Efficacy and Safety of Curcumin Supplement on Improvement of Insulin Resistance in People with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
What this study found
Curcumin may improve insulin resistance and glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. HbA1c decreased significantly (~0.70 percentage points). In Asia-Pacific trials, triglycerides and total cholesterol decreased; triglyceride reduction was notable. Adiponectin increased with curcumin; HDL-C showed some improvement; LDL-C effects were inconsistent. HOMA-IR improvements were observed in Asia-Pacific and Middle East subgroups but not consistently overall. Overall, curcumin may serve as an adjunct to standard therapy for metabolic and lipid parameters in T2DM, with effects varying by region and…
- Study & population
- Adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus; randomized controlled trials (parallel-group); some trials double-blind; populations studied largely in Asia-Pacific and Middle East.
- Intervention
- Oral curcumin (curcuminoids) supplementation; regimens varied across trials: 300 mg/day (Na 2014), 1000 mg/day (Panahi 2017), and 1500 mg/day (Chuengsamarn 2014); some used nano-curcumin or turmeric extract; some co-administered with piperine; duration not consistently reported; taken orally (capsules).
- Key limitation
- Small number of trials and participants; substantial heterogeneity in populations, curcumin preparations, dosages, and durations; several trials had unclear risk of bias due to insufficient reporting of randomization/allocation concealment; some data could not be extracted; adverse-event reporting was limited;…
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
Background Diabetes is a major public health concern. In addition, there is some evidence to support curcumin as part of a diabetes treatment program. Methods Data from randomized controlled trials were obtained to assess the effects of curcumin versus placebo or western medicine in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The study's registration number is CRD42018089528. The primary outcomes included homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc), total cholesterol (TC), and triglyceride (TG). Results Four trials involving 453 patients were included. The HOMA-IR of curcumin group is lower in Asia (WMD: −2.41, 95% CI: −4.44 to −0.39, P=0.02) and the Middle East subgroups (WMD: −0.60, 95% CI: −0.74 to −0.46, P < 0.00001). The HbAlc in the curcumin group is lower than that in the control group (WMD: −0.69; 95% CI: −0.91, −0.48; P < 0.0001). The TC and TG levels of the curcumin group are lower in the Asia subgroup (TC: WMD: −23.45, 95% CI: −40.04 to −6.84, P=0.006; TG: WMD: −54.14, 95% CI: −95.71 to −12.57, P=0.01), while in the Middle East the difference was of not statistically significant (TC: WMD: 22.91, 95% CI: −16.94 to 62.75, P=0.26; TG: WMD: −4.56, 95% CI: −19.28 to 10.16, P=0.54). Conclusion Based on the current evidence, curcumin may assist in improving the insulin resistance, glycemic control, and decreased TG and TC in patients with T2DM.