Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Curcumin reverses Parkinson's in Fruit Flies
OK, so maybe its not a clinical trial. But fruit flies have many genes conserved from humans, so its some rationale for research in mammals.
Curcumin, from turmeric spice, appears to block alpha-synuclein aggregation in in vitro models of Parkinson's disease, and now in flies. Alpha-synuclein is believed to aggregate and choke off dopaminergic brain cells in Parkinson's patients, leading to sleep issues. Inhibition or clearance of alpha-synuclein by curcumin in the flies also lead to a reduction in sleep disturbances.
"Clinical trials of curcumin to reduce risk of Parkinson's disease are a future possibility, but for now we are using the flies to learn how curcumin works," says author James Galvin, M.D.
Reference: Seugnet L, Galvin JE, Suzuki Y, Gottschalk L, Shaw PJ. Persistent short-term memory defects following sleep deprivation in a Drosophila model of Parkinson disease. Sleep, Aug. 1, 2009
Curcumin, from turmeric spice, appears to block alpha-synuclein aggregation in in vitro models of Parkinson's disease, and now in flies. Alpha-synuclein is believed to aggregate and choke off dopaminergic brain cells in Parkinson's patients, leading to sleep issues. Inhibition or clearance of alpha-synuclein by curcumin in the flies also lead to a reduction in sleep disturbances.
"Clinical trials of curcumin to reduce risk of Parkinson's disease are a future possibility, but for now we are using the flies to learn how curcumin works," says author James Galvin, M.D.
Reference: Seugnet L, Galvin JE, Suzuki Y, Gottschalk L, Shaw PJ. Persistent short-term memory defects following sleep deprivation in a Drosophila model of Parkinson disease. Sleep, Aug. 1, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Curcumin for Alzheimers
OK my recent cynicism on the weight loss 'benefits' of curcumin I posted recently are maybe a little harsh. I am a skeptic, as a friend of mine emailed to me in regard to my June 2 post. In fact, she said, "You are brutal." Ok so maybe I am, I just have to deal with it. Ok so let me talk about a health benefit I am more optimistic about for curcumin: neurodegeneration. My grandmother had dementia but I was too young to be able to help her. But in her memory I try to figure things out as if she was still with us, maybe weird but whatever. While there is still no decent treatment for Alzheimers (although approved) aricept and bapineuzumab are not my idea of effective AD treatments. They dont work plus they have terrible side effects. A recent clinical study on curcumin for Alzheimers was null. But my interest in bioavailability made me look into curcumin further. I have always liked the research on turmeric but wondered why it showed all these great things in the animal models but not in humans. Apparently curcumin has bioavailability issues. So the story goes, most pharmaceuticals have a bunch of money that they can figure out what maximizes absorption. But natural compounds, since they are hard to patent, dont get the money thrown their way by industry. But sometimes the universities come up with good things, if they get funded by someone like the NIH. So I came across something interesting the other night in this regard. Apparently the UCLA Alzheimers Center has been working on curcumin for a number of years and they have filed patents on a curcumin formulation that might work. So I just found this out and am going to research more and will report on it shortly.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Curcumin may help you lose weight?!?
I downloaded the full text of the recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition (a decent journal) on curcumin in fat cells and obese mice that has received some media attention. Overall, the study was well designed and had statistically significant findings with regard to weight loss and blood cholesterol in mice fed a high-fat diet with or without curcumin. The amount of curcumin in diet was not extremely high at 500mg/kg (500ppm) in diet (meaning that humans might be able to achieve this dose). The fact that the curcumin was mixed into a high-fat diet (curcumin is fat-soluble) probably increased its bioavailability significantly, and given that they determined the concentration at which there is an inhibition of angiogenesis (5uM, or about 1500ng/mL), I would have liked to see them measure the bioavailability in the fatty diet compared to simple gavage in water (as is usually done in animal studies with curcumin) to see if curcumin reached the blood levels needed to inhibit angiogenesis. The authors summarized the mechanism by which curcumin acts on fat cells:
"we have made interesting observations that curcumin has the ability to inhibit angiogenesis in adipose tissue, decrease differentiation of preadipocytes, and reduce accumulation of lipids in adipocytes and liver, all of which contribute to a lower growth of adipose tissue, lower body weight gain and obesity." (J Nutr 2009 May;139(5):page 923)
It is worth noting that a high fat diet given to mice may only loosely represent the diet that us humans enjoy so much. While positive animal studies abound, well-designed clinical trials demonstrating significant weight loss using non-stimulants are few and far between. It is probably safe to say that no pill will ever substitute for balanced, low-calorie diet and exercise--with deepest apologies to the acai scam marketers "as found on Oprah"; and Alli, who helps you lose weight by making it run down your leg--but God knows, we will keep trying.
