Curcumin is a water insoluble component of turmeric, the yellow spice from the rhizome of the herb Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae), that is widely used as a food flavoring and coloring agent. Curcumin has a long history of medicinal use for a wide variety of medical conditions. The World Health Organization approved its use as non-toxic food additive and a potentially safe drug. Oral administration is well tolerated, but bioavailability is very low. Less than 1% of the curcumin makes its way to the bloodstream, where the liver rapidly destroys most of it. A suitable protein carrier system covalently linked to curcumin with conserved natural curcumin functional chemical groups, of free water solubility, easy digestibility, free intestinal absorption, long serum half-life should help getting the utmost possible beneficial effects of this historical, albeit promising treatment for several acute and chronic illnesses. Additionally, the protein-curcumun conjugate could be used as health food additive and a natural food colorant. Accordingly, based on the successful application of our previous "Patent Pending PCT/EG2008/000044" filed on 20/11/2008 under "Long Acting Conserved Natural Functional Groups Curcumin", the need for the present development looked urgent through the use of several other protein carrier systems for curcumin. The successful clinical application of a globular carrier protein system for curcumin has been internationally published in the Journal of International Society for Sexual Medicine and is available online since Oct. 19 2009 12:02PM, under "Novel Water-soluble Curcumin Derivative Mediating Erectile Signaling".
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