Is turmeric for Inflammations and Pain proven?
Is active ingredient of turmeric (姜黄)i.e., curcumin proven to be suppressing inflammations as well as pain?
It is safe to say that, what with several scientific studies on human beings involving curcumin from turmeric, has notable proven effect in reducing inflammations and pain in our bodies.
Incidentally, of these studies on the investigation of curcumin, an ingredient extracted from turmeric on inflammations and pain, about 85 percent involved in cases of arthritis. The rest, about 15 percent, are of investigations into cases of diseases inflicting other organs.
ON INFLAMMATIONS
Turmeric (姜黄) ingestion appears to decrease inflammations besides pain in inflammatory disease states or conditions of human beings. It does not appear to be too discriminatory as to which one of the inflammatory states it is going to help, though.
ON PAIN
Researchers saw decreases in pain in subjects associated with curcumin at higher doses. This observation extended to post-operation, arthritis, and general pain symptoms. However, precisely, most of the studies collected here were coincidently to be using arthritis patients as subjects.
To measure the levels of inflammations and pain, in brief, researchers used the following scales:
The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC)
The visual analogue scale (VAS)
Leguesne’s pain functional index
the OARSI-recommended tests,
Disease Activity Score DAS and etc..
As for whether the Turmeric, particularly its active ingredient curcumin can reduce inflammations and pain, we list below several studies to assess this effect on human beings:
Notes for this study:
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial used 53 people with knee osteoarthritis. During the trial, they were to take either 1,500 mg of a curcuminoid complex (95% curcuminoids) with 15 mg of piperine or placebo daily for 6 weeks.
The trial saw significantly reduced score in the global WOMAC scale and pain. The reading of Leguesne’s pain functional index and the score on visual analog scale were too reduced.
Thirdly, there was a lower usage of Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Agent as painkiller. Hence, this revealed that Turmeric can reduce inflammations & pain.
Notes for this study:
Research workers gave Curcumin to 50 out of 100 subjects at the daily dose of 1,000mg of curcumin. This kind of curcumin was bound to phosphatidylcholine. The result revealed effectiveness of this active ingredient of turmeric over a period of 8 months in lowering clinical symptoms of osteoarthritis which included inflammations and pain. In addition, it saw reductions in biochemical symptoms.
Notes for this study:
200mg of MERIVA, taken at 200mg daily, was able to reduce symptoms of osteoarthritis and joint pain as assessed by the WOMAC rating scale and furthermore, improve physical performance.
Notes for this study:
2g of Meriva shows reduction in pain somewhat comparable to that of 2g acetominophen and 100mg nimesulide
Notes for this study:
Curcumin reduced pain and significantly decrease the usage of emergency analgesic capsule, namely paracetamol at 650mg, of the members of the curcumin group. Their post-operative fatigue was also less.
Notes for this study:
This a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial involved 120 participants with knee osteoarthritis. Turmeric treated group showed a significant (p < 0.01) decrease in use of rescue medication, along with clinical and subjective improvement compared to placebo. The tolerability and acceptability profile of NR-INF-02 was better during the trial period.
Notes for this study:
The curcumin group saw a notable reduction in pain. Parallelly, it tended to use less celecoxib than the placebo group throughout the study.
Notes for this study:
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 201 participants with degenerative hypertrophic osteoarthritis were assigned to take 1,500 mg curcuminoids (BCM-95), 1050 mg curcuminoids with 450 mg Boswellia serrata, or placebo for 12 weeks.
Total WOMAC score was somewhat reduced in the curcumin group and the combination group saw a statistically significant reduction. Similarly, pain saw significant improvement in the combination group, but not significantly much in the curcumin-alone group
For the OARSI-recommended tests, the curcumin group saw notable, statistically significant improvements for some functions while the combination group saw statistically significant improvements for all functions.
Notes for this study:
In a randomized, single-blind, trial, 367 participants with knee osteoarthritis were assigned to take 1,500 mg of a turmeric extract (total curcuminoids content between 75% and 85%) or 800 mg of ibuprofen daily for 4 weeks.
The primary outcomes were pain, stiffness, and function on the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Both groups saw notable reductions in all measures, with no clinical or statistically significant difference between them.
Notes for this study:
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 50 patients with knee osteoarthritis were assigned to take 500 mg turmeric extract for 60 days.
The turmeric extract group saw a large and statistically significant reduction in pain compared with the placebo group, as measured by a visual analog scale.
Notes for this study:
In a randomized, single-blind pilot trial, 45 participants with rheumatoid arthritis were assigned to take 500 mg of curcumin (BCM-95) an extract of turmeric, 50 mg of diclofenac sodium, a medicine for inflammations and pain, or the combination daily for 8 weeks.
The primary endpoints were reduction in Disease Activity Score (DAS) 28. The secondary endpoints included American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for reduction in tenderness and swelling of joint scores.
Patients in all three treatment groups showed statistically significant changes in their DAS scores. Interestingly, the curcumin group showed the highest percentage of improvement in overall DAS and ACR scores (ACR 20, 50 and 70) and these scores were significantly better than the patients in the diclofenac sodium group. This revealed that Turmeric 姜黄 reduces inflammations & pain on human beings.
Notes for this study:
Curcumin, an active ingredient of turmeric has similar efficacy to diclofenac which is for inflammations and pain. However, it proved better tolerance among patients with inflammatory diseases of knee joint. Curcumin can be an alternative treatment option in the patients with knee OA who are intolerant to the side effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Notes for this study:
In 20 persons with lichen planus induced oral inflammation, 6000mg of curcumin daily (3 doses of 2g) was able to reduce symptoms of inflammation as well as clinical rating scales associated with lichen planus.
Notes for this study:
Short-term turmeric supplementation can attenuate proteinuria, inflammatory mediators viz. Tumour Growth Factor-β as well as Interleukin-8 in patients with overt type 2 diabetic nephropathy.
Notes for this study:
This study noticed a significant decrease in proteinuria when comparing pre- (954.2 ± 836.6) and 1-, 2-, and 3- months supplementation values (448.8 ± 633.5, 235.9 ± 290.1, and 260.9 ± 106.2, respectively) in the trial group.
Also, they found significance reduction in systolic blood pressure and hematuria when pre- and post-turmeric supplementation values were compared in the trial group. However, placebo capsules did not exert any statistically significant effect on measured variables in the control group over 3 months of the study.
They saw no adverse effect related to turmeric supplementation during the trial.
Notes for this study:
They used curcumin in a test group, at a dose of 2g daily (split into two doses of 1g with meals) in conjunction with standard UC treatment (sulfasalazine or mesalamine) while the placebo group just had standard UC treatment.
The studies saw significantly less relapses in the curcumin group compared against placebo
Curcumin seems to be a promising and safe medication for maintaining remission in patients with quiescent UC.