5 ms·

Is there a current summary of what Curcumin can actually do?

Mistletoe 3y ago
>Curcumin doesn’t work well as a therapeutic agent for any disease. Though it is safe for human consumption in most forms and will show activity in essentially any in vitro assay you throw at it (via a process known as assay interference), no well-powered clinical trials have ever found it to be an effective medicine.
- BlueTemplar 3y ago
  > …and none of this mentions the recent discovery that turmeric supplements were being cut or substituted with lead chromate, which apparently, if surprisingly, is cheaper. At least it is indisputably bioactive….
  - stevenAthompson 3y ago
    Lead chromate is fine for the most part. The LD50 for rats is only 5,000 mg/kg. It's still used in pigments widely. In humans it would take a heroic dose to do anything nasty.
    - BlueTemplar 3y ago
      Huh, so were all those claims about fakes being a big health issue overblown ?? Even for kids ??
      - stevenAthompson 3y ago
        The FDA knows better than I do, and I'm glad they issued recalls. There's no reason for any lead chromate to be in anything you consume. That said I read several of the recall notices and the recalls were for products containing like 50-100ppm of lead chromate, not lead, in something people typically consume less than a gram per day of in supplemnt form. Even for a child it would take regular use of large amounts to add up to any real impact. This was the FDA showing zero tolerance, as they should, but I don't think anyone was actually harmed, and it's not a reason to panic.
        BlueTemplar 3y ago
        I was thinking about Bangladesh, not the USA : https://m.timesofindia.com/lead-chromate-was-being-used-to-brighten-turmeric-it-damaged-adult-health-and-child-iq-costing-trillions/articleshow/106582709.cms https://m.timesofindia.com/lead-chromate-was-being-used-to-b... (Their "costing trillions" claim might be overblown.)
        stevenAthompson 3y ago
        Thanks for that link. It's a fascinating story. My perspective, and my comments, were US biased.
alephnullshabba 3y ago
It seems reasonable to assume it does virtually nothing. Like nearly every trendy non-rx supplement that has been around for this long, if there were any substantive medical benefits that could be demonstrated empirically in clinical drug trials, a prescription variant would have emerged. (As was the case with prescription fish oil, and this is in spite of most fish oil on the supplement market being of extremely low quality and consumed as a result of outright nonsensical medical claims)
- user_7832 3y ago
  I think the important distinction is whether someone is already very healthy or not. > Like nearly every trendy non-rx supplement that has been around for this long, if there were any substantive medical benefits that could be demonstrated empirically in clinical drug trials, a prescription variant would have emerged This is unfortunately not completely correct. Vitamin D supplements don't appear to do anything to me, even though my doc prescribed it. But NAC (for example) is not commonly prescribed even though many people have reported a reduction of OCD behaviour. L Tyrosine can be almost as effective as ADHD medication for some, yet even though it is well known in nootropic circles the doctor will rather prescribe a medical stimulant. The reason is probably just "FDA approval"/safety in most cases, but make no mistake, current prescriptions are years to decades behind current medical research. (I can expand more if you'd like.)
  - nextos 3y ago
    There are serious clinical trials with randomization and placebo that have repeatedly shown vitamin D supplementation reduces autoimmune disease rate. For example [1]. Obviously, the effect of a compound that does not require prescription and has few side effects is modest. But we are talking about a two digit % reduction in incidence, which is pretty respectable. At individual level, it is of course hard to see any effect. And if you are in trouble already, you will typically need, something stronger, a drug. [1] https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj-2021-066452.full https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj-2021-066452.full
    - 3y ago
mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
Basically nothing since you just poop all of it out. There are some very few cases of liver damage associated with curcumin. No meaningful clinical applications have been found in non-fraudulent studies.
perlclutcher 3y ago
My go-to site for questions like this is examine.com. https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ So yeah, like sibling said, it doesn't seem to do much.
- user_7832 3y ago
  From the linked website, right at the top: > Curcumin is the primary bioactive substance in turmeric. It has anti-inflammatory properties, and there is decent evidence that it can alleviate various conditions, from chronic pain to depression. Curcumin has poor bioavailability on its own, and thus it is often combined with Black Pepper or with lipids. I'm not sure how you got " it doesn't seem to do much"?
  - wslh 3y ago
    I am a subscriber of Examine and I wonder how these frauds impact on their database.
  - jeroenhd 3y ago
    The very second reference on that page is to a paper by the fraudster. The first link is to a compound study of five studies, including one of the fraudster. The fourth reference cites Aggarwal as well, and no doubt the chain continues. I can't tell how much of the linked effects are based on retracted papers (it's all members-only), but I wouldn't trust these websites too much until every dubious paper has been retracted and websites like these have been updated, if they will be updated at all. Most scientific research into the substance seems to be based (at least in part) on Aggarwal's work, so in turn most of the research needs to be re-evaluated; that's a lot of tedious work, and I'm not sure if websites like these will have the manpower to do that.
stevenAthompson 3y ago
I took it as a supplement, mixed with piperine to help it pass into the blood stream. For me it was a mild stimulant like nicotine, without the addictive part. I was smarter and more nervous when I took it. Those are the only effects I can personally attest to.
- stevenAthompson 3y ago
  Actually, I did lose some weight over that time. Correlation may not be causation in that case.
nerdponx 3y ago
Turmeric is magical with fried onions.
Aurornis 3y ago
Curcumin, the compound, seems to do a lot of little things in studies when injected into rats at high doses. You can find reports of everything from anti-inflammatory to anti-depressant like effects in mouse/rat models. Curcumin, the substance you can buy on Amazon and take orally, seems to do very little. Not much of it gets into your blood so there isn't much comparison to the mouser/rat studies. There are formulations that try to get more into your system (piperine or various lipid encapsulations) but little real-world evidence. From watching forums on and off for years, I can say that nobody seems impressed with it for depression or anxiety (beyond some short placebo periods). I have seen some people claim that certain formulations reduce inflammation for them, but they've come with caveats that it can also reduce things like libido at those doses.

