PlainPill

Curcumin vs SAM-E for mood

Short answer: For mood, users rate them about the same: 96% report improvement with Curcumin (45 reports) and 92% with SAM-E (114 reports).

Curcumin has 538 meta-analyses and 553 randomized trials on PubMed; SAM-E has 3 and 1.

Based on 544 reports about Curcumin and 284 about SAM-E. Not medical advice.

Curcumin
Supplement
SAM-E
Supplement
Users say it helped61%helped180 reports · high confidence63%helped131 reports · high confidence
Verdict
Mostly positive
Mostly positive
ResearchAResearch: StrongBResearch: Moderate
Meta-analyses / RCTs538 / 5533 / 1
Mainly used for
Mood
% reporting improvement
96% (45)92% (114)
Pain & inflammation
% reporting improvement
91% (104)100% (8)
Anxiety
% reporting improvement
93% (15)67% (21)
Energy
% reporting improvement
83% (6)87% (23)
Focus
% reporting improvement
78% (9)100% (13)
Common side effectsvivid dreams, headache, nausea, dht suppressioninsomnia, jitteriness, stomach issues, anxiety
Typical dose reported1000 mg / daily200-400 mg / daily
Curcumin
Latest review conclusion

Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract may improve symptoms and inflammation levels in people with arthritis. However, due to the low quality and small quantity of RCTs, the conclusions need to be interpreted carefully.

Front Immunol, 2022 ↗
What a user said
“I recently stopped taking Curcumin because of its affect on DHT and I was looking for an alternative measure to deal with inflammation as I feel it really helped with anxiety/depression.”
Full Curcumin profile →
SAM-E
Latest review conclusion

Our results showed that robotic surgery contributed positively to some perioperative outcomes but longer operative times remained a shortcoming. Better quality evidence is needed to guide surgical decision making regarding the precise clinical targets of this innovation in the next generation of its use.

Surg Endosc, 2016 ↗
What a user said
“I also take SAM-e in the morning (200mg or 400mg per day depending on how I'm feeling) for my general depression/anxiety.”
Full SAM-E profile →

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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate