Efficacy of curcumin/turmeric on liver enzymes in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

BackgroundSeveral studies reported that curcumin supplementation could improve non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of curcumin/turmeric supplementation on liver enzymes in patients with NAFLD. MethodsPubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar were systematically searched until December 2017. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which examined effect of curcumin/turmeric supplementation on NAFLD in adult participants. Main outcome was alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). Potential risks of bias (ROB) were assessed by using Cochrane ROB tool. ResultsAll included studies showed low ROB in most of item of Cochrane ROB tool. Meta-analysis of 4 randomized controlled trials including 228 subjects showed a trend toward significant reduction of ALT blood concentrations in subgroup with ≥1000 mg/day curcumin supplementation (–11.36 IU/L, 95% CI: –22.75 to 0.02; I2:51%). Meta-analysis showed a significant reduction of AST in studies with 8-weeks administration (–9.22 IU/L, 95% CI: –12.77 to –5.67; I2: 49%). ConclusionThis review suggests that curcumin/turmeric might have a favorable effect on NAFLD in higher dosage. Further high-quality studies with large-scale and higher dosage are warranted.