Effects of curcumin consumption on human chronic diseases: A narrative review of the most recent clinical data

Abstract

Numerous clinical trials have investigated the potential beneficial effects of curcumin supplementation against several human chronic diseases. Up to now, it has been claimed that curcumin consumption may exert beneficial effects against several chronic diseases by promoting human health and preventing diseases. In this aspect, the present review aims to critically collect and in-depth summarize the most recent, well-designed clinical studies evaluating the potential beneficial effects of curcumin consumption on human health promotion and disease prevention. According to recent and well-designed clinical studies, curcumin consumption may benefit against obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. Moreover, curcumin consumption seems to exert a positive effect on people suffering from various types of cancer, fatty liver disease, depression, arthritis, skin diseases, gut inflammation, and symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. Due to the strong heterogeneity among the clinical studies concerning the exact effective curcumin dose and formulation, as well as the recommended treatment duration for each chronic disease, no precise and definitive conclusions could be drawn. Further large-scale prospective studies are strongly recommended, being well-designed as far as follow-up times, dosage, formulation, and duration of curcumin supplementation are concerned. Moreover, potential confounders in each specific chronic disease should carefully be taken into account in future studies.

Polyphenols: A concise overview on the chemistry, occurrence, and human health

“…Curcumin, which represents by alone a constituent (up to ∼5%) of the traditional olistic medicine, is known as turmeric (Nakmareong et al, ; Nelson et al, ). Curcumin exerts a number of pharmacological actions of potential therapeutic interest (Atkin, Katsiki, Derosa, Maffioli, & Sahebkar, ; Kocaadam & Şanlier, ; Mantzorou, Pavlidou, Vasios, Tsagalioti, & Giaginis, ; Milani, Basirnejad, Shahbazi, & Bolhassani, ; Shen, Jiang, Yang, Wang, & Zhu, ; Soleimani, Sahebkar, & Hosseinzadeh, ), and it is extensively marketed worldwide as a nutraceutical (Santini & Novellino, ). Starting from the first clinical trial published in The Lancet in 1937 (Oppenheimer, ), more than 1,200 clinical trials involving more than 6,000 subjects have been carried out, and many systematic reviews have been published (Kunnumakkara et al, ).…”

Diet in hidradenitis suppurativa: a review of published and lay literature

“…Turmeric is a natural plant root with the principal curcurminoid curcumin, which has been shown to function as an antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory . One recent clinical study showed beneficial effect of curcumin consumption on metabolic syndrome, skin diseases, malignancy, gut inflammation, arthritis, fatty liver disease, depression, and premenstrual syndrome . Studies have also shown curcumin to have immune‐regulatory activity, modulating various immune cells like T‐lymphocyte subsets, macrophages, dendritic cells, B‐lymphocytes, and natural killer cells, and anti‐cancer effects .…”

Curcumin sensitized the antitumour effects of irradiation in promoting apoptosis of oesophageal squamous-cell carcinoma through NF-κB signalling pathway

“…Curcumin is a phyto-polyphenolic pigment extracted from turmeric (Curcuma longa). [9,10] It has been widely used for therapeutic purpose histologically due to the intrinsic anti-inflammatory, [11,12] antioxidant [13] and antitumour properties. [14][15][16][17][18][19] The extensive investigations and exploitations have characterized the wide-spectrum anticancer activity of curcumin against variety of human tumours including ovarian, breast, colon and so forth.…”