Meta-study confirms positive effects of curcumin supplementation in rheumatoid arthritis

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22.06.2023

Rheumatic patients respond well to supplementation with curcumin. According to a Chinese meta-study, curcumin reduces the inflammatory reactions that play a central role in rheumatism. As a result, patients suffer less from painful, tender and swollen joints.

Metastudy

Haiyang Kou, an orthopedic researcher from Xi'an Jiaotong University in China, traced ten previously published trials in the scientific literature in which people with rheumatoid arthritis had been treated with curcumin. Kou combined the results and analyzed them again.

Below you can see more information about the used studies summarized. Some of them had their methodological shortcomings, but Kou considered them good enough to use in his meta-study.

All studies were of Asian origin. The doses and type of extract varied.

Click on the table for a larger version.

Results
Curcumin supplementation reduced pain and the number of times the subjects experienced tender or swollen joints.

The effect of curcumin was not only subjective in nature, but also demonstrable in medical analyses. For example, supplementation reduced the concentration of rheumatoid factors in the blood. Rheumatoid factors are a group of inflammatory factors involved in rheumatoid arthritis.

Click on the figure for a larger version.

Serious side effects did not occur.

Source:
Front Immunol. 2023 May 31;14:1121655.

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