My Longvida Curcumin Review – Too Good To Be True?

by Heather Pharm.D. ·

It’s time for my Longvida Curcumin review, a supplement I bought for one reason – it has a better absorption. At least that’s what the label claims.

So if this is true, then it’s a very affordable product for what it offers. Curcumin supplements of this type cost over $40, so Longvida’s product seems way too cheap.

That’s what made me investigate it further – does it really have a better absorption or it’s just a tricky to make it sell better? Because as it is, this supplement looks really good – almost too good to be true.

Note: This review is based on my opinion about this product. It won’t necessarily agree with other reviews you find. I’m not trying to praise/criticize the supplement or its company, I am simply telling my own opinion about it.

So Let’s Get To The Review

Full Name: Longvida Optimized Curcumin from Igennus

Quantity : 30 capsules

Best Actual Price: $31.49

Where I Bought It From: Ebay

Designed For: Pain caused by inflammation. Turmeric is a herb I totally recommend for conditions like rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis. It works better than any herb for swollen joints. So Longvida’s product is a classic supplement for inflammatory pain.

My Rating: 6 out of 10

Worth Buying?: Hmm, not really. It does have a better absorption than regular curcumin, but this thing didn’t help. It only contains one ingredient and a pretty low dose. So it didn’t relive my pain too well – that’s the major reason why I wouldn’t really buy it again.

Besides, it’s pretty expensive. I’m only comparing it with the average turmeric supplements on the market. So I would prefer to buy something cheaper that also works better.

What I Liked About It

Only one pill per day (easy to swallow)
Really has a better absorption than regular curcumin
Available in several shops and retailers

What I Didn’t Like About It

Didn’t work incredibly – it only relieved some of my pain and did nothing for my morning stiffness
Pretty low dose, in my opinion (500 mg per pill)
You can take an extra pill, but the risk of side effects also increases
One bottle only lasts for one month (or less, if you take 2 pills per day)
Not very cheap

See My #1 Recommended Turmeric Supplement

The Ingredients – Very Simple

In my opinion, the ingredients are the most important aspect in any supplement. It’s them making the difference between a product that works or not.

Well, Longvida’s product only contains one ingredient. I’m talking about active ingredients, because the capsule and the other ones aren’t relevant. So let’s take a look at it shortly:

Longvida optimized curcumin extract (min 23% curcuminoides) – 500 mg

The name is pretty long and confusing, so let me explain it better. This is a brand ingredient and it’s an optimized extract from curcumin. So far, so good.

However, there’s one thing I don’t like:

It says there are “min 23% curcuminoides” (curcuminoides are the active part of curcumin extract).

Most supplement on the market contains “at least 95% curcuminoides” (not every turmeric supplement contains curcuminoides, but I’m talking about the ones that do)

So this makes me think that Longvida’s product contains a much lower quantity of curcuminoides overall. There are 500 mg of curcumin extract, which is a pretty good dose. But if the percent of curcuminoides is much lower, what’s the point?

My First 3 Conclusions

#1 -Disappointing Ingredients

In my opinion, the percent of curcuminoides from these pills is pretty low. As I said before, compared to the average supplements, it’s much smaller. 23% vs 95% is a pretty big difference, right?

But why is this number so important? Because curcuminoides are the best for relieving pain. They have a much stronger anti-inflammatory effect, compared to turmeric alone.

So keep this in mind and buy only supplements that contain curcuminoides (at least 95%).

#2 – Low Dose

In my opinion, 500 mg per pill is pretty little. That even though this is the dose of curcumin extract, which is a lot stronger than turmeric powder, for example. But there’s no other substance in these pills – so the final dose is only 500 mg.

On the other hand, most supplements contain around 1000-1500 mg of turmeric per serving, which is at least the double.

Now, I know that Longvida’s curcumin has a better absorption. But in this case, it doesn’t matter. 500 mg is still a pretty low dose, even if it’s fully absorbed.

#3 – No Bioperine Needed

I noticed there’s no bioperine among the ingredients. Well, that’s probably because of the better absorption of the pills. Bioperine increases the absorption of curcumin, that’s why it’s a must in turmeric products.

However, it seems that Longvida’s producers found a formula that doesn’t need it. So if you wondered why there’s no bioperine in these pills, that’s the answer – it’s not necessary.

My Experience With This Supplement

The main reason why I bought this product was for my RA. I’ve had this condition for several years and turmeric helped me more than anything else. But not every turmeric supplement…

A few things about my pain:

It was worse in my hands (7 on the pain scale sometimes)
I had flareups every 3-4 days
I had morning stiffness every day, which would last up to an hour sometimes

How This Product Worked: I took the whole bottle but I was slightly disappointed. Why do I say slightly?

It decreased my pain, but not significantly

At the end of the month, I could feel an improvement in terms of pain. I felt better than before and my flareups were more rare (maybe once a week now). But my pain went from a 6.5 to about a 5, which isn’t such a big improvement. At least compared to other products I tried.

My morning stiffness didn’t go away

I still woke up with very stiff joints every morning. That’s not very surprising, but something else it – it wouldn’t go away faster than before. My hands were still very rigid for about 40-45 minutes, every day. So when it comes to stiffness, it didn’t really help.

