The effect of curcumin supplementation on clinical outcomes and inflammatory markers in patients with ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Background and aims Curcumin has anti‐inflammatory properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of curcumin on improvement of the disease activity in ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods In this randomized double‐blind clinical trial, 70 patients with mild‐to‐moderate UC were randomly assigned to curcumin (1,500 mg/day) or placebo intake for 8 weeks. Disease clinical activity, quality of life, serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α), high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) values, and complete blood count were measured. Results Changes in Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index score were significantly higher in the curcumin than the placebo group (–5.9 ± 2.08 vs. –2.1 ± 2.6; p = .001). The scores of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire‐9 and quality of life were significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the control group (p = .006). Furthermore, the curcumin supplementation reduced the serum hs‐CRP concentration (–6.3 ± 13.6 vs. 3.7 ± 11.6 μg/ml; p = .01) and ESR levels significantly (–1.6 ± 2.7 vs. –0.09 ± 2.4 mm/hr; p = .02) in comparison with the control group. No significant changes were observed in the TNF‐α levels of both groups. Conclusions Consumption of the curcumin supplement, along with drug therapy, is associated with significant improvement of the clinical outcomes, quality of life, hs‐CRP, and ESR in patients with mild‐to‐moderate UC.

The Use of Curcumin as a Complementary Therapy in Ulcerative Colitis: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials

“…This systematic review included six RCT studies [28][29][30][31][32][33] that compared the use of curcumin as a complementary therapy given in combination with 5-ASA in patients with UC. In four of the five studies included, there was a significant improvement in the clinical response with curcumin, allied with no serious AEs.…”

“…Most of the articles clearly described the randomization method used [26,[28][29][30][31][32][33], as well as the blinding method [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Some studies [25][26][27] reported incomplete outcome data and others [27,29,32,33] presented the outcomes selectively, which indicates a description bias. With regard to the allocation concealment, two studies [25,27] did not describe this and two others [23,24] stated that there was none.…”

“…One study reported using NCB-02, a standardized extract with 72% curcumin, 18.08% demethoxicurcumin, and 9.42% bisdemetoxicurcumin as an enema at a dosage of 140 mg/day [31]. One study used capsules of a nanomicellar curcumin formulation (SinaCurcumin ® ) at doses of 240 mg/day [33]. The duration of the interventions ranged from 4 weeks to 12 months.…”

“…The only one to use a quality of life questionnaire [33] showed a significant increase in the mean score of IBDQ-9 in the curcumin group compared to the placebo group. In the same study, curcumin supplementation induced a significant reduction in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) concentrations after eight weeks vs. no significant reduction seen in the placebo group.…”

Potential of Turmeric (Curcuma Longa) in Increasing Hemoglobin Levels: Systematic Literature Review

“…UC patients are characterized by inflammation and mucosal ulceration. 34,18 This inflammation causes an increase in hepcidin which in turn inhibits iron absorption from the intestinal lumen. 52 In thalassemia, iron absorption becomes poor due to the frequent transfusion process.…”