it is not food. Ask him how fungus gets into the bloodstream and the answer is an antibiotic.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872It carpet bombs the southern border. It carpet bombs it. Five days wipes it out.
What grows back in place of the good bacteria is yeast, and yeast is the thing he says carries heavy metals with it. The brain sees those, and responds the way your body responds to anything foreign. That is the trail he follows from gut to brain. His longer version is all disease starts in the gut, and there is more on what wears the gut wall down in coffee, caffeine and leaky gut.
"Inflammation. Oh, you've got inflammation. No, no. Inflammation never comes on its own."
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872Curcumin, the extract of turmeric
This is the distinction most labels blur, and he makes it in four words.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872That's an extract of turmeric.
Turmeric is the spice in your cupboard, the yellow one in curry. Curcumin is the active compound pulled out of it and concentrated. He likes the spice and says it is very good for you. He does not treat the two as interchangeable.
Why turmeric alone falls short
Here is the reason the extract exists at all.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872The body has a hard time absorbing turmeric.
His position is not that turmeric does nothing. It takes some in, he says, so it is good for you. But if you are counting on the spice jar to move something that has been running for years, you are counting on the part your body struggles to take up.
That is the practical read for a woman over 60 deciding between a turmeric tea and a curcumin capsule. They are not the same dose of the same thing.
Inflammation in the brain
The study he brought to this episode was published in General Psychiatry, and it is about curcumin and depression.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872But the extract of curcumin, when given in depression, according to the general psychiatry publication, is a significant help.
He does not claim that inflammation explains depression. He is careful about this in the same breath.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872But one of the factors, even in depression, and Parkinson's and others, is inflammation in the brain.
One factor, not the factor. And it is the reason he keeps pulling the conversation back to the gut. Inflammation in the brain, in his model, is often something that started at the other border.
Nothing here is a reason to start or stop anything a doctor has prescribed. Talk to your doctor first.
What he pairs it with
He does not run curcumin on its own.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1872I love curcumin. I love it with high DHA. I love it with Navitol.
DHA is the omega-3 he talks about most, and Navitol is his pine bark extract. Three things aimed at the same fire from different sides, which is how he thinks about a stack.
None of it replaces the first job. Find what is causing it. That is the whole point of the rule at the top of this page.
Common questions
What causes inflammation in women over 60?
Dr. Martin's rule is that it never comes on its own, so the question is always what set it off. He points at the gut wall going permeable, and antibiotics wiping out good bacteria, as the trail he follows most often.
Is curcumin the same as turmeric?
No. Turmeric is the spice. Curcumin is the extract taken from it. He likes both, and he does not treat them as the same thing, because the body has a hard time absorbing turmeric itself.
Can I just cook with turmeric instead?
He says turmeric is good for you and your body does take some in. His reason for reaching for the extract is absorption, so a spice jar and a curcumin capsule are not the same amount of the active compound.
What does he take with curcumin?
High DHA and pine bark extract. He describes the combination as very anti-inflammatory, and he treats it as support while you deal with the cause.
Read next: What Causes Joint Pain After 60? and What Causes Inflammation In Women Over 60.
Try curcumin
Inflammation Formula brings curcumin together with green lipped mussel, boswellia, glucosamine, chondroitin, hyaluronic acid and bromelain in one formula built in Dr. Martin's clinic.
60-day money-back guarantee.These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your healthcare practitioner before starting a new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.
