Thai
Elite Member
Turmeric is touted to have anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anti-cancer properties that act against multiple conditions, including arthritis, respiratory infections and diabetes. Clinical trials have not produced rigorous evidence to support these broad claims, yet turmeric remains one of the top-selling herbal supplements in the United States.
With many people taking turmeric in concentrated supplement form, a troubling trend has emerged. In recent years, turmeric has been implicated in a growing number of cases of acute liver injury, some of which have led to liver transplant or even death.
“Turmeric-induced liver injury is considered rare — one in 10,000 or even 100,000 people who take it might get sick — but now, millions of people are taking turmeric,” said
Jay Hoofnagle, director of the Liver Disease Research Branch in the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Based on what we’re seeing in our data, it’s one of the most common causes of dietary supplement liver injury.”
Supplements contain high-dose purified extracts of curcumin, the main active ingredient of turmeric that only makes up between 1 and 7 percent of the root. Many also contain additives such as black pepper to promote absorption of curcumin, a substance t
hat is typically poorly absorbed by the digestive tract.
For example, a study that gave human subjects 2 grams of curcumin could barely detect it in blood samples. But after adding black pepper, the fraction of curcumin that reached the bloodstream shot up by 2,000 percent.
“People today are taking 100 times more curcumin than what was used in traditional medicine,” Hoofnagle said.
The researchers concluded that liver injury because of turmeric appears to be rising in the United States, and the increasing popularity of turmeric over the last five years seems to mirror the rise in reported cases collected by the DILIN (Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network).
The study by the DILIN found that 7 of the 10 patients carried a genetic variant, found in only 10 percent of the U.S. general population, that may have increased their susceptibility to turmeric-associated liver injury.
Both health-care providers and consumers should be aware of the possible risks before taking turmeric as a supplement.
With many people taking turmeric in concentrated supplement form, a troubling trend has emerged. In recent years, turmeric has been implicated in a growing number of cases of acute liver injury, some of which have led to liver transplant or even death.
“Turmeric-induced liver injury is considered rare — one in 10,000 or even 100,000 people who take it might get sick — but now, millions of people are taking turmeric,” said
Jay Hoofnagle, director of the Liver Disease Research Branch in the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Based on what we’re seeing in our data, it’s one of the most common causes of dietary supplement liver injury.”
Supplements contain high-dose purified extracts of curcumin, the main active ingredient of turmeric that only makes up between 1 and 7 percent of the root. Many also contain additives such as black pepper to promote absorption of curcumin, a substance t
hat is typically poorly absorbed by the digestive tract.
For example, a study that gave human subjects 2 grams of curcumin could barely detect it in blood samples. But after adding black pepper, the fraction of curcumin that reached the bloodstream shot up by 2,000 percent.
“People today are taking 100 times more curcumin than what was used in traditional medicine,” Hoofnagle said.
The researchers concluded that liver injury because of turmeric appears to be rising in the United States, and the increasing popularity of turmeric over the last five years seems to mirror the rise in reported cases collected by the DILIN (Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network).
The study by the DILIN found that 7 of the 10 patients carried a genetic variant, found in only 10 percent of the U.S. general population, that may have increased their susceptibility to turmeric-associated liver injury.
Both health-care providers and consumers should be aware of the possible risks before taking turmeric as a supplement.
