Remedies › Turmeric

Turmeric (curcumin)

Also called curcumin, Curcuma longa, curcuminoids, Meriva, BCM-95, Theracurmin, Longvida.

Turmeric is the yellow root spice used in curries; curcumin is its main active compound and makes up only a few percent of the powder. Curcumin is poorly absorbed, so most supplements and trials use an extract or a branded form designed to raise blood levels, such as Meriva (bound to lecithin), BCM-95, Theracurmin or Longvida, often with piperine from black pepper. These forms differ a lot from each other and from turmeric in food, which is one reason trial results vary.

What it has been studied for

Beyond Google: what a search won’t show you

Places a normal search rarely reaches: trial registries, posted results, FDA report databases, retraction records, preprints and patents. Each item links to its primary record. A registration is a plan and a patent is a claim; neither is a finding.

Unpublished trials
Five company-run joint trials with 1,068 people that we could not find published
completed 2010–2023
Aché's Motore vs ibuprofen (288 people, NCT02409381, 2016), Bioxtract's Arantal (280, NCT00992004, 2010), Tilman's Flexofytol PLUS for hand joints (239