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LE Magazine September 2001
Page 2 of 3
Tapping curcumin’s power
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Muscle regeneration
Believe it or not, curcumin has something in it that repairs muscle better than anything presently known. Derived from the spice turmeric, curcumin speeds recovery without injections or side effects. Although the data is preliminary, it appears that when curcumin is taken orally, it has the ability to home in on injured muscle. Once there, it changes the biochemistry of baby muscle cells, causing them to grow faster and clump together quicker to create new tissue. According to the study, curcumin caused muscle cells to fuse together twice as fast as they ordinarily would.
It’s not known exactly how curcumin works. Researchers do know, however, that curcumin suppresses a factor that influences growth factors. This factor, NF B (nuclear factor kappa B), plays a prominent role in immunity and cell growth. Immediately after muscle injury, the immune system dispatches cells to the area. Their job is to destroy old tissue and begin new construction. NF B is one of the lines of communication immune cells use to get things done. By influencing NF B, curcumin modulates the repair process.
The regeneration of muscle is a complex phenomenon. Curcumin works in part by changing the arrival time and status of chemical messengers known as cytokines. Cytokines appear at the scene early on, and they have a powerful effect on inflammation and cell growth. A cytokine known as IL-6 (interleukin-6), for example, makes muscle cells multiply. Another one called TNF (tumor necrosis factor) keeps cells from growing up, developing. By suppressing one, and enhancing the other, curcumin can speed things up.
The authors of the study believe that curcumin works by other mechanisms that probably involve growth factors, but this has not been proven yet. In other attempts to make muscles regenerate, researchers have tried injecting synthetic growth factors or transplanting myoblasts–all with limited success. Curcumin seems to be a much safer, more effective treatment–at least in the early stages. The effects of curcumin are felt early on–right after injury when the body first sends out the repair squads. So if you want to try curcumin for muscle regeneration, make sure you take it as soon as the injury occurs. The authors of the study predict that curcumin may be useful not only for accidental injuries or sports, but also to help repair surgical damage.
Thaloor D, et al. 1999. Systemic administration of the NF- B inhibitor curcumin stimulates muscle regeneration after traumatic injury. Am J Physiol 277(2 pt 1):C320-29. | |
There appear to be other promising implications for this seemingly miraculous substance. Research has demonstrated curcumin’s neuroprotective benefits following ethanol-induced brain injury by significantly reversing lipid peroxidation and promoting antioxidants in the brain.(16) Scientists have also been successful at suppressing chemically-induced inflammation and hyperplasia—abnormal cell growth that can be a precursor to cancer—in the liver, as demonstrated in rodents.(17)
Some of the newest studies are pointing to curcumin’s potential as an inhibitor of viral progression in AIDS.(18) Researchers at the National Cancer Institute analyzed how curcumin inhibits the activity of integrase in the development of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Integrase is the enzyme that inserts HIV’s genes into a cell’s normal DNA. Based on their observations, the government researchers suggested that new anti-AIDS strategies might have to be developed that point to curcumin as a potent inhibitor of integrase in the development of HIV.
Much earlier studies have examined other causes for curcumin’s anti-HIV activity, such as its ability to inhibit the action of protease, another enzyme in the process of viral development.(19)
More recently, scientists have examined how curcumin blocks formation of the Epstein-Barr virus (EPV) associated with HIV. The virus can cause such diseases as infectious mononucleosis and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In one study,(20) scientists discovered that treating EPV-infected lymphoid cells with curcumin augmented apoptosis, similar to what has been found in cancer research. “A further investigation of this effect may be useful in prevention and therapy of B-cell lymphoma in immunodeficient patients,” the researchers wrote.
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Doctors have even found that curcumin, among other common spices,
can prevent bacteria such as E. coli from being destroyed
by irradiation.(21) The findings,
reached in a study from India, carry implications that curcumin
and other spice extracts could be used to protect healthy
tissue in people undergoing radiation therapy. It is believed
that the spices used in the study—red chili powder, black
pepper and turmeric—provided their protective effect by blocking
the bacteria’s DNA from radiation exposure. The researchers
added that there is no cause for concern because irradiation
doses typically used to process prepared foods are high enough
to kill any E. coli.
Review
Study after study over the past five years has demonstrated
the benefits of curcumin, a substance found in turmeric. Used
as long as 6,000 years ago by Indians and other cultures as
a treatment for a range of ailments, medical experts more
recently are beginning to discover its untapped potential.
| Accelerated
healing
Wound treatment
may be enhanced by curcumin,
it turns out. In an experiment
using groups of curcumin-treated
and untreated rats and guinea
pigs, researchers discovered
“faster wound closure” in
the treated animals compared
to their untreated counterparts.
Subsequent biopsies of the
wounds showed redevelopment
of epidermal cells, increased
migration of various other
cells to the wound site like
myofibroblasts, fibroblasts
and macrophages, and extensive
re-growth of blood vessels.
As a follow-up
to a study, scientists reached
similar results among diabetic
rodents who experienced impaired
healing. The researchers found
improved blood vessel formation,
increased cell migration to
the wound site, and higher
levels of collagen, a fibrous
protein found in connective
tissue, bone and cartilage.
Sidhu GS et al.
Enhancement of wound healing
by curcumin in animals. Wound
Repair Regen 1998 Mar-Apr;6(2):167-77.
Sidhu GS et al. Curcumin enhances
wound healing in streptozotocin
induced diabetic rats and
genetically diabetic mice.
Wound Repair Regen 1999 Sep-Oct;7(5):362-74. |
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Medical science has found signs of curcumin’s abilities to
fight tumor formation and growth in cancer by inducing the
programmed cell death known as apoptosis and inhibiting metastases.
Curcumin has also been implicated as an anti-inflammatory,
a scavenger of free radicals, a treatment for certain eye
diseases and conditions like cataracts, an effective therapy
against ethanol-induced brain damage, hyperplasia and as an
inhibitor of the human immunodeficiency virus. Before much
longer, it may be plausible to think curcumin could spark
a medical revolution.
Continued on Page 3 of 3
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