Turmeric, a bright-yellow spice best known as an ingredient in curry, is gaining scientific interest as a natural alternative to arthritis medications.
Curcumin, an organic chemical that gives turmeric its yellow color, has been found in two recent studies to benefit arthritis patients at least as much as commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs, which can harm the liver and increase risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, heart disease and stroke. Scientists say the studies-one of which is funded by a company that sells curcumin-are preliminary and larger, better designed studies are needed.
Sprinkling turmeric on food or trying curcumin capsules is unlikely to hurt you, scientists say. “It might be something reasonable to try as a complement to other therapies,” says Grant Cooper, co-director of Princeton Spine and Joint Center in New Jersey.
Turmeric, ground from Curcuma longa, a knobby root that looks similar to fresh ginger, has been used as an anti-inflammatory in India for thousands of years, says Shailinder Sodhi, who teaches ayurvedic, or traditional Indian, medicine, at Bastyr University, in Kenmore, Wash. It can be used for any type of pain, whenever an anti-inflammatory is needed, he says. Traditionally, turmeric is mixed with milk or butter and eaten, says Dr. Sodhi, who is also president of Ayush Herbs Inc., an ayurvedic medicine company.
One issue with curcumin is that it isn’t very “bioavailable,” meaning many of the active compounds, called curcuminoids, are altered during digestion, reducing potency. A special form of curcumin extract called BCM-95, sold by Arjuna Natural Extracts Ltd. in Kerala, India, is made with an essential oil that enhances its bioavailability and makes it seven to eight times more potent, says organic chemist Benny Antony, the inventor of BCM-95 and technical director of Arjuna.
EuroPharma Inc., Green Bay, Wis., sells 11 Terry Naturally brand products with BCM-95, including two with the same ingredients as those tested in the two recent scientific studies. The 30-person study, conducted by Arjuna, was presented at a scientific meeting in San Diego last year.
Another study, published in the journal Phytotherapy Research in March, tested BCM-95 in 45 patients at a medical center in India and found two capsules daily had “comparable” efficacy to diclofenac sodium, a prescription anti-inflammatory, on two separate rating scales for pain, tenderness and disease severity.
“Curcumin, no matter how we measured it, was either comparable to sodium diclofenac or slightly better,” says co-author Ajay Goel, director of the Department of Epigenetics and Cancer Research at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Goel is also a paid member of EuroPharma’s scientific advisory board.
Some arthritis specialists are skeptical. The curcumin arthritis studies have a major flaw: neither included a placebo, or control group, says rheumatologist David Felson, who directs an arthritis research team at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Goel, co-author of the March study, agrees that including a placebo arm “would have been better” but says his study was an essential preliminary to larger trials.