Genetics For The Rest Of Us: Turmeric: An Indian Spice With Potential Medical Use

My wife and I were making Indian food last weekend, and turmeric is a major component of curry blends. The spice gives curry its distinctive yellow color, it smells delicious, and it tastes even better.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) also has a storied history outside the kitchen. Both Ayurvedic (traditional Indian) and traditional Chinese medicine incorporate turmeric in many of their treatments¹. People still use turmeric for indigestion, eczema, and other maladies¹.

Labs investigating medicinal properties of turmeric focus on the molecule curcumin, one of many chemical compounds the plant naturally produces. Studies on curcumin began in earnest around 2000, and since then, the number of articles published on its possible applications in modern medicine skyrocketed.

Early results in cell-based and animal studies indicate curcumin may help reduce arthritic pain, combat inflammation, help prevent diabetes, and help prevent certain forms of cancer². These results are preliminary and haven’t been replicated in people in large-scale clinical trials, but they’re certainly promising.

How does curcumin work in such a wide range of diseases?

At first, it might seem like many of the diseases curcumin may help treat are completely unrelated, but they actually have much more in common than you might think. Arthritis, general inflammation, diabetes, and cancer all primarily affect adults and the elderly. It’s becoming increasingly clear the same metabolic pathways contribute to age-related diseases and perhaps aging itself.

The term “inflammaging” emerged around 2000 when scientists began to recognize the close relationship between inflammation and aging³. People with obesity are also at high risk for arthritis and a higher risk for developing cancer⁴, for example. These diseases all have strong connections to inflammation.

Curcumin may work by targeting pro-inflammatory proteins like TNF-α and NF-κB^5-6. Both of these proteins are transcription factors, or proteins responsible for turning on other genes in the cell. TNF-α helps turn on genes that produce cytokines that promote inflammation⁵. NF-κB also instructs the cell to produce cytokines and other proteins involved in blood vessel formation, a phenomenon that occurs in cancerous tumors⁶.

So, if curcumin seems to work, why isn’t it used in modern medicine now?

As it turns out, the body metabolizes curcumin so quickly that it’s difficult to keep enough of it in the body to work for any appreciable length of time⁵. Scientists are currently trying to improve upon the natural curcumin chemical structure to make it more resistant to breakdown in the body or develop different delivery strategies so it can act directly on target tissues⁵, but it will take years to make it to the clinic.

Based on the best estimate I can come up with⁷, people would need to around one tablespoon of turmeric a day to see a benefit. Most likely, people would need to eat more because the amount of curcumin in turmeric can vary quite a bit⁷.

I should stress, however, that turmeric is not a substitute for other medicine. If you have diabetes, you should take insulin. If you have cancer, for the love of God, get chemotherapy. It’s important to keep in mind I have a Ph.D., not an M.D. You should always talk to your doctor (i.e. not WebMD and certainly not Dr. Oz) to get the best medical advice.

On the other hand, it might not be a bad idea to incorporate more turmeric into your diet if you can. Indian food is tasty, after all.

References

Genetics For The Rest Of Us

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Turmeric: An Indian Spice With Potential Medical Use

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