More Turmeric

Turmeric Plant

Back on 5 January 2014 I wrote about turmeric and health and cited a couple of studies about the cancer fighting power of turmeric.  I told you that I would write more about it, so here it is . . . .

Turmeric and its major active ingredient curcumin are among the most clinically studied spices and herbs today. I just did a search on the National Institute of Health web site for “turmeric” and it came back with 127,000 hits.  A search of “curcumin”, which is the major active ingredient in turmeric, resulted in 112,000 hits.  Not bad for a little herb. 

Dr. Wanwarang Wongcharoen led a research team from Chiang Mai University at the University Hospital in a recent study involved heart bypass operation patients in Thailand and their study was published in the American Journal of Cardiology. The research team followed 121 consecutive patients who had non-emergency bypass surgery at the hospital between 2009 and 2011.  All of the patients were given one gram pills four times daily for three days before the surgery and five days after. However, half were given sugar pills (placebo group) and the other half was given curcumin capsules. Neither group of patients nor their doctors knew who was taking what. This was a well-designed, double blind study.  The results were impressive.  The curcumin group had a 65% lowered risk from post bypass operation heart attacks. That group also showed significantly lower levels of inflammation and oxidative stress markers in their blood. 

In another study researchers assigned 32 women to either take a curcumin supplement, engage in moderate aerobic exercise training, or undergo no intervention at all. The researchers measured participants' vascular endothelial function at the beginning and end of the study.  This measures the responsiveness of the layer of cells that line the blood vessels and is a key indicator of overall cardiovascular health. They found that while there was no improvement in the control group, endothelial function significantly increased in both the exercise and curcumin groups. Most surprisingly, the improvement in the two experimental groups was identical.

A similar study examined curcumin's effects on the responsiveness of arteries to changes in blood pressure, or arterial compliance, which is another key measure of cardiovascular health. In this study 32 women were randomly assigned to receive either a curcumin supplement or a placebo pill, or to undergo an exercise routine plus either a curcumin or placebo pill. No significant improvement was found in the control (placebo) group.  Significant (and equivalent) improvements in arterial compliance were reported in both the exercise-only and curcumin-only groups. Finally, the greatest improvement was found among the study participants who exercised and also took the curcumin supplements.  These results are summarized in the diagram below.

	Exercise
Supplement	No Exercise	Exercise
Placebo	No improvement	Significant improvement
Curcumin	Significant improvement	Greatest Improvement

Do your own research and make your own decisions about your health because I don’t give medical advice, I just report what I have read in medical journals.  However, I bet you can guess what I do and what I take every day.