>Curcumin doesn’t work well as a therapeutic agent for any disease. Though it is safe for human consumption in most forms and will show activity in essentially any in vitro assay you throw at it (via a process known as assay interference), no well-powered clinical trials have ever found it to be an effective medicine.

BlueTemplar 3y ago
> …and none of this mentions the recent discovery that turmeric supplements were being cut or substituted with lead chromate, which apparently, if surprisingly, is cheaper. At least it is indisputably bioactive….
- stevenAthompson 3y ago
  Lead chromate is fine for the most part. The LD50 for rats is only 5,000 mg/kg. It's still used in pigments widely. In humans it would take a heroic dose to do anything nasty.
  - BlueTemplar 3y ago
    Huh, so were all those claims about fakes being a big health issue overblown ?? Even for kids ??
    - stevenAthompson 3y ago
      The FDA knows better than I do, and I'm glad they issued recalls. There's no reason for any lead chromate to be in anything you consume. That said I read several of the recall notices and the recalls were for products containing like 50-100ppm of lead chromate, not lead, in something people typically consume less than a gram per day of in supplemnt form. Even for a child it would take regular use of large amounts to add up to any real impact. This was the FDA showing zero tolerance, as they should, but I don't think anyone was actually harmed, and it's not a reason to panic.
      - BlueTemplar 3y ago
        I was thinking about Bangladesh, not the USA : https://m.timesofindia.com/lead-chromate-was-being-used-to-brighten-turmeric-it-damaged-adult-health-and-child-iq-costing-trillions/articleshow/106582709.cms https://m.timesofindia.com/lead-chromate-was-being-used-to-b... (Their "costing trillions" claim might be overblown.)
        stevenAthompson 3y ago
        Thanks for that link. It's a fascinating story. My perspective, and my comments, were US biased.

