Beneficial effects of nano‐curcumin supplement on depression and anxiety in diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy: A randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled clinical trial

Abstract

Depression in patients with diabetes is associated with poor glycemic control and linked to an increased risk for diabetes complications such as neuropathy. Curcumin has shown potential antidepressant‐like activities in some studies. The present study is the first randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of nano‐curcumin supplementation on depression, anxiety, and stress in patients with diabetic polyneuropathy. Eighty patients with diabetes were enrolled in this parallel, double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled clinical trial. The participants were allocated randomly to the intervention (n = 40) and control (n = 40) groups. They received 80 mg of nano‐curcumin or placebo capsules daily for 8 weeks. At baseline and end of study, anthropometric measurements, dietary intake, physical activity, glycemic indices, and severity of neuropathy were assessed. The depression, anxiety, and stress level were measured by Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS‐21‐items) questionnaire before and after the intervention. After intervention, there was a significant reduction in the mean score of depression in the nano‐curcumin group (from 16.7 [3.1] to 15.3 [2.6]) compared with placebo group (17.5 [3.2] to 17.3 [3.1]; p = .02). In addition, a significant fall was found in the mean score of anxiety in the nano‐curcumin group (from 22.4 [4.03] to 20.6 [3.4]) compared with the placebo group (21.9 [3.5] to 21.2 [3.5]; p = .009). Changes in stress score were not statistically significant between the two groups. These findings suggested that nano‐curcumin supplementation for 8 weeks was effective in reducing depression and anxiety scores in patients with diabetic polyneuropathy.

Curcumin in Depression: Potential Mechanisms of Action and Current Evidence—A Narrative Review

“…There have been two studies evaluating the use of curcumin in such conditions. The first was an 8-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted by Asadi et al (179), testing the efficacy of curcumin on depression and anxiety in diabetic patients with polyneuropathy and showing a significant reduction of depression and anxiety in the curcumin group. The second was a 4-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (180) testing the antidepressant effects of curcumin in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and that yielded positive results.…”

Dietary Patterns and Interventions to Alleviate Chronic Pain

“…Diabetic complications represent a major cause of neuropathic pain and our search found two clinical trials in which either a low-fat, plant-based diet with vitamin B12 supplementation, or vitamin E supplementation alone, provided benefic results [51,73]. Diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy was also reported to be improved by a two month nutraceutical supplementation with 80 mg nano-curcumin vs. placebo in a parallel, double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted by Asadi et al in 80 diabetic patients [142].…”

Curcumin Regulates Cancer Progression: Focus on ncRNAs and Molecular Signaling Pathways

“…Natural compounds have been well known for their potential effect on preventing cancer progression and as complementary or standalone therapies for cancer treatment (19,118,119). As a natural phenolic compound, curcumin is extracted from the dietary spice turmeric, showing an important significance in the adjuvant treatment of tumors with non-toxicity and tolerability (120)(121)(122)(123). Curcumin participates in tumor control through multiple signaling pathways, including PI3K/Akt, JAK/STAT, MAPK, Wnt/bcatenin, p53, NF-ĸB and apoptosis related signaling pathways (Table 1).…”