Efficacy of Spice Supplementation in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Literature Review.

Jean-Guillaume Letarouilly,Pauline Sanchez,Johanna Sigaux,Yann Nguyen,René-Marc Flipo,Jérémie Sellam,Sébastien Czernichow,Claire Daïen

doi:10.3390/nu12123800

Abstract

Background: Spices, i.e., curcumin, ginger, saffron, and cinnamon, have a thousand-year history of medicinal use in Asia. Modern medicine has begun to explore their therapeutic properties during the last few decades. We aimed to perform a systematic literature review (SLR) of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effect of spice supplementation on symptoms and disease activity in patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondylarthritis, or psoriatic arthritis). Methods: An SLR of RCTs, reviews, and meta-analyses was performed, searching for articles in MEDLINE/PubMed. s from international rheumatology and nutrition congresses (2017–2020) were also scrutinized. The risk of bias of the selected studies was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool and the Jadad scale. Results: Altogether, six studies, assessing the use of spice supplementation only in RA patients, were included: one on garlic supplementation, two on curcumin, one on ginger, one on cinnamon, and one on saffron supplementation. Garlic, ginger, cinnamon, or saffron supplementation was associated with a decrease in RA clinical activity. However, several points limit the external validity of these studies. No conclusion on the impact of curcumin supplementation on RA activity could be drawn due to low-quality studies. Conclusions: Garlic, ginger, cinnamon, and saffron supplementation could have a beneficial effect on RA activity, but the risk of bias of these studies is difficult to assess and data are too limited to recommend them in daily practice.

Highlights

Spices are defined by the Food and Drug Administration organization (FDA) as “aromatic vegetable substances, in the whole, broken, or ground form, whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutrition” [1]
This systematic literature review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), reviews, and meta-analyses was performed according to PRISMA
The mean variation in disease activity score 28 (DAS-28) corresponded to a moderate. This is the first systematic literature review to focus on spice supplementation studies in RA

Summary

Introduction

Spices are defined by the Food and Drug Administration organization (FDA) as “aromatic vegetable substances, in the whole, broken, or ground form, whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutrition” [1]. Spices have a thousand-year history of medicinal use in Asia. Turmeric which contains curcumin has been used in India and is called the “golden spice” due to its brilliant yellow color It is mentioned as a treatment in the 250 Before Common Era (BCE) Ayurvedic treatise [3]. Ginger has been produced by the Indian and Chinese for over 5000 years It is an important ingredient in Chinese, Ayurvedic, and Tibb-Unani medicines for the treatment of catarrh, rheumatism, nervous diseases, gingivitis, toothache, asthma, stroke, constipation, and diabetes [4]. I.e., curcumin, ginger, saffron, and cinnamon, have a thousand-year history of medicinal use in Asia. Results: Altogether, six studies, assessing the use of spice supplementation only in RA patients, were included: one on garlic supplementation, two on curcumin, one on ginger, one on cinnamon, and one on saffron supplementation. Ginger, cinnamon, or saffron supplementation was associated with a decrease in RA clinical activity

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