Blog

Groundbreaking research published in the Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand found that curcumin, the primary polyphenol in turmeric, is capable of repairing and even regenerating the liver tissues of diabetic rats.

The research was performed at Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok, Thailand. The administration of curcumin to diabetic rats, whose livers showed the characteristic pathology and destruction of liver tissues and microvasculature, resulted in significant reversal of the condition.

They noted:

“Fascinatingly, liver microvasculature in curcumin treated group developed into regenerate and repair into healthy and normal characteristics.” They concluded: “These results optimistically demonstrated the potential use of curcumin as a novel therapeutic agent in liver pathology of diabetic rats.

Curcumin is actually one of the world’s most thoroughly studied and well-characterized natural compounds, with over 5100 references in peer-reviewed publications. Over 1400 of these have been selected for inclusion in our database, and indicate its value in over 500 health conditions. Considering its remarkably wide range of therapeutic benefits, it is not surprising that curcumin has been researched to either prevent or treat, liver disease.  For example, you can view 36 studies on curcumin’s anti-liver cancer properties here: curcumin liver cancer.  Perhaps even more impressive are these 78 studies on curcumin’s liver-protective properties: hepatoprotective properties of curcumin.  Another 30 studies indicate its profound value in improving liver fibrosis.

There are also a broad range of therapeutic effects relevant to diabetes, as illustrated by the screenshot of the section on our database below.

Also, it is important to realize that curcumin, relative to conventional pharmacological agents, has a broad, and extremely effective therapeutic profile. In fact, we have indexed over 160 distinct, beneficial pharmacological actions associated with curcumin alone. Moreover, curcumin has been shown to be at least as effective, and in some cases superior to the following drug types:

• NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)[i]
• Hydrocortisone[ii] (for inflammation)
• Prednisone[iii] (for inflammation)
• Corticosteroids (uveitis)[iv]
• Memantine and Diclofenac[v] (for memory)
• Atorvastain (for inflammation-mediated endothelial dysfunction)[vi]
• Dexamethasone (lung transplantation or injury)[vii] [viii]
• Fluoxetine [Prozac] and imipramine [Tofranil] (depression)[ix]
• Acetylsalicylic acid (Thrombosis and Arthritis)[x]
• Quinidine (myocardial ischemia)[xi]
• Oxaliplatin (Colorectal Cancer)[xii]
• Metformin (Gluconeogenesis/Blood Sugar)[xiii]

Finally, curcumin’s superiority over conventional pharmacological agents in treating cancer is well characterized. We have indexed 36 studies showing curcumin is ability to inhibit and/or kill drug-resistance cancers. Even more impressive, here are 27 studies showing that curcumin can kill multi-drug resistance cancers.

We will end with a simple image. Turmeric, the mother plant if you will, which gives rise to the compound curcumin. Do you see how the Earth provides this gift for free? It simply grows out of the ground. There is love in this fact. I hope you can appreciate the profound meaning of this gift.

For additional information on our Turmeric Database, the world’s most exhaustive, view the youtube below

RESOURCES

• [i] Yasunari Takada, Anjana Bhardwaj, Pravin Potdar, Bharat B Aggarwal. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents differ in their ability to suppress NF-kappaB activation, inhibition of expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and cyclin D1, and abrogation of tumor cell proliferation. Oncogene. 2004 Dec 9;23(57):9247-58. PMID: 15489888

• [ii] Min Xu, Bin Deng, Yeuk-Lung Chow, Zhong-Zhen Zhao, Bin Hu. Effects of curcumin in treatment of experimental pulmonary fibrosis: a comparison with hydrocortisone. J Ethnopharmacol. 2007 Jun 13;112(2):292-9. Epub 2007 Mar 13. PMID: 17434272

• [iii] Bi Chen, De-Ping Zhang, Wei Gao. [Effect of curcumin on the expression of collagen type I protein and transforming growth factor-beta1mRNA in pulmonary fibrosis rats]. Zhonghua Lao Dong Wei Sheng Zhi Ye Bing Za Zhi. 2008 May;26(5):257-61. PMID: 18727865

• [iv] B Lal, A K Kapoor, O P Asthana, P K Agrawal, R Prasad, P Kumar, R C Srimal. Efficacy of curcumin in the management of chronic anterior uveitis. Phytother Res. 1999 Jun;13(4):318-22. PMID: 10404539

• [v] Elham H A Ali, Nadia M S Arafa. Comparative protective action of curcumin, memantine and diclofenac against scopolamine-induced memory dysfunction. Fitoterapia. 2011 Jan 26. Epub 2011 Jan 26. PMID: 21277954

• [vi] P Usharani, A A Mateen, M U R Naidu, Y S N Raju, Naval Chandra. Effect of NCB-02, atorvastatin and placebo on endothelial function, oxidative stress and inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, 8-week study. Drugs R D. 2008;9(4):243-50. PMID: 18588355

• [vii] Jiayuan Sun, Weigang Guo, Yong Ben, Jinjun Jiang, Changjun Tan, Zude Xu, Xiangdong Wang, Chunxue Bai. Preventive effects of curcumin and dexamethasone on lung transplantation-associated lung injury in rats. Crit Care Med. 2008 Apr;36(4):1205-13. PMID: 18379247

• [viii] J Sun, D Yang, S Li, Z Xu, X Wang, C Bai. Effects of curcumin or dexamethasone on lung ischaemia-reperfusion injury in rats. Cancer Lett. 2003 Mar 31;192(2):145-9. PMID: 18799504

• [ix] Jayesh Sanmukhani, Ashish Anovadiya, Chandrabhanu B Tripathi. Evaluation of antidepressant like activity of curcumin and its combination with fluoxetine and imipramine: an acute and chronic study. Acta Pol Pharm. 2011 Sep-Oct;68(5):769-75. PMID: 21928724

• [x] R Srivastava, V Puri, R C Srimal, B N Dhawan. Effect of curcumin on platelet aggregation and vascular prostacyclin synthesis. Arzneimittelforschung. 1986 Apr;36(4):715-7. PMID: 3521617

• [xi] M Dikshit, L Rastogi, R Shukla, R C Srimal. Prevention of ischaemia-induced biochemical changes by curcumin&quinidine in the cat heart. Indian J Med Res. 1995 Jan;101:31-5. PMID: 7883281

• [xii] Lynne M Howells, Anita Mitra, Margaret M Manson. Comparison of oxaliplatin- and curcumin-mediated antiproliferative effects in colorectal cell lines. Int J Cancer. 2007 Jul 1;121(1):175-83. PMID: 17330230

• [xiii] Teayoun Kim, Jessica Davis, Albert J Zhang, Xiaoming He, Suresh T Mathews. Curcumin activates AMPK and suppresses gluconeogenic gene expression in hepatoma cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2009 Oct 16;388(2):377-82. Epub 2009 Aug 8. PMID: 1