"we have made interesting observations that curcumin has the ability to inhibit angiogenesis in adipose tissue, decrease differentiation of preadipocytes, and reduce accumulation of lipids in adipocytes and liver, all of which contribute to a lower growth of adipose tissue, lower body weight gain and obesity." (J Nutr 2009 May;139(5):page 923)
It is worth noting that a high fat diet given to mice may only loosely represent the diet that us humans enjoy so much. While positive animal studies abound, well-designed clinical trials demonstrating significant weight loss using non-stimulants are few and far between. It is probably safe to say that no pill will ever substitute for balanced, low-calorie diet and exercise--with deepest apologies to the acai scam marketers "as found on Oprah"; and Alli, who helps you lose weight by making it run down your leg--but God knows, we will keep trying.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Study: Curcumin absorption may be best on an empty stomach
We have always debated whether curcumin is best to take on an empty stomach or with meals. Taking with meals would appear to increase absorption since curcumin is fat soluble. Interestingly, this chart from Begum et al 2008 shows the contrary. One major question remains, however: can oral curcumin absorb into the human bloodstream at concentrations required to treat the diseases it is shown promise for in animal models?
Source: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2527621&rendertype=figure&id=F6
Curcumin prevents glial activation
Glia, (e.g. astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia) are cells that nourish, protect, and provide structure for neurons. In Alzheimer's disease, stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases, glia are activated, and this stimulates chronic inflammation. In this image, curcumin fed to mice prevented glial activation. The second column of pictures shows brain tissue with no treatment (activated glia are stained black) and the third column shows much less staining, hence much less glial activation. This is one way in which curcumin acts to protect the brain.
Video on Alzheimer's Pathology
This short video shows how Alzheimer's disease is caused by tau tangles and amyloid plaques.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Ten Different Neuroprotective Effects of Curcumin
This link lists the ten different neurological effects of curcumin..
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Basics of Curcumin
On this site I plan to tell the story of curcumin and help people understand what it can do, and what it probably cannot do. While there are encouraging findings on curcumin in human trials, (it repeatedly reverses Alzheimer's disease in animal models, and has a great safety profile) its benefits for people have not been conclusive, for several reasons difficult for many people to understand. And since everyone is out marketing their various snake oil form of curcumin/turmeric, the really important info, such as what to take, how much is the dosage, and when to take it is not clearly communicated or understood by most of us. But rest assured I will try to clear the haze as a scientist myself. So to start is a basic introduction on curcumin. Look for more to follow in the coming weeks:
Curcumin is the deep yellow, lipid-soluble biphenolic compound from Curcuma longa, or turmeric root. Curcumin is anti-inflammatory and chemopreventive in models of cancer and inflammation, and neuroprotective in models of ischemia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Mostly small clinical studies have explored the use of curcumin for Alzheimer's, various cancers, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and other inflammatory disorders. The clinical literature shows mixed results in subjects with various diseases, and these results are thought to be the result of the poor bioavailability of standard curcumin.[i]
(NOTE: You will find my next paragraph boring unless you are a medical researcher or doctor. Hang in there and wait for my next posts! I think you probably will want to bookmark this blog for when I post some good meat you can bite into!)
Curcumin’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are mainly responsible for its therapeutic effects. Curcumin inhibits the activity of lipoxygenase by binding lipoxygenase itself [ii] or in phosphatidylcholine (PC) bound micelles.[iii] Curcumin is a potent inhibitor of the activation of various transcription factors including nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB), activated protein-1 (AP-1), signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-g (PPAR-g), and b-catenin. [iv] Curcumin exhibits protein-binding properties, inhibits kinase activity, and regulates a number of transcription factors in its regulation of cytokine, inflammatory enzyme, and cell survival protein expression. Curcumin also down-regulates cyclins D1 and E and MDM2, and upregulates p21, p27, and p53.[v] Plasma levels of 0.1µM free curcumin have been determined to be therapeutic and sufficient for in vivo anti-inflammatory, and anti-amyloid effects.[vi] Human bioavailability studies of standard curcumin show few instances of therapeutic levels being achieved, and only at doses as high as 10,000-12,000mg per day.[vii]
[i] Goel A, Kunnumakkara AB, Aggarwal BB. Curcumin as "Curecumin": from kitchen to clinic. Biochem Pharmacol. 2008 Feb 15;75(4):787-809. Epub 2007 Aug 19.
[ii] Skrzypczak-Jankun E, Zhou K, McCabe NP, Selman SH, Jankun J. Structure of curcumin in complex with lipoxygenase and its significance in cancer. Int J Mol Med 2003;12:17–24.
[iii] Began G, Sudharshan E, Appu Rao AG. Inhibition of lipoxygenase 1 by phosphatidylcholine micelles-bound curcumin. Lipids 1998;33:1223–8.
[iv] Shishodia S, Singh T, Chaturvedi MM. Modulation of transcription factors by curcumin. Adv Exp Med Biol 2007;595:127–48.
[v] Aggarwal BB, Bhatt ID, Ichikawa H, Ahn KS, Sethi G, Sandur SK, et al. Curcumin–boiological and medicinal properties. Turmeric: the genus Curcuma. Taylor and Francis Group; 2006. p. 297–368.
[vi] Ono et al, 2004 Curcumin has potent anti-amyloidogenic effects for Alzheimer's beta-amyloid fibrils in vitro. J Neurosci Res. 2004 Mar 15;75(6):742-50.
[vii]Lao CD, Ruffin MTt, Normolle D, Heath DD, Murray SI, Bailey JM, et al. Dose escalation of a curcuminoid formulation. BMC Complement Altern Med 2006;6:10.
Curcumin is the deep yellow, lipid-soluble biphenolic compound from Curcuma longa, or turmeric root. Curcumin is anti-inflammatory and chemopreventive in models of cancer and inflammation, and neuroprotective in models of ischemia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Mostly small clinical studies have explored the use of curcumin for Alzheimer's, various cancers, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and other inflammatory disorders. The clinical literature shows mixed results in subjects with various diseases, and these results are thought to be the result of the poor bioavailability of standard curcumin.[i]
(NOTE: You will find my next paragraph boring unless you are a medical researcher or doctor. Hang in there and wait for my next posts! I think you probably will want to bookmark this blog for when I post some good meat you can bite into!)
Curcumin’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are mainly responsible for its therapeutic effects. Curcumin inhibits the activity of lipoxygenase by binding lipoxygenase itself [ii] or in phosphatidylcholine (PC) bound micelles.[iii] Curcumin is a potent inhibitor of the activation of various transcription factors including nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB), activated protein-1 (AP-1), signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-g (PPAR-g), and b-catenin. [iv] Curcumin exhibits protein-binding properties, inhibits kinase activity, and regulates a number of transcription factors in its regulation of cytokine, inflammatory enzyme, and cell survival protein expression. Curcumin also down-regulates cyclins D1 and E and MDM2, and upregulates p21, p27, and p53.[v] Plasma levels of 0.1µM free curcumin have been determined to be therapeutic and sufficient for in vivo anti-inflammatory, and anti-amyloid effects.[vi] Human bioavailability studies of standard curcumin show few instances of therapeutic levels being achieved, and only at doses as high as 10,000-12,000mg per day.[vii]
[i] Goel A, Kunnumakkara AB, Aggarwal BB. Curcumin as "Curecumin": from kitchen to clinic. Biochem Pharmacol. 2008 Feb 15;75(4):787-809. Epub 2007 Aug 19.
[ii] Skrzypczak-Jankun E, Zhou K, McCabe NP, Selman SH, Jankun J. Structure of curcumin in complex with lipoxygenase and its significance in cancer. Int J Mol Med 2003;12:17–24.
[iii] Began G, Sudharshan E, Appu Rao AG. Inhibition of lipoxygenase 1 by phosphatidylcholine micelles-bound curcumin. Lipids 1998;33:1223–8.
[iv] Shishodia S, Singh T, Chaturvedi MM. Modulation of transcription factors by curcumin. Adv Exp Med Biol 2007;595:127–48.
[v] Aggarwal BB, Bhatt ID, Ichikawa H, Ahn KS, Sethi G, Sandur SK, et al. Curcumin–boiological and medicinal properties. Turmeric: the genus Curcuma. Taylor and Francis Group; 2006. p. 297–368.
[vi] Ono et al, 2004 Curcumin has potent anti-amyloidogenic effects for Alzheimer's beta-amyloid fibrils in vitro. J Neurosci Res. 2004 Mar 15;75(6):742-50.
[vii]Lao CD, Ruffin MTt, Normolle D, Heath DD, Murray SI, Bailey JM, et al. Dose escalation of a curcuminoid formulation. BMC Complement Altern Med 2006;6:10.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Turmeric Truth: Curcumin Uncovered
Hello! I have created this blog to uncover some of the myths (and expose the facts) about the health benefits of turmeric and curcumin. With a background in analytical chemistry, clinical research, and natural medicine, I look forward to sharing my insights and medical knowledge on this emerging wonder compound. Stay tuned!