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Curcumin and Turmeric causing anemia?
I have read many articles that turmeric can block the absorption of iron from 20-90%. Some articles have included Curcumin and yet other articles state that Curcumin alone does not. For the past two years I was taking Qunol turmeric mainly because it worked well for osteoarthritis but kept noticing that I would often start feeling weak and occasionally short of breath (very unusual for me) and would stop it for awhile. I never took iron because it had always constipated me in the past. Recently my labs have come back in the mild stage of anemia and looking back on some past labs my iron saturation was low and my ferritin was low normal but since it had not yet affected other markers, the doc kept saying I was not anemic. So, my question to the forum is whether others have found research/and or experienced that Curcumin such as C3 can also block iron absorption. By the way, my hem/onc doc now gave me approval to take OTC iron and the only one I have found that does not cause constipation is Ferrostat which I order through Amazon. Thanks in advance to all you researchers and armchair scientists out there!
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Thanks posting on the subject of Qunol. I have an over load of iron in my body and I also have MDS. I am taking Deferasirox to get rid of iron.
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2 ReactionsWelcome to Connect, @atsfmoji. There are quite a few members in the Blood Cancer support group who also have MDS. I always find it a little comforting to be able to speak with others who have the same diagnosis. It helps to realize you’re not alone.
If you haven’t been to this discussion yet, this might be a good place to start.
~Living with MDS
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/living-with-mds/
If you don’t mind sharing a little more about yourself, how long have you had MDS? Are you receiving blood transfusions that have elevated your iron levels? Are you in a treatment plan?
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1 ReactionI take more than 3 gm/day of Qunol "high absorption" turmeric/curcumin and so far don't have anemia or low ferritin or hemoglobin iron. I'm 70 with MGUS for 8 years. I likely get a fair amount of iron from my diet so it may balance out for me. Turmeric can also influence blood clotting so good to check with a doctor if one is on blood thinners.
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2 ReactionsHi Lori, I had a bone marrow was biopsy in 2017 and was diagnosed with MDS which I had no idea what that was. I asked the Dr. how do we cure it and was disappointed when he said there is no cure for it. I could not believe this was happening to me, so ok what do we do? I was started with procrit every Thursday. My rbc's were abnormal. My rbc count went from 9.1 to 8.4 and was still declining. I have never had a blood transfusion. This year a new hematologist came into the cancer center. He changed my treatment to Reblozyl (luspatercept). My count now has gone up to 10.4. I also can not get rid of any iron I intake, my count is outrageous I am in the 1000s. I am taking Deferasirox to get rid of the overload of iron thus I was interested in the post of the turmeric.
Coffee can also lower iron levels. I assume you don't have hemochromatosis (high ferritin levels), but donating blood can lower iron levels. Unfortunately they don't want our blood for donations, but this form of blood letting can help and is less gross than using leaches (it still has it's uses on wounds).
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1 ReactionGood morning, @atsfmojj. There are different subtypes of MDS. Each have their own characteristics with varying treatments. While there is no actual cure, outside of having a bone marrow transplant, for many people there are treatment options.
In your case your bone marrow isn’t able to make enough red blood cells on its own. There are meds to help nudge the production of red blood cells such as the Procrit from your previous doctor and the Rebloxyl you’re now taking. Looks like this one is a winner in getting your red cells back on the production line. I bet you were feeling pretty fatigued when your rbc was down to 8.4! With low a low red blood count there’s not as much oxygen circulating through the body.
In regard to high iron, I did develop high ferritin levels from blood transfusions. Though the numbers eventually dropped after I no longer required them. That’s the only reason I asked about your high iron in relation to transfusions. Some patients with MDS don’t make enough red blood even with meds and require transfusions. Since you’re concerned about turmeric and high iron, do you take turmeric daily? Have you talked about this with your hematologist oncologist?