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Curcuma Parte 2

This document summarizes research on the anti-inflammatory and cancer prevention properties of turmeric. It discusses turmeric's ability to protect against gastric ulcers and liver damage in animal studies. Turmeric and its active compound curcumin exhibit anti-bacterial and anti-fungal effects. Studies also found they protect against DNA damage and have anti-tumor effects, likely due to anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. Turmeric extracts reduced tumor development in mice and provided symptom relief for some patients with external cancers.

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85 views

Curcuma Parte 2

This document summarizes research on the anti-inflammatory and cancer prevention properties of turmeric. It discusses turmeric's ability to protect against gastric ulcers and liver damage in animal studies. Turmeric and its active compound curcumin exhibit anti-bacterial and anti-fungal effects. Studies also found they protect against DNA damage and have anti-tumor effects, likely due to anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. Turmeric extracts reduced tumor development in mice and provided symptom relief for some patients with external cancers.

Uploaded by

marcussi
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Number 24

September 1991

Professional Review
NOT FOR PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION. C MEDIHERB 1991

Turmeric — The Spice of Life Part 2


Part 1 of this article in the August issue discussed the anti- Curcumin and aqueous extract of turmeric protect-
inflammatory effects of Turmeric. Part 2 continues with the ed against DNA damage in human lymphocytes induced
discussion of effects of Turmeric on the digestive tract. by fuel smoke condensate.43 However curcumin feeding
did not inhibit BAP-induced nuclear damage to murine
Effect on Gastric Function intestinal cells in vivo.44 In contrast, turmeric at 1% in the
diet of mice reduced BAP-induced stomach tumours and
Oral doses of 0.5g/kg of an ethanolic extract of turmeric
also reduced the incidence of spontaneous mammary
produced significant protection against ulceration caused
tumours.45
by stress, pyloric ligation, indomethacin and reserpine in
Topically applied curcumin potently inhibited DNA
rats.37 Turmeric extract increased gastric wall mucus
synthesis and tumour promotion induced by 12-0-
production and also enhanced its cytoprotective quality.
tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) in mouse skin.46
This effect parallels the inhibitory effect of curcumin on
Hepatoprotective Action TPA-induced epidermal inflammation and also on epi-
After finding a protective effect for turmeric extract dermal lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase activities.12 In
against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in other words the inhibitory effect of curcumin on tumour
mice, various constituents of turmeric were found to promotion is related to its anti-inflammatory activity.
have in vitro hepatoprotective activity.38 Repeated applications of turmeric or curcumin in the
promotion phase produced a significant reduction in
mouse skin papillomas induced by DMBA followed by
Antibacterial and Antifungal Activity
croton oil promotion.47 It has been recently demonstrat-
An alcoholic extract of turmeric, its essential oil and cur- ed that turmeric increases the activity of the carcinogen-
cumin weakly inhibited the growth of Gram-positive detoxifying enzyme, glutathione-S-transferase in the
bacteria in vitro.39 An interesting recent discovery is that stomach, liver and oesophagus of mice.48
low concentrations of curcumin are highly toxic to
Salmonella in the presence of visible light.40 This photo-
toxic effect was thought to be due to unstable intermedi-
Anti-tumour Activity
ates, probably radicals formed during the irradiation. A turmeric extract prepared with 50% ethanol inhibited
Since an E coli strain with DNA repair capacity was large- the cell growth of normal mammalian cells and was cyto-
ly resistant to curcumin phototoxicity, this implies that toxic to lymphoma cells at a concentration of
light in combination with curcumin is genotoxic and 0.4mg/mL.49 The active constituent was found to be cur-
may be mutagenic. cumin which was cytotoxic to lymphoma cells at a con-
centration of 4µg/mL. Injections of both turmeric extract
and curcumin reduced the development of tumours and
Cancer Prevention
enhanced survival in mice injected with lymphoma cells.49
Turmeric and curcumin possess anti-mutagenic and Earlier work reported that a turmeric extract exhibited
anti-promotion activities which are probably related to cytotoxicity to mammalian cells in vitro by arresting mito-
the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of sis and altering chromosome morphology.50
curcumin. Curcumin showed a dose-dependent decrease A 50% ethanol extract of turmeric and an ointment
in the in vitro mutagenicities of cayenne extract and cap- containing curcumin produced symptomatic relief in
saicin.41 This was comparable to the effect of known anti- patients with external cancerous lesions which had failed to
oxidants such as vitamin E. In the presence of liver respond to conventional treatments.51 There was a reduc-
homogenate curcumin also inhibited the in vitro muta- tion in the odour of the lesions in 90% of cases and also
genicity of tobacco smoke condensates, tobacco and reduction in itching and exudation. In a small number of
benzo-α-pyrene (BAP) in a dose-dependent manner.42 patients (10%) the thickness of the lesion was reduced.
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