Every kitchen in India makes use of turmeric in its meal, in one form or another. The actual turmeric slices or turmeric powder that we use every day in preparing our meals (as Haldi, Manjal, Pasupu, Arishina, Halud ) has about 3% of the active component molecule called curcumin, a polyphenol diketone (and not a steroid). Researchers point out that there is another molecule in turmeric called piperine, which is an alkaloid, responsible for the pungency of pepper that we use every day in our cooking, along with turmeric. Piperine enhances curcumin absorption in the body. It gives turmeric its multivariate healing and protective power.
Curry powder
Turmeric has been known for over 4,000 years in the Indian subcontinent, West Asia, Burma, Indonesia and China, and used as an essential part of our daily food – what the colonials called curry powder. It has also been known as a medicine for ages, and to have anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Herbal medicine experts have used turmeric to treat painful symptoms of arthritis, joint stiffness and joint pain. They have also claimed that turmeric helps cure acute kidney injuries. Some of these claims need to checked using controlled trials.
The site: https://www.healthline.com lists the following evidence-based benefits that turmeric and its products offer the body. Besides what has been mentioned, Curcumin, which is the active molecule in turmeric, is a substance with powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties; it is a natural anti-inflammatory compound; chronic low-level inflammation affects your health, including heart diseases and metabolic syndromes. Thanks to its ability to cross the blood–brain barrier, Curcumin reduces or stops the build-up of insoluble protein tangles called amyloid plaques, which are responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. (However, we need further placebo-based studies, suitable animal models and humans). Curcumin boosts Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), a gene which promotes neurons (nerve cells), thus helping in memory and learning. It may help prevent cancer, as some herbal medicine experts have held. As cancer cells die, the spread of cancer is reduced, and new tumour cells are stopped. In arthritis and joint inflammation, Curcumin has been shown to be very effective. Herbal medicine practitioners have also suggested this. It is useful for treating depression in people. Controlled trials on 60 people for 6 weeks show that conventional drugs (for example, Prozac) act even better when supplemented with Curcumin.
It is here that a paper from Gary Small and colleagues from the University of California, the U.S., titled: ‘Memory and Brain Amyloid and Tau effects of a bioavailable form of curcumin in non-demented adults: A double-blind, placebo-controlled 18-month trial’, in the journal American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.10.010). Here they studied 40 adults between the age of 50 and 90 years, who had mild memory complaints, and gave one group placebo and the other group 90 mg of Curcumin, twice daily for 18 months. All 40 received standardised assessment tests and the curcumin levels in their blood at start and at 18 months. All 40 were also tested with PET Scans to determine the levels of insoluble amyloid plaques, at start and after 18 months. They could conclude that daily Curcumin intake could lead to improved memory and attention in non-demented adults.
Against COVID-19
Most recently, an exciting study has recently been published from a group in Mumbai which shows that turmeric aids in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The researchers did a trial of about 40 COVID-19 patients and found that turmeric could substantially reduce the morbidity and mortality. The paper by K. S. Pawar et al appears in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology , titled: ‘Oral curcumin with piperine as adjuvant therapy for COVID- 19: A randomized clinical trial’. The paper is freely accessible (doi.10.3389/fphar.2021.669362.eCollection 2021). What K. S. Pawar and colleagues had done was to conduct a double-blind, randomised, control trial in a 30-bed dedicated COVID-19 Heath Centre in Maharashtra. Administration of oral curcumin with piperine as an adjuvant symptomatic therapy in COVID-19 treatment could substantially reduce morbidity and mortality, and ease the logistical and supply-related burdens on the heath system. (Incidentally, that curcumin is an excellent immunoadjuvant has been known, thanks to the detailed studies of G. Padmanaban of IISc, Bengaluru).
This is a truly remarkable advance, and is well worth trying out in several other centres across India, where the pandemic is still prevalent, not only to confirm the findings, but also where no clear signs of herd immunity have come about.
dbala@lvpei.org
