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Found in the roots of the Curcuma longa plant and a member of the ginger family, turmeric has been used as a medicine, spice (curry) and yellow dye since 600 B.C.
The golden spice has long been used in both Ayurveda and Chinese medicines as an anti-inflammatory agent and used for conditions such as arthritis. It has been highly valued by those who practice Hatha Yoga, for its beneficial effects on ligaments. Throughout Asia, turmeric has been used for stomach problems, allergies, diarrhea, heartburn, wind, bloating, colic, flatulence and liver ailments.
For thousands of years Eastern medicine has used curcumin (the major component of turmeric) for a wide range of health benefits, but only in recent times has its biological action been understood. A wealth of scientific data shows curcumin has powerful anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and antioxidant properties
Extensive research shows curcumin is effective in multiple ways, and this provides basis for many applications. But curcumin is extremely difficult to absorb, so it's important to get more of it into your bloodstream.
What is Curcumin ?
Curcumin is the yellow-orange pigment and the most important ingredient in turmeric. Curcumin is the most important active ingredient in turmeric, and makes up about 2-6% of the spice. While therapeutic properties of turmeric have been known for centuries, modern science has identified the curcuminoids (phenolic compounds found in turmeric) and provides a scientific basis for many clinical uses of standardized curcumin.
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| Composition of Turmeric: |
| Curcumin (curcuminoids) |
2-6% |
| Volatile (essential) oils |
3-7% |
| Fiber |
2-7% |
| Mineral matter |
3-7% |
| Protein |
6-8% |
| Fat |
5-10% |
| Moisture |
6-13% |
| Carbohydrates |
60-70% | |
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Extensive research shows curcumin can benefit multiple targets in your body and provides scientific basis for its effectiveness in a wide variety of different body systems
Benefits / uses
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Library of Medicine's PubMed MEDLINE database yields thousands of scientific articles about turmeric's active ingredient, curcumin which show:
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curcumin reduces inflammation and edema |
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curcumin accelerates wound-healing |
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curcumin's role against cancer |
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curcumin's potential to reduce heart disease |
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arthritis |
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Crohn's and inflammatory bowel disease |
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irritable bowel syndrome and ulcerative colitis |
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neurological diseases |
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Alzheimer's disease |
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multiple sclerosis |
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diabetes type II |
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cataract formation |
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drug-induced toxicity in the heart, lung and kidney |
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Cystic Fibrosis |
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skin diseases: psoriasis, scleroderma and dermatitis |
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curcumin may reduce the progression of HIV | |
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Possible Side effects / Precautions / Possible Interactions:
Safety evaluation studies show curcumin is well tolerated at very high doses without any adverse effects. For centuries, curcumin has been consumed as a dietary spice at doses up to 100 mg per day. Recent human clinical trials found no toxicity and no adverse side effects in curcumin when administered at doses of 8,000 milligrams per day for three months.
CAUTIONS: Use during chemotherapy should only be performed under the direct supervision of a qualified medical practitioner. Caution is advised in patients with bleeding disorders or taking drugs that may increase the risk of bleeding. Dosing adjustments may be necessary. Curcumin should be stopped prior to scheduled surgery.
Reported adverse reactions have been limited to mild gastrointestinal distress, which may be minimized by consuming curcumin with food.
