Efficacy and Safety of Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract in the Treatment of Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trial
What this study found
Overall, curcumin and Curcuma longa extract appeared to improve arthritis symptoms and inflammatory measures and were generally safe. The evidence base was modest in size but broad, covering 29 RCTs and 2396 participants across 5 arthritis conditions. Authors concluded that the supplements may be beneficial, but the findings are not definitive because the underlying trials were small and of low quality, and larger high-quality multicenter RCTs are still needed.
- Study & population
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of 29 randomized controlled trials involving 2396 participants with arthritis.
- Intervention
- Across the included randomized trials, the active regimens were curcumin, curcuminoids, Curcuma longa extract, and related curcumin formulations given orally, topically, or as adjuncts to standard care.
- Key limitation
- Interpretation is limited by the low quality and small number of randomized trials, which reduces certainty in the pooled findings.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
Background Modern pharmacological research found that the chemical components of Curcuma longa L. are mainly curcumin and turmeric volatile oil. Several recent randomized controlled trials (RCT) have shown that curcumin improves symptoms and inflammation in patients with arthritis. Methods Pubmed, Cochran Library, CNKI, and other databases were searched to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Then, the risk of bias of RCTs were assessed and data of RCTs were extracted. Finally, RevMan 5.3 was utilized for meta-analysis. Results Twenty-nine (29) RCTs involving 2396 participants and 5 types of arthritis were included. The arthritis included Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Osteoarthritis (OA), Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and gout/hyperuricemia. Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract were administered in doses ranging from 120 mg to 1500 mg for a duration of 4-36 weeks. In general, Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract showed safety in all studies and improved the severity of inflammation and pain levels in these arthritis patients. However, more RCTs are needed in the future to elucidate the effect of Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract supplementation in patients with arthritis, including RA, OA, AS and JIA. Conclusion Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract may improve symptoms and inflammation levels in people with arthritis. However, due to the low quality and small quantity of RCTs, the conclusions need to be interpreted carefully.