alephnullshabba 3y ago

It seems reasonable to assume it does virtually nothing. Like nearly every trendy non-rx supplement that has been around for this long, if there were any substantive medical benefits that could be demonstrated empirically in clinical drug trials, a prescription variant would have emerged. (As was the case with prescription fish oil, and this is in spite of most fish oil on the supplement market being of extremely low quality and consumed as a result of outright nonsensical medical claims)

user_7832 3y ago
I think the important distinction is whether someone is already very healthy or not. > Like nearly every trendy non-rx supplement that has been around for this long, if there were any substantive medical benefits that could be demonstrated empirically in clinical drug trials, a prescription variant would have emerged This is unfortunately not completely correct. Vitamin D supplements don't appear to do anything to me, even though my doc prescribed it. But NAC (for example) is not commonly prescribed even though many people have reported a reduction of OCD behaviour. L Tyrosine can be almost as effective as ADHD medication for some, yet even though it is well known in nootropic circles the doctor will rather prescribe a medical stimulant. The reason is probably just "FDA approval"/safety in most cases, but make no mistake, current prescriptions are years to decades behind current medical research. (I can expand more if you'd like.)
- nextos 3y ago
  There are serious clinical trials with randomization and placebo that have repeatedly shown vitamin D supplementation reduces autoimmune disease rate. For example [1]. Obviously, the effect of a compound that does not require prescription and has few side effects is modest. But we are talking about a two digit % reduction in incidence, which is pretty respectable. At individual level, it is of course hard to see any effect. And if you are in trouble already, you will typically need, something stronger, a drug. [1] https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj-2021-066452.full https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj-2021-066452.full
  - 3y ago

mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago

Basically nothing since you just poop all of it out. There are some very few cases of liver damage associated with curcumin. No meaningful clinical applications have been found in non-fraudulent studies.

perlclutcher 3y ago

My go-to site for questions like this is examine.com. https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ So yeah, like sibling said, it doesn't seem to do much.

user_7832 3y ago
From the linked website, right at the top: > Curcumin is the primary bioactive substance in turmeric. It has anti-inflammatory properties, and there is decent evidence that it can alleviate various conditions, from chronic pain to depression. Curcumin has poor bioavailability on its own, and thus it is often combined with Black Pepper or with lipids. I'm not sure how you got " it doesn't seem to do much"?
- wslh 3y ago
  I am a subscriber of Examine and I wonder how these frauds impact on their database.
- jeroenhd 3y ago
  The very second reference on that page is to a paper by the fraudster. The first link is to a compound study of five studies, including one of the fraudster. The fourth reference cites Aggarwal as well, and no doubt the chain continues. I can't tell how much of the linked effects are based on retracted papers (it's all members-only), but I wouldn't trust these websites too much until every dubious paper has been retracted and websites like these have been updated, if they will be updated at all. Most scientific research into the substance seems to be based (at least in part) on Aggarwal's work, so in turn most of the research needs to be re-evaluated; that's a lot of tedious work, and I'm not sure if websites like these will have the manpower to do that.

stevenAthompson 3y ago

I took it as a supplement, mixed with piperine to help it pass into the blood stream. For me it was a mild stimulant like nicotine, without the addictive part. I was smarter and more nervous when I took it. Those are the only effects I can personally attest to.

stevenAthompson 3y ago
Actually, I did lose some weight over that time. Correlation may not be causation in that case.

nerdponx 3y ago

Turmeric is magical with fried onions.

Aurornis 3y ago

Curcumin, the compound, seems to do a lot of little things in studies when injected into rats at high doses. You can find reports of everything from anti-inflammatory to anti-depressant like effects in mouse/rat models. Curcumin, the substance you can buy on Amazon and take orally, seems to do very little. Not much of it gets into your blood so there isn't much comparison to the mouser/rat studies. There are formulations that try to get more into your system (piperine or various lipid encapsulations) but little real-world evidence. From watching forums on and off for years, I can say that nobody seems impressed with it for depression or anxiety (beyond some short placebo periods). I have seen some people claim that certain formulations reduce inflammation for them, but they've come with caveats that it can also reduce things like libido at those doses.