Some of the best parts of the day happen side by side with your dog, whether that’s a sunrise walk, a long Saturday on the trail, or a slow lap around the neighborhood. Taking care of yourselves helps keep those shared routines going strong, and when you’re choosing supplements for either of you, it’s worth knowing what’s inside and why it’s there.
One ingredient you may already recognize is turmeric, the golden spice with centuries of use in cooking and traditional medicine. Its best-known active compound, curcumin, has caught researchers’ attention for its potential to support a healthy inflammatory response and joint comfort.
At Lazarus Naturals, we look to both traditional knowledge and modern research when we build formulas for people and pets. Below, we’ll walk through what turmeric is, what the research suggests, and how we’ve put it to work in products made for you and your dog.
Turmeric and Curcumin: Same Root, Different Roles
Turmeric and curcumin are closely related, but the names refer to different things. Think of hemp and CBD: hemp is the plant, and CBD is one of the naturally occurring compounds found within it. Turmeric and curcumin share a similar relationship.
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a plant in the ginger family. Its underground stem, called a rhizome, is the part that’s dried and ground into the golden spice in your kitchen. Turmeric contains a group of compounds called curcuminoids, which give it that signature yellow-orange color. Of the three main curcuminoids, curcumin is the most abundant and best known, and it’s the main focus of research into turmeric’s potential benefits.
However, curcuminoids only make up a small fraction of turmeric root, usually around 3% by weight. So while a sprinkle of turmeric adds wonderful color and flavor to your cooking, it doesn’t provide much curcumin. That’s why many supplements use a concentrated extract, and why it’s worth looking past the word “turmeric” on a label. Just as you’d want to know how much CBD is actually in a hemp product, it helps to know how much curcumin is in a turmeric supplement.
We use curcumin powder sourced from India and standardized to contain 95% curcuminoids. Standardized is just a fancy way of saying the extract is made to provide a consistent concentration of those compounds. That means we know exactly how much goes into each formula, and you can count on the same amount in every serving.
More or less, it’s the same principle behind how we approach CBD: consistent, measurable amounts you can trust.
From Traditional Use to Modern Research
When we choose ingredients, we like to look at the whole story: where an ingredient comes from, how people have used it over time, and what research can tell us about its potential. For turmeric, that story begins in India, with centuries of traditional use.
In Ayurveda, turmeric has long been part of practices related to skin care, digestion, and overall well-being. That history runs so deep that it once overturned a U.S. patent. In 1995, a patent was granted for using turmeric in wound healing.
India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research pushed back, presenting historical texts and published research showing the practice was already well known, and in 1997, the patent was revoked. What had been presented as a new invention was really knowledge that communities had been passing down for generations.
That history gives modern research a meaningful starting point, and it invites more specific questions. Which compounds contribute to turmeric’s effects? How much is needed? And what might those effects mean for everyday well-being? Researchers have explored curcumin in several areas, and two closely connected ones are especially relevant to our formulas for comfort and mobility: the inflammatory response and antioxidant activity.
What Does a Healthy Inflammatory Response Mean?
Inflammation is one of the ways your body protects and repairs itself. If you’re fighting off a cold or recovering from a tough workout, it helps coordinate the response, and your dog’s body relies on it in the same way. Supporting a healthy inflammatory response means supporting a process that steps up when it’s needed and settles back down afterward.
Oxidative stress is another part of the picture. Everyday activity in the body produces molecules called free radicals. When they build up faster than the body’s natural defenses can manage, they can damage cells and contribute to inflammatory processes. Antioxidants help keep those molecules in check.
Curcumin has been studied for its activity in both areas, including how it interacts with the pathways that help regulate inflammation and how it may help the body manage oxidative stress. These findings help explain why researchers are so interested in curcumin. Studies in people and dogs then help us understand whether that activity leads to benefits you can actually feel.
What Modern Research Suggests for People and Dogs
For people, joint comfort is one of the areas researchers have explored most in clinical trials. In one placebo-controlled study, people with knee osteoarthritis who took turmeric extract saw improvements in knee pain over 12 weeks. Researchers have also looked at curcumin for soreness and recovery after exercise, though results vary depending on the study and the formulation used.
