Curcumin Supplement..Safe & Effective

Study: Curcumin Supplement is Safe and Effective in Osteoarthritis Patients

Osteoarthritis (OA) is known as degenerative arthritis or degenerative joint disease and represents a group of mechanical abnormalities involving the degradation of joints, including the cartilage that grows at the ends of bones as well as the erosion of bone immediately under the cartilage.

This loss of cartilage and bone is painful, causes stiffness, and results in the affected individual minimizing activity and participating in fewer social outlets. Millions of elderly people in the industrialized and in developing countries are affected.

Effective treatments for this debilitating condition are few and far between, and basically involve the use of high doses of pain-relieving drugs, corticosteroid treatment, or, if a suitable medical infrastructure exists, surgical intervention. Generally nutritional supplementation is not effective; however, curcumin has been shown to be an exception to the rule.

At the molecular level the principal characteristic of osteoarthritis is an imbalance between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory signals in the cells that form cartilage and the sacs of fluid that surround the joints. An increase in the inflammatory signals can cause cartilage to stop regenerating itself and stimulates the degradation of cartilage by specific enzymes. As the joints are destroyed by this process, inflammation increases dramatically, resulting in even more damage and pain.

A recent eight-month study on 100 volunteers with clinically defined OA was conducted to assess the safety and effectiveness of curcumin extract. The group was divided evenly into 50 curcumin-treated and 50 control patients. After eight months of study all of these tests were conducted again to determine the physical and behavioral (social and quality of life) changes. The results were as follows:

1. Pain was reduced in the curcumin group by 2.3-fold
2. Stiffness was lowered by 2.3-fold
3. The ability to do physical functions was improved by 2.5 times
4. Strongly significant improvements in social and emotional functions and general well-being were observed in the curcumin group
5. The treadmill test indicated that individuals in the curcumin group improved by 3.9 times in physical performance compared to the control group
6. The amount of inflammatory protein markers in the blood of the curcumin-treatment group decreased significantly compared to the control group, suggesting that curcumin can regulate in a beneficial manner the activity of all the major inflammatory components involved in OA, and
7. Curcumin treatment reduced the use of pain-killing drugs (NSAIDS, acetaminophen, celecoxib) by 63%.

In conclusion, the clinical data showed that a low dose of curcumin greatly improved the quality of life for those individuals with OA, and there were no signs of toxicity observed in the curcumin treatment group after an eight-month period of daily ingestion. Since OA is a chronic disease, continuous treatment with curcumin should be possible.

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Dr. Jim Wilmer, Ph.D., is the Chief Science Officer for nutraMetrix Custom Health Solutions. Dr. Wilmer oversees product development, product evaluation and related scientific issues.