Research studies / References
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MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) post-transcriptionally downregulates tumor suppressor Pdcd4 and stimulates invasion, intravasation and metastasis in colorectal cancer. |
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I A Asangani, S A K Rasheed, D A Nikolova, J H Leupold, N H Colburn, S Post, in Oncogene(2008) |
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Locked nucleic acid in situ hybridization analysis of miR-21 expression during colorectal cancer development. |
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Nobutake Yamamichi, Ryoichi Shimomura, Ken-ichi Inada, Kouhei Sakurai, Takeshi Haraguchi, Yuka Ozaki, et al. in Clinical Cancer Research(2009) |
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Curcumin inhibits lung cancer cell invasion and metastasis through the tumor suppressor HLJ1. |
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Huei-Wen Chen, Jen-Yi Lee, Ji-Ying Huang, Chi-Chung Wang, Wan-Jiun Chen, Sheng-Fang Su, et al. in Cancer Research(2008) |
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Altered expression of miR-21, miR-31, miR-143 and miR-145 is related to clinicopathologic features of colorectal cancer. |
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Slaby, M Svoboda, P Fabian, T Smerdova, D Knoflickova, M Bednarikova, et al. in Oncology(2007) |
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Curcumin inhibits invasion and metastasis in the human ovarian cancer cells SKOV3 by CXCL12-CXCR4 axis. |
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Mu XiaoLing, Zhao Jing, Xu Fang, Tang LiangDanin African Journal of Biotechnology(2010) |
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Chan MM, Fong D, Soprano KJ, Holmes WF, Heverling H. Inhibition of growth and sensiti- zation to cisplatin-mediated killing of ovarian cancer cells by polyphenolic chemopreventive agents. J Cell Physiol. 2003 Jan;194(1):63-70. |
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Navis I, Sriganth P, Premalatha B. Dietary curcumin with cisplatin administration modu- lates tumor marker indices in experimental fibrosarcoma. Pharmacological Research. 1999 Mar;39(3):175-79. |
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Ichiki K, Mitani N, Doki Y, Hara H, Misaki T, Saiki I. Regulation of activator protein-1 activity in the mediastinal lymph node metas- tasis of lung cancer. Clin Exp Metastasis. 2000;18(7):539-45. |
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Bharti AC, Donato N, Singh S, Aggarwal BB. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) down-regu- lates the constitutive activation of nuclear fac- tor-kappa B and IkappaBalpha kinase in human multiple myeloma cells, leading to suppression of proliferation and induction of apoptosis. Blood. 2003 Feb;101(3):1053-62. |
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Lin JK, Chen YC, Huang YT, Lin-Shiau SY. Suppression of protein kinase C and nuclear oncogene expression as possible molecular mechanisms of cancer chemoprevention by apigenin and curcumin. J Cell Biochem Suppl. 1997;28-29:39-48. |
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Cheng AL, Hsu Ch, Lin JK, et al. Phase I clini- cal trial of curcumin, a chemopreventive agent, in patients with high-risk or pre-malig- nant lesions. Anticancer Res. Jul-Aug 2001;21(4B):2895-2900. |
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Miyoshi N, Nakamura Y, Ueda Y, et al. Dietary ginger constituents, galanals A and B, are potent apoptosis inducers in Human T lymphoma Jurkat cells. Cancer Lett. 2003 Sep 25;199(2):113-9. |
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Chan WH, Wu CC, Yu JS. Curcumin inhibits UV-induced oxidative stress and apoptotic biochemical changes in human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells. J Cell Biochem. Oct 2003;90(2):327-38. |
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Menon LG, Kuttan R, Kuttan G. Antimeta- static activity of curcumin and catechin. Cancer Lett 1999 Jul 1;141(1-2):159-65. |
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Aggarwal BB, Kumar A, Bharti AC. Anticancer potential of curcumin: preclinical and clinical studies. Anticancer Res. Jan-Feb 2003;23(1A):363-98. |
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Ikezaki S, Nishikawa A, Furukawa F, et al. Chemopreventive effects of curcumin on glandular stomach carcinogenesis induced by N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and sodium chloride in rats. Anticancer Res. 2001 Sep-Oct;21(5):3407-11. |
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Dorai T, Cao YC, Dorai B, Buttyan R, Katz AE. Therapeutic potential of curcumin in human prostate cancer. III. Curcumin inhibits proliferation, induces apoptosis, and inhibits angiogenesis of LNCaP prostate can- cer cells in vivo. Prostate. 2001 Jun 1;47(4):293-303. |
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Nakamura K, Yasunaga Y, Segawa T, et al. Curcumin down-regulates AR gene expres- sion and activation in prostate cancer cell lines. Int J Oncol. 2002 Oct;21(4):825-30. |
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Hour TC, Chen J, Huang CY, Guan JY, Lu SH, Pu YS. Curcumin enhances cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutic agents in prostate can- cer cells by inducing p21(WAF1/CIP1) and C/EBPbeta expressions and suppressing NF- kappaB activation. Prostate. 2002 May 15;51(3):211-8. |
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Gururaj AE, Belakavadi M, Venkatesh DA, Marme D, Salimath BP. Molecular mecha- nisms of anti-angiogenic effect of curcumin. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2002 Oct 4;297(4):934-42. |
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Cheng PY, Wang M, Morgan ET. Rapid transcriptional suppression of rat Cyto- chrome P450 genes by endotoxin treatment and its inhibition by curcumin. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2003 Oct 13 [Epub ahead of print]. |
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Ray SN, Chattopadhyay N, Mitra A, Siddiqi M, Chatterjee A. Curcumin exhibits anti- metastatic properties by modulating inte- grin receptors, collagenase activity, and expression of Nm23 and E-cadherin. J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol. 2003;22(1):49-58. |
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Imaida K, Tamano S, Kato K, et al. Lack of chemopreventive effects of lycopene and curcumin on experimental rat prostate car cinogenesis. Carcinogenesis. 2001 Mar;22(3):467-72. |
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