Open Access

REVIEW

Efficacy of oral consumption of curcumin/ for symptom improvement in inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review of animal models and a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

by MARLA DE CERQUEIRA ALVES¹, MONISE OLIVEIRA SANTOS¹, NASSIB BEZERRA BUENO¹, ORLANDO ROBERTO PIMENTEL DE ARAÚJO², MARÍLIA OLIVEIRA FONSECA GOULART^2,3,4, FABIANA ANDRÉA MOURA^1,5,*

1 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Nutrição (PPGNUT), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Maceió, AL 57072-970, Brazil
2 Instituto de Química e Biotecnologia (IQB), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Maceió, AL 57072-970, Brazil
3 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde (PPGCS), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Maceió, AL 57072-970, Brazil
4 Programa de Pós-Graduação da Rede Nordeste de Biotecnologia (RENORBIO), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Maceió, AL 57072-970, Brazil
5 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Médicas (PPGCM), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Maceió, AL 57072-970, Brazil

* Corresponding Author: FABIANA ANDRÉA MOURA. Email:

BIOCELL 2022, 46(9), 2015-2047. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2022.020407

Received 22 November 2021; Accepted 11 February 2022; Issue published 18 May 2022

Abstract

The roots of the vegetal Curcuma due to its high content of polyphenols, has been used successfully in several clinical situations. This review assessed the effect of curcumin/Curcuma longa on symptoms and metabolic changes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A systematic review of animal models and randomized clinical trials (RCTs) was conducted by searching the following electronic databases: PubMed, CENTRAL, LILACS, Science Direct, and ClinicalTrials.gov. From 997 found records, 62 were included. More than 90% of the animal studies reported an improvement in macroscopic, histologic and/or functional activity; 80% identified decreased oxidative and/or inflammatory biomarkers in animals treated with curcumin. Among the RCTs, intention-to-treat analysis showed that oral curcumin was effective in inducing clinical remission (n = 281, RR: 3.15 CI 95% [1.22–8.10] p = 0.0017; i² = 72.2%, p = 0.006) and clinical response (n = 259, RR: 1.60 CI 95% [1.09–2.35] p = 0.0017; i² = 59.7%, p = 0.042) but not endoscopic remission (n = 161, RR: 2.91 CI 95% [0.58–14.58] p = 0.195; i² = 72.7%, p = 0.026). These results confirm that oral supplementation with curcumin/Curcuma longa has beneficial actions in animal colitis and, when associated with drug therapy, is effective in the treatment of patients with IBD.

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