Conclusion: This supplement did improve my pain, but the change wasn’t very big. I honestly expected more from a supplement with a better absorption. So it does work if you have a minor inflammation or pain. But for arthritis or chronic pain, I wouldn’t really recommend it.

See The #1 Best Turmeric Supplement I Tried

PRO #1 – One Pill Per Day

Longvida’s curcumin isn’t that kind of product that requires 6 pills per day. That’s something I really love about it. Instead, you only need to take 1 pill as the daily dose.

Why do I consider this as being an advantage?:

Really comfortable
Small chances to forget taking one dose
One bottle lasts more

The label also mentions that you can double the dose if necessary. I mean, if you don’t seen any improvement, then it’s better to take an extra pill. That should make a difference, according to the producers.

If you want to follow this advice, make sure you don’t take the 2 pills together. It’s important to space the doses out if you want to get the best effect.

For most turmeric supplements, it doesn’t really matter – you can take 3 pills together or separately. I generally recommend spacing the pills out, because the effect is better on a longer period. But Longvida’s product recommends that directly.

However, I recommend starting out with one pills per day and see how it goes.

CON #1 – Only One Ingredient

I never really liked one-ingredient supplements for one reason – they tend to cost more than the ingredient alone.

Let me explain it differently:

a supplement with turmeric powder alone costs around $15 (it’s just a random number)
a pack of organic turmeric powder costs about $10

Now, the pack contains a much higher quantity and it lasts for a longer while. On the other hand, the pills are more expensive and they contain basically the same thing, nothing more. You get my point?

Longvida’s supplement doesn’t contain turmeric powder, so I only used that substance as an example. But it contains curcumin extract, and nothing more.

Now, that extract is a brand ingredient of their company, so you couldn’t really buy it alone from a shop. But even so, there’s nothing else in their pills – which is something I don’t like.

Why? Let me give you an example – we have 2 supplements:

One contains turmeric powder, curcumin extract, bioperine, Boswellia extract and Bromelain
The other one contains the optimized curcumin extract from Longvida

So which of these supplements should work better, in your opinion? I’m pretty sure the first one.

No matter how good Longvida’s extract is, I still don’t think it’s miraculous. That’s why several average ingredients have a much better effect that 1 good ingredient. When it comes to supplements, I have one saying – more is better.

CON #2 – Low Dose

In my opinion, 500 mg is a very low dose per pill. Yes, those 500 mg are actually curcumin extract, which is stronger than turmeric powder alone.

So why do I see it as a low dose? There are basically 2 reasons:

there’s no other ingredient besides the curcumin extract
that is the dose per day, not per pill

According to the label, you can take 2 pills instead of one, if you can’t see any improvement. That may sound like a solution, but here’s the thing:

2 pills would mean 1000 mg per day (of curcumin extract)
curcumin extract is much stronger than turmeric, so doubling the dose increase the risk for side effects

So basically I wouldn’t recommend taking 2 pills from the start, because you might experience diarrhea or nausea immediately.

I also experienced diarrhea because of turmeric supplements that had a high dose of curcumin extract. So that’s the reason why 2 pills don’t seem like a great solution to me (at least not from the start).

So Longvida’s supplement has a pretty low dose of turmeric/curcumin per pill. But ironically, if you double the dose it may be too high, if you ask me.that’s because of the curcumin extract, which is pretty strong. So it’s hard to find a balance, in my opinion.

CON #3 – Expensive

Considering it’s just one month supply, Longvida’s supplement is quite pricey. However, there’s are 2 things to mention:

most supplements with “a better absorption” cost well over $40
Longvida’s product costs $31

So if you take this into consideration, it just doesn’t seem that pricey anymore. But there’s another thing I want to point out:

In my case, it wasn’t extremely effective. Yes, I’m sure that “better absorption” thing is true – these pills really have a better absorption. How do I know? Well, I’ve seen them work. They didn’t help me a lot, but they did work.

So if this thing with absorption was a lie, they wouldn’t work at all. Therefore, I’m 100% sure this supplement does have a better absorption.

But the problem is that it doesn’t work too well – or at least in my case.

So for a $31 supplement, it’s pretty weak. Maybe you can get a discount at one point, but I still don’t think it’s ever going to get a lot cheaper. That’s my opinion about it.

My Final Verdict – Is It A Good Choice?

Short answer: Not really. It does have a better absorption, but this doesn’t help a lot. Considering that it only has one ingredient (and a pretty low dose), it doesn’t relieve pain considerably.

I’m talking from experience here – in my case, it didn’t do anything major.

So I believe it’s a bit expensive for what it does. Yes, it has a better absorption, so that explains the higher price. But as I said, this didn’t matter a lot for me – in terms of how it worked.

Would I buy it again?: Probably not. I prefer cheaper supplements that follow the classic pattern – turmeric + curcumin extract + bioperine. They tend to work much better for me.

But you know better what you need, so if you decide on this supplement, it’s totally fine. Maybe in your case it works better.

So if you decide (or decided) to try it, give me a feedback and let me know how it works for you. Who knows, maybe it was just me getting not improvement from it.