Abstract
BackgroundCurcumin extracts of turmeric are proposed to produce health benefits. To date, human intervention studies have focused mainly on people with existing health problems given high doses of poorly absorbed curcumin. The purpose of the current study was to check whether in healthy people, a low dose of a lipidated curcumin extract could alter wellness-related measures.MethodsThe present study was conducted in healthy middle aged people (40–60 years old) with a low dose of curcumin (80 mg/day) in a lipidated form expected to have good absorption. Subjects were given either curcumin (N = 19) or placebo (N = 19) for 4 wk. Blood and saliva samples were taken before and after the 4 weeks and analyzed for a variety of blood and saliva measures relevant to health promotion.ResultsCurcumin, but not placebo, produced the following statistically significant changes: lowering of plasma triglyceride values, lowering of salivary amylase levels, raising of salivary radical scavenging capacities, raising of plasma catalase activities, lowering of plasma beta amyloid protein concentrations, lowering of plasma sICAM readings, increased plasma myeloperoxidase without increased c-reactive protein levels, increased plasma nitric oxide, and decreased plasma alanine amino transferase activities.ConclusionCollectively, these results demonstrate that a low dose of a curcumin-lipid preparation can produce a variety of potentially health promoting effects in healthy middle aged people.
Highlights
Curcumin extracts of turmeric are proposed to produce health benefits
The effects of the curcumin versus those of the other agent cannot be distinguished. One exception to this high dose approach comes from a recent study that used 180 mg/day of curcumin, but the curcumin by itself did not affect the measures under consideration [10]
In contrast to most previous work, the present study used a lipid-curcumin mixture that was projected to be relatively well absorbed. Another difference between the present study and previous human work on curcumin is that the present study examined healthy subjects rather than people with a health problem
Summary
Curcumin extracts of turmeric are proposed to produce health benefits. To date, human intervention studies have focused mainly on people with existing health problems given high doses of poorly absorbed curcumin. Some studies of high doses of curcumin preparations have had some effects in people with established health problems rev in [1,2] These doses are called high because the 1 g or more quantities used in most studies exceed what can be typically obtained by people using turmeric related spices. One exception to this high dose approach comes from a recent study that used 180 mg/day of curcumin, but the curcumin by itself did not affect the measures under consideration [10] In contrast to these studies, the present study examined a fairly concentrated extract at 80 mg curcumin/day, which is a much lower dose than has generally been tried in previous work. In contrast to most previous work, the present study used a lipid-curcumin mixture that was projected to be relatively well absorbed
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