Dozens of human trials reveal where turmeric delivers—and where it doesn’t.
The Benefits of Turmeric Curcumin for Arthritis, Blood Sugar, Cholesterol, and Body Weight
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
The number of clinical trials on turmeric—not in rats or petri dishes—but with actual people continues to climb—dozens a year, and most were randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials––the gold standard for clinical trials. There have been so many trials published that there are now umbrella reviews on turmeric. You’ve heard of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, pooling multiple studies together. Well, an umbrella review can be like a systematic review and meta-analysis of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, meaning pooling multiple meta-analyses together, placing them at the very top of the hierarchy of evidence pyramid.
Dr. Greger has covered the benefits of the turmeric pigment curcumin for knee osteoarthritis––in some cases working as well as or even better than anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers, without their side effects of injuring our gut, and in the 10 years since, a meta-analysis of 11 meta-analyses on the efficacy of curcumin for relieving osteoarthritis strongly supports that it can relieve pain, as well as improve joint mobility and shorten medication use. And more isn’t necessarily better; low-dose extracts appear to have similar pain relief effects to high-dose extracts. What about other arthritic conditions?
A pilot study in 2012 of 45 patients showed promise for rheumatoid arthritis, finding it is actually more effective at alleviating pain compared to the leading drug, and a recent meta-analysis including more than 500 patients found the same: curcumin was beneficial both for inflammation levels and clinical symptoms. Curcumin’s ability to lower some inflammatory biomarkers, like C-reactive protein, a marker of systemic inflammation, extends more broadly to patients with autoinflammatory conditions, and the stronger effects seemed to appear at relatively smaller doses.
You may recall that Dr. Greger talked about a 2012 study in prediabetic individuals where zero percent of those taking curcumin extract for nine months progressed to type 2 diabetes, while 16% of those on placebo did. There have been a lot of studies since. Fourteen systematic reviews and meta-analyses containing 61 individual randomized controlled trials were included in this umbrella review. Fasting blood sugars and HbA1c, a measure of longer-term blood sugar control, both improved no matter what formulation of turmeric or curcumin was consumed. But the quality of the studies was low, not including important information like their funding sources, and the types of turmeric/curcumin preparations were wide-ranging. What if we want to know the impact of turmeric alone, not a special curcumin formulation that supplement companies can charge us a bunch of money for? This dose-response meta-analysis breaks it out for us, with turmeric resulting in better results than curcumin-only treatments. Note that benefit was found for a variety of participants, not only those with diabetes,
What about cholesterol? Here’s another umbrella review. Although the authors concluded that curcumin could have ameliorating effects, there was only a half-point drop in LDL. Lower doses may work better, but a two-point drop is still nothing to write home about.
Turmeric curcumin “blocks obesity” in mice fed a high-fat diet, What about people? In an umbrella review of 50 randomized controlled trials, curcumin supplementation significantly decreased BMI, body weight, and waist circumference. It was significant statistically, but how much of a difference did it really make? A loss of about a half kilogram, or a little more than a pound of body weight. Waist circumference, a measure of abdominal obesity, decreased by about a centimeter, and triple the effect in trials with whole turmeric relative to curcumin extracts. So, for those with obesity or type 2 diabetes and wanting to lose weight, the primary prescription is lifestyle modification, and some turmeric on the side might be helpful, but may not make that much difference.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Panknin TM, Howe CL, Hauer M, Bucchireddigari B, Rossi AM, Funk JL. Curcumin supplementation and human disease: a scoping review of clinical trials. Int J Mol Sci. 2023;24(5):4476.
- Papatheodorou SI, Evangelou E. Umbrella reviews: what they are and why we need them. Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2345:135-146.
- Choi GJ, Kang H. Introduction to umbrella reviews as a useful evidence-based practice. J Lipid Atheroscler. 2023;12(1):3-11.
- Bideshki MV, Jourabchi-Ghadim N, Radkhah N, et al. The efficacy of curcumin in relieving osteoarthritis: A meta-analysis of meta-analyses. Phytother Res. 2024;38(6):2875-2891.
- Hsiao AF, Lien YC, Tzeng IS, Liu CT, Chou SH, Horng YS. The efficacy of high- and low-dose curcumin in knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Med. 2021;63:102775.
- Kou H, Huang L, Jin M, He Q, Zhang R, Ma J. Effect of curcumin on rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Immunol. 2023;14:1121655.
- Gorabi AM, Abbasifard M, Imani D, et al. Effect of curcumin on C-reactive protein as a biomarker of systemic inflammation: An updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytother Res. 2022;36(1):85-97.
- Pathomwichaiwat T, Jinatongthai P, Prommasut N, et al. Effects of turmeric (Curcuma longa) supplementation on glucose metabolism in diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome: An umbrella review and updated meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2023;18(7):e0288997.
- Dehzad MJ, Ghalandari H, Nouri M, Askarpour M. Effects of curcumin/turmeric supplementation on glycemic indices in adults: A grade-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2023;17(10):102855.
- Musazadeh V, Roshanravan N, Mohammadizadeh M, Kavyani Z, Dehghan P, Mosharkesh E. Curcumin as a novel approach in improving lipid profile: An umbrella meta-analysis. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2022;32(11):2493-2504.
- Shao W, Yu Z, Chiang Y, et al. Curcumin prevents high fat diet induced insulin resistance and obesity via attenuating lipogenesis in liver and inflammatory pathway in adipocytes. PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e28784.
- Unhapipatpong C, Polruang N, Shantavasinkul PC, Julanon N, Numthavaj P, Thakkinstian A. The effect of curcumin supplementation on weight loss and anthropometric indices: an umbrella review and updated meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023;117(5):1005-1016.
Motion graphics by Avo Media
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
The number of clinical trials on turmeric—not in rats or petri dishes—but with actual people continues to climb—dozens a year, and most were randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials––the gold standard for clinical trials. There have been so many trials published that there are now umbrella reviews on turmeric. You’ve heard of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, pooling multiple studies together. Well, an umbrella review can be like a systematic review and meta-analysis of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, meaning pooling multiple meta-analyses together, placing them at the very top of the hierarchy of evidence pyramid.
Dr. Greger has covered the benefits of the turmeric pigment curcumin for knee osteoarthritis––in some cases working as well as or even better than anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers, without their side effects of injuring our gut, and in the 10 years since, a meta-analysis of 11 meta-analyses on the efficacy of curcumin for relieving osteoarthritis strongly supports that it can relieve pain, as well as improve joint mobility and shorten medication use. And more isn’t necessarily better; low-dose extracts appear to have similar pain relief effects to high-dose extracts. What about other arthritic conditions?
A pilot study in 2012 of 45 patients showed promise for rheumatoid arthritis, finding it is actually more effective at alleviating pain compared to the leading drug, and a recent meta-analysis including more than 500 patients found the same: curcumin was beneficial both for inflammation levels and clinical symptoms. Curcumin’s ability to lower some inflammatory biomarkers, like C-reactive protein, a marker of systemic inflammation, extends more broadly to patients with autoinflammatory conditions, and the stronger effects seemed to appear at relatively smaller doses.
You may recall that Dr. Greger talked about a 2012 study in prediabetic individuals where zero percent of those taking curcumin extract for nine months progressed to type 2 diabetes, while 16% of those on placebo did. There have been a lot of studies since. Fourteen systematic reviews and meta-analyses containing 61 individual randomized controlled trials were included in this umbrella review. Fasting blood sugars and HbA1c, a measure of longer-term blood sugar control, both improved no matter what formulation of turmeric or curcumin was consumed. But the quality of the studies was low, not including important information like their funding sources, and the types of turmeric/curcumin preparations were wide-ranging. What if we want to know the impact of turmeric alone, not a special curcumin formulation that supplement companies can charge us a bunch of money for? This dose-response meta-analysis breaks it out for us, with turmeric resulting in better results than curcumin-only treatments. Note that benefit was found for a variety of participants, not only those with diabetes,
What about cholesterol? Here’s another umbrella review. Although the authors concluded that curcumin could have ameliorating effects, there was only a half-point drop in LDL. Lower doses may work better, but a two-point drop is still nothing to write home about.
Turmeric curcumin “blocks obesity” in mice fed a high-fat diet, What about people? In an umbrella review of 50 randomized controlled trials, curcumin supplementation significantly decreased BMI, body weight, and waist circumference. It was significant statistically, but how much of a difference did it really make? A loss of about a half kilogram, or a little more than a pound of body weight. Waist circumference, a measure of abdominal obesity, decreased by about a centimeter, and triple the effect in trials with whole turmeric relative to curcumin extracts. So, for those with obesity or type 2 diabetes and wanting to lose weight, the primary prescription is lifestyle modification, and some turmeric on the side might be helpful, but may not make that much difference.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Panknin TM, Howe CL, Hauer M, Bucchireddigari B, Rossi AM, Funk JL. Curcumin supplementation and human disease: a scoping review of clinical trials. Int J Mol Sci. 2023;24(5):4476.
- Papatheodorou SI, Evangelou E. Umbrella reviews: what they are and why we need them. Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2345:135-146.
- Choi GJ, Kang H. Introduction to umbrella reviews as a useful evidence-based practice. J Lipid Atheroscler. 2023;12(1):3-11.
- Bideshki MV, Jourabchi-Ghadim N, Radkhah N, et al. The efficacy of curcumin in relieving osteoarthritis: A meta-analysis of meta-analyses. Phytother Res. 2024;38(6):2875-2891.
- Hsiao AF, Lien YC, Tzeng IS, Liu CT, Chou SH, Horng YS. The efficacy of high- and low-dose curcumin in knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Med. 2021;63:102775.
- Kou H, Huang L, Jin M, He Q, Zhang R, Ma J. Effect of curcumin on rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Immunol. 2023;14:1121655.
- Gorabi AM, Abbasifard M, Imani D, et al. Effect of curcumin on C-reactive protein as a biomarker of systemic inflammation: An updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytother Res. 2022;36(1):85-97.
- Pathomwichaiwat T, Jinatongthai P, Prommasut N, et al. Effects of turmeric (Curcuma longa) supplementation on glucose metabolism in diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome: An umbrella review and updated meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2023;18(7):e0288997.
- Dehzad MJ, Ghalandari H, Nouri M, Askarpour M. Effects of curcumin/turmeric supplementation on glycemic indices in adults: A grade-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2023;17(10):102855.
- Musazadeh V, Roshanravan N, Mohammadizadeh M, Kavyani Z, Dehghan P, Mosharkesh E. Curcumin as a novel approach in improving lipid profile: An umbrella meta-analysis. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2022;32(11):2493-2504.
- Shao W, Yu Z, Chiang Y, et al. Curcumin prevents high fat diet induced insulin resistance and obesity via attenuating lipogenesis in liver and inflammatory pathway in adipocytes. PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e28784.
- Unhapipatpong C, Polruang N, Shantavasinkul PC, Julanon N, Numthavaj P, Thakkinstian A. The effect of curcumin supplementation on weight loss and anthropometric indices: an umbrella review and updated meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023;117(5):1005-1016.
Motion graphics by Avo Media
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The Benefits of Turmeric Curcumin for Arthritis, Blood Sugar, Cholesterol, and Body Weight
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Content URLDoctor's Note
For more on turmeric, check out these videos:
- Turmeric Supplements and Liver Toxicity
- Benefits of Turmeric for Arsenic Exposure
- Turmeric Curcumin for Prediabetes
- Who Shouldn’t Consume Curcumin or Turmeric?
For more on weight control, go to your local public library and check out How Not to Diet, available in print, e-book, and audio. (All proceeds received from the book are donated directly to charity.)
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