What if the active in curcumin isn't curcumin?

Curcumin's oral bioavailability is <1%. The industry has spent billions on delivery systems (phytosomes, nanoemulsions, piperine). But emerging evidence suggests that curcumin's gut metabolite - tetrahydrocurcumin - is the primary systemic active. If the metabolite is doing the work, the bioavailability "problem" might actually be the delivery mechanism. The entire patent landscape for curcumin delivery systems might be solving the wrong problem.Publications of interest:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34232211/https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6272158/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38836693/