Accumulating scientific evidence Ressarch using curcumin as Healthy eating for athletes therapeutic agent for improving psychological health. AntiCancer Agents Med Chem. No significant difference was found between the two treatment arms in this study.

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Turmeric Curcumin Reprogramming Cancer Cell Death

Curcumin Research -

The spice known as turmeric could be one of the most effective nutritional supplements in existence. Turmeric is the spice that gives curry its yellow color. It has been used in India for thousands of years as both a spice and medicinal herb. Research has shown that turmeric contains compounds with medicinal properties.

These compounds are called curcuminoids. The most important one is curcumin , which is the main active ingredient in turmeric.

It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant. Most studies on this herb use turmeric extracts that contain mostly curcumin itself, with dosages usually exceeding 1 gram g per day, which means it would be hard to reach these levels just by using turmeric as a spice.

In addition, curcumin is poorly absorbed into your bloodstream. In order to experience the full effects of curcumin, its bioavailability the rate at which your body absorbs a substance needs to improve.

It helps to consume it with black pepper , which contains piperine. In fact, the best curcumin supplements contain piperine, and this makes them substantially more effective. Curcumin is also fat soluble, which means it breaks down and dissolves in fat or oil.

Curcumin is a bioactive substance that can help fight inflammation , though very high doses are required to produce medicinal results. Still, it means it has the potential to fight the inflammation that plays a role in many health conditions and diseases.

It involves free radicals, highly reactive molecules with unpaired electrons. Free radicals tend to react with important organic substances, such as fatty acids, proteins , or DNA.

Curcumin is a potent antioxidant that can neutralize free radicals due to its chemical structure. In addition, animal and cellular studies suggest that curcumin may block the action of free radicals and may stimulate the action of other antioxidants.

Further clinical studies are needed in humans to confirm these benefits. Even in adulthood, brain neurons are capable of forming new connections, and in certain areas of the brain, they can multiply and increase in number. One of the main drivers of this process is brain-derived neurotrophic factor BDNF , which plays a role in memory and learning, and it can be found in areas of the brain responsible for eating, drinking, and body weight.

Both animal and human studies have found that curcumin may increase brain levels of BDNF. By doing this, it may be effective in delaying or even reversing many brain diseases and age-related decreases in brain function. It may also help improve memory and attention , which seems logical given its effects on BDNF levels.

However, more studies are needed to confirm this. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the world. Research suggests that curcumin may help protect against many steps in the heart disease process. Specifically, it helps improve the function of the endothelium or the lining of your blood vessels.

Endothelial dysfunction is a major driver of heart disease. This is when your endothelium is unable to regulate blood pressure, blood clotting, and various other factors. Several other studies also suggest that curcumin can lead to improvements in heart health. In addition, curcumin can help reduce inflammation and oxidation as discussed above , which can play a role in heart disease.

Many different forms of cancer appear to be affected by curcumin supplements. In fact, curcumin has been studied as a beneficial herb in cancer treatment and has been found to affect cancer growth and development.

Studies have shown that it can:. There is also evidence that curcumin may prevent cancer from occurring in the first place, especially cancers of the digestive system like colorectal cancer.

In addition, research suggests that curcumin can help clear the buildup of protein tangles called amyloid plaques that are caused by the disease. There are several different types of arthritis , most of which involve inflammation in the joints.

In a study on people with osteoarthritis, curcumin appeared to be more effective in relieving pain than a placebo, and research has also found its effect to be similar to that of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs.

In another study on rheumatoid arthritis, curcumin appeared to have helped reduce disease-related inflammation. That said, more study is needed to understand if curcumin can actually replace such drugs as a treatment for arthritis inflammation pain.

Curcumin has shown some promise in treating mood disorders. Its positive effects on the brain include boosting the brain neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, reducing inflammation, and encouraging brain plasticity.

This suggests the herb may be an effective antidepressant. Depression is also linked to reduced levels of BDNF and a shrinking hippocampus, a brain area with a role in learning and memory.

Curcumin can help boost BDNF levels , potentially reversing some of these changes. A animal study also found that curcumin may help reduce anxiety, though studies on humans are needed to verify this.

Given that oxidation and inflammation are believed to play a role in aging, curcumin may have effects that go way beyond just preventing disease. If you stick to 12 g or less , you are not likely to experience side effects such as diarrhea, constipation, or vomiting.

Learn more about turmeric dosage. People who are pregnant or nursing, people who have gallbladder or kidney problems, those with bleeding disorders, diabetes, or iron deficiency should limit turmeric.

If you have any of these conditions, ask your doctor before taking turmeric. There is research suggesting that curcumin, the main component of turmeric, might help with reducing belly fat. This is where it gets more complicated. The scientific studies that have made positive health associations use either pure curcumin or turmeric extract that has been designed to contain mostly curcumin.

The doses of curcumin required to give benefit are very high — typically about 1,mg a day. So despite what manufacturers might claim, consuming turmeric shots and lattes or adding a little extra spice to your meals will not come close to reaching the necessary dose. Some turmeric products have even been found to be contaminated with heavy metals such as lead , which can have adverse effects on your health.

The most convincing evidence so far relates to its ability to relieve joint pain in people with osteoarthritis, an area of medicine where there is a huge unmet need owing to the limitations of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs.

But this is just one area of investigation. There are 70 clinical trials around the world that are either active or seeking patients, and are looking at the potential of curcumin to treat chronic kidney disease, cognitive decline, irritable bowel syndrome IBS , macular degeneration, and even to slow down the progression of various forms of cancer.

In the mid s, Jack Arbiser and Nancy DeMore were young researchers at Harvard Medical School exploring new treatment options for cancer, when they came across some research suggesting that curcumin could inhibit the growth of different types of cancer cells in a test tube.

Intrigued by this, they went on to find that curcumin could prevent the formation of new blood vessels , a process called angiogenesis, which all tumours require to sustain themselves. There have since been several studies using curcumin in clinical trials in patients with pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and multiple myeloma showing that there is some biologic effect.

However, when scientists moved from testing curcumin in the lab to testing it on humans, there was a catch — one that has dogged curcumin ever since. The compound has notoriously poor bioavailability — the rate at which the body absorbs a substance — making it nearly impossible to get sufficiently high concentrations of curcumin into the blood through oral supplementation alone.

This, along with the commercial difficulties of patenting natural products, meant that scientific interest in curcumin soon waned, and would remain in the doldrums for more than a decade. But in recent years, advances in drug delivery techniques have renewed interest in curcumin.

Nanoparticle systems are being explored as ways of potentially getting high doses of curcumin to tumours. Some research has shown that combining curcumin with piperine — a compound found in black pepper — can enhance its absorption into the blood , although it still remains to be proven whether this can help yield benefit in humans.

While there are now a whole variety of off-the-shelf supplements that combine curcumin and piperine, there are still challenges for scientists looking to use it medically.

One of these is that piperine has been shown to inhibit a variety of enzymes that aid in metabolising drugs, and it remains to be seen whether this could cause an increased risk of side-effects in patients also taking prescription medicines.

This has been accelerated by a drive for more natural alternatives to painkillers, but also by the fact that in the world of sport, curcumin has gained a reputation as an aid to muscle rehabilitation. Scientists at Northumbria University are planning a clinical trial to study this, while in the US, Paultre is already witnessing the rise of curcumin as a sports supplement.

We tend to avoid chronic NSAID use in athletes due to side-effects. The evidence seems to be positive, but once again there is still work to be done. DeMore, now a professor of surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, has returned to studying curcumin after a near year gap, launching a clinical trial to see whether breast cancer patients taking a formulation of curcumin specially designed to enhance its absorption into the blood experience a decrease in tumour proliferation.

At the same time, oncologists at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York state are running a trial to see whether curcumin supplemented with piperine can halt disease progression in patients with low-grade prostate cancer, and prevent them from requiring more aggressive treatment.

In both cases, scientists are keen to emphasise that these trials are very much in the exploratory stage, and even if they produce positive results, far more proof will be needed before curcumin can be officially recommended for cancer patients.

Paultre says it is positive that further independent trials are being funded for curcumin because much of the research on the compound has been acquired through small studies that have been financed by the nutraceutical industry, which has created a perception of curcumin as a miracle cure.

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