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23.03.2025

Turmeric supplementation makes treatment of ulcerative colitis more effective

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammation of the colon. Medication can suppress this inflammation. According to a human study published in 2020 in Phytotherapy Research, this medication works better when combined with an extract of turmeric.

Study
Researchers from Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Iran selected 70 adult patients who were recently diagnosed with ulcerative colitis by doctors. All subjects were given medications such as salicylates, corticosteroids and immunosuppressants.

Half of the subjects were given no more than that. These subjects were given a placebo. This was the control group.

The experimental group did not receive a placebo in addition to their medication, but did receive a supplement. This contained an extract of turmeric. The researchers used a product from Karen, an Iranian supplement producer. Every day, the subjects took a capsule with breakfast, lunch and dinner. This amounts to 3 capsules per day.

Results
After 8 weeks of supplementation, 44 percent of the subjects in the placebo group, who received only medication, had gone into remission. In the turmeric group, who received turmeric extract in addition to medication, this was the case in 84 percent.

In the placebo group, almost 60 percent showed an improvement. In the turmeric group, this happened in 94 percent.

Mechanism
At least part of the explanation is that turmeric inhibited inflammation. The researchers discovered that supplementation with turmeric reduced the concentration of CRP in the blood of the test subjects by 55 percent.

This is shown in the table below. Click on it for a larger version.

Conclusion
"Supplementation with curcumin in combination with routine medications can be effective in the treatment of ulcerative colitis," the researchers write.

Turmeric
The researchers did not use pure curcumin, of course, but a standardized turmeric extract. This contains curcumin, but also perhaps more than a dozen analogues of this substance.

If we have to make an extremely rough estimate based on some analyses we found on the web, [J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2007 Jan 17;43(2):486-92.] [Processes 2022;10(4):702.] then we think that four teaspoons of turmeric powder from the local supermarket or toko contain as many active substances as in the supplements that the researchers gave their subjects daily.

Source:
Phytother Res. 2020 May;34(5):1123-33.

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