In this article, we explore the spice turmeric as well as its popular active component, Curcumin. How might turmeric and curcumin benefit your health and is there good evidence behind its use? If it can help, what conditions might it be useful for and what dosages should be considered.
Turmeric, the wonder drug of life?
Turmeric, the golden spice commonly found in Asian cuisines, has gained considerable attention in recent years for its potential health benefits. Used for centuries in traditional medicine, turmeric contains a powerful compound called curcumin, which has been the subject of numerous scientific studies.
Also known as the ‘wonder drug of life’ in the far east, turmeric has been routinely used to treat various conditions. In this article, we will explore the benefits of turmeric and its key compound, curcumin, highlighting the evidence from clinical studies.
How might turmeric and curcumin benefit our health?
When we discuss the usage of turmeric as a supplement, it’s the bioactive polyphenol curcumin that has shown to have a wide host of potential therapeutic benefits on the body, most notably helping to reduce inflammation and its action as an antioxidant.
Chronic inflammation is a crucial component in the development of most chronic health conditions, such as arthritis, metabolic syndrome, allergies, depression and so therefore the potential usage of curcumin is significant (1).
Poor food choices, stress, infections, exogenous toxins as well as endotoxins (toxins found within the body) can all increase inflammation. On a mechanistic level, curcumin works as a natural anti-inflammatory drug in a very similar way that ibuprofen would work in your body. They both inhibit and mediate the COX and LOX pathways, both of which are pro-inflammatory to the body (2).
Our need for antioxidants in human life goes beyond running to your local supermarket to pick up Berocca tablets in the winter. In fact, every time we breathe, we are producing pro-oxidants called reactive oxygen species which the body will work to neutralise with its antioxidant reserves.
Your individual requirement for antioxidants will be largely based on the demands you are placing on your body. Intense exercise in a highly polluted city, breathing in fumes and airborne toxins as well as those with autoimmune or inflammatory conditions will need to prioritise a higher level of antioxidants within their nutrition and diet.
Are there clinical studies backing up the use of curcumin?
Turmeric is a well-researched agent for a host of conditions. This randomised double-blind placebo-controlled study of 40 subjects with osteoarthritis saw an overall improvement in pain and physical function in the group that was taking 500mg doses, three times daily compared to the placebo group (3).
It also shows very promising results in the clinical remission rates of ulcerative colitis. This systematic review looked at 6 randomised controlled trials (which is regarded as one of the highest forms of clinical evidence) of the usage of curcumin along with a conventional drug (mesalamine) versus just mesalamine alone. 5 of the 6 studies showed better reduction of symptoms, were able to achieve remission and/or prevent relapse when used as a complementary therapy alongside mesalamine (4).
Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin condition that impacts roughly 1 million people worldwide. There are many reasons to believe that curcumin could be an effective therapy in the treatment of psoriasis due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidants and anti-proliferative properties. This randomised controlled trial of 63 patients saw greater improvements in symptoms in the group that used curcumin in conjunction with a topical steroid compared to the group that used just the topical steroid alone (5).
As far as taking curcumin alone for healthy non-symptomatic people, studies are limited due to the benefits not having the same immediate impact as on those with symptoms. Health markers will also be hard to measure if levels are within normal ranges from the start.
There was one study done on healthy middle-aged people (40-60 years) where they gave a group a low dose curcumin (80 mg/day) and the other group took a placebo. They measured blood and saliva at the beginning and after 4 weeks of the intervention. They found that the curcumin taking group saw lowered triglycerides but no changes in cholesterol, increased levels of nitric oxide (a vasodilating compound that’s important for maintaining healthy blood pressure) and also a decrease in amyloid plaque, one of the key features in the development of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s (6).
This does indicate that low dose curcumin supplementation may exert some health benefits on a healthy user.
Whilst the evidence has generally shown promising results for a wide range of inflammatory based chronic conditions, a lot of the research that has been done looks at using curcumin as an adjunct alongside conventional medicine to bolster results. It must also be noted that many of these studies were done with relatively small sample sizes, which limits it’s reliability.
Despite curcumin typically generating positive outcomes in clinical trials, the efficacy of oral supplementation is not ideal. Poor bioavailability and uptake of curcumin in the gastrointestinal tract results in not much being entered in the bloodstream and therefore concentrations end up being much lower than used in clinical trials. Some curcumin supplements will account for this by formulating a curcumin with other ingredients to significantly improve it’s bioavailability.
What conditions might benefit from curcumin?
On the whole, despite generally poor bioavailability and uptake, curcumin has proven to be a strong natural compound in the treatment of chronic conditions like arthritis, depression, IBS, psoriasis and others.
Clinical trials have shown good results in the reduction of symptoms in ulcerative colitis, as well as lowering relapse rates. The anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin makes it a viable candidate for co-therapy alongside conventional topical steroids in psoriasis and even healthy users seems to be able to benefit from low dose supplementation.
What is the best dosage for curcumin and are there any precautions?
If orally supplementing, find a formula that combines curcumin with piperine, the active ingredient in black pepper which has shown to increase bioavailability by 2000% (7).
The side effects of curcumin are generally really low with some side effects like headaches and yellow stools seen in doses north of 8g. The only major consideration would be for those on anticoagulants like warfarin as high dose curcumin can exert a blood-thinning effect too.
With regards to dosing, high doses are generally well tolerated but start low. 500mg 1-3x daily is a good place to start with 5-20mg of piperine alongside it.
For those who wish to just add some extra nutrients to their diets, try adding some turmeric powder as seasoning into your meals along with some black pepper to ‘activate’ it.
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References
- Panahi Y, Hosseini MS, Khalili N, Naimi E, Simental-Mendía LE, Majeed M, Sahebkar A. Effects of curcumin on serum cytokine concentrations in subjects with metabolic syndrome: A post-hoc analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Biomed Pharmacother. 2016 Aug;82:578-82. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2016.05.037. Epub 2016 Jun 6. PMID: 27470399.
- Rao CV. Regulation of COX and LOX by curcumin. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2007;595:213-26. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-46401-5_9. PMID: 17569213.
- Panahi Y, Rahimnia AR, Sharafi M, Alishiri G, Saburi A, Sahebkar A. Curcuminoid treatment for knee osteoarthritis: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Phytother Res. 2014 Nov;28(11):1625-31. doi: 10.1002/ptr.5174. Epub 2014 May 22. PMID: 24853120.
- Coelho MR, Romi MD, Ferreira DMTP, Zaltman C, Soares-Mota M. The Use of Curcumin as a Complementary Therapy in Ulcerative Colitis: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials. Nutrients. 2020 Jul 31;12(8):2296. doi: 10.3390/nu12082296. PMID: 32751776; PMCID: PMC7468803.
- Antiga E, Bonciolini V, Volpi W, Del Bianco E, Caproni M. Oral Curcumin (Meriva) Is Effective as an Adjuvant Treatment and Is Able to Reduce IL-22 Serum Levels in Patients with Psoriasis Vulgaris. Biomed Res Int.
- DiSilvestro RA, Joseph E, Zhao S, Bomser J. Diverse effects of a low dose supplement of lipidated curcumin in healthy middle aged people. Nutr J. 2012 Sep 26;11:79. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-11-79. PMID: 23013352; PMCID: PMC3518252.
- Hewlings SJ, Kalman DS. Curcumin: A Review of Its Effects on Human Health. Foods. 2017 Oct 22;6(10):92. doi: 10.3390/foods6100092. PMID: 29065496; PMCID: PMC5664031.