Those findings connect to some pretty familiar goals: staying comfortable on your daily walk, keeping up with the activities you love, and taking good care of yourself afterward.
Research in dogs is more limited, but it’s growing. In one trial, dogs with osteoarthritis were fed a diet containing curcuminoids, hydrolyzed collagen, and green tea extract. Some measures of discomfort improved, along with the dogs’ ability to rise from lying down, while several other measures stayed the same. Because the ingredients were studied together, the results can’t tell us exactly what curcumin does on its own. But they do offer an encouraging early look at the role it may play in a broader approach to joint support.
For those of us who share our lives with dogs, comfort and mobility matter on both ends of the leash. This research helps shape why we include curcumin in select formulas for people and pets.
How We Put Curcumin to Work in Our Formulas
Choosing curcumin is only the first step. The research also helps guide how we use it.
Starting with absorption. One of curcumin’s biggest challenges is its low bioavailability, a scientific way of saying your body can only use a small amount of it when it’s taken on its own. Luckily, research points to a helpful partner. Piperine, a compound found in black pepper, has been shown to boost curcumin’s bioavailability so your body can make better use of it. That’s why we pair black pepper extract with turmeric extract in our Inflammation Gummies.
Paying attention to the amount. When researchers study curcumin for joint comfort and recovery, they look at specific amounts and forms. Our standardized extract lets us formulate with a consistent, carefully measured amount, so the curcuminoid content on our labels gives you real information to work with.
Pairing it thoughtfully. In these formulas, curcumin joins our full-spectrum hemp extract, which contains CBD along with the other cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids that naturally occur in the plant. From there, each formula’s purpose guides what else we include. A product for joint support might pair curcumin with ingredients for joints and connective tissue, while a formula for stressful moments calls for a different combination. Every blend is built around the kind of support you or your dog may need.
Testing for potency and purity. Every finished product goes through independent third-party testing for cannabinoid potency and contaminants, including pesticides, heavy metals, microbes, and residual solvents. Batch test results are available anytime, so you can see the quality behind the formula for yourself.
Put it all together, and you get clearly identified ingredients, measured amounts, and testing you can check on your own, so you can feel confident about what you’re choosing for yourself and your dog.
Where You’ll Find Curcumin in Our Lineup
Whether it’s for your own post-hike routine or your dog’s next adventure, curcumin has a place in a few of our formulas. Each one pairs it with full-spectrum CBD and ingredients selected for a specific need.
Full Spectrum Inflammation Gummies
Our Inflammation Gummies are made for everyday comfort, like keeping up with an active routine, winding down after a workout, or just feeling your best moving through your day.
- Turmeric extract with 500 mg of curcuminoids to support a healthy inflammatory response.
- Black pepper extract to help your body absorb and use that curcumin.
- Full-spectrum CBD that brings the naturally occurring cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids from our hemp into every gummy.
For Dogs: Support That Fits Their Needs
Dogs have different needs at different stages of life, so curcumin plays a slightly different role depending on the formula.
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Joint Support CBD Dog Chews: Made for dogs who love to stay on the move. Curcumin works alongside ingredients chosen for joint health and mobility, including glucosamine, omega-3s from fish and wild salmon oil, and hydrolyzed collagen, all with full-spectrum CBD in a salmon-flavored chew.
- Calming Support CBD Dog Chews: Designed for stressful moments like thunderstorms, travel, or a trip to the vet. This formula combines full-spectrum CBD with L-theanine and L-tryptophan to support calm behavior, while curcumin adds general wellness support. Plus, they’re peanut butter flavored, which most dogs consider its own form of calming support.
Natural Medicine, Chosen With Intention
Caring for yourself and your dog doesn’t have to be complicated. It shows up in the morning walks, the cozy rest days, and the support you choose to help you both feel your best. And when it comes to that support, a little understanding goes a long way.
Turmeric is a great example of what can happen when generations of traditional wisdom meet modern research. We use both to guide what goes into our formulas, then focus on the details that help each ingredient do its job. That same approach shapes every functional ingredient we choose.
Want to dig deeper? Visit Our Ingredient Library to explore the research behind each ingredient we use. Whether it’s for you or the pup who never misses a walk, we want you to feel confident about what you’re bringing home and why it belongs in your routine.