Curcumin additional effects

Some metabolites of curcumin (particularly tetrahydrocurcumin) may also participate in producing the observed effects of curcumin in different models because these metabolites display greater stabilities than the parent curcumin molecule at physiological pH. Recent data show similar modes of action of curcumin metabolites regarding antioxidant enzyme induction and inhibition of multidrug-resistant proteins. " Additional data indicate that curcumin may even act against other types of diseases such as atherosclerosis " " and Alzheimer s disease. " - " ... 

Numerous studies have been published on the positive effects of turmeric, both in the prevention of cancer and in the recovery from chemotherapy and radiation treatment (Stoner and Mukhtar, 1995 Khafif, et al., 1998 Kawamori et al., 1999 Bush et al., 2001 Jung et al., 2005). In addition to its capacity to intervene in the initiation and growth of cancer cells and tumours, and to prevent their subsequent spread throughout the body by metastasis, curcumin increases cancer cells sensitivity to certain drugs commonly used to combat cancer, rendering chemotherapy more effective. 

As shown in Table II, the blood cholesterol level in rats fed 1% cholesterol was elevated 2114% and supplementation of curcumin and curcumin plus (lavonc uf M. chanuimilkt L. to the cholesterol diet depressed this elevation significnmly Phospholipid levels showed no significant change. The addition of flavone of M chamomiUa L. appeared to be more effective than the curcumin-only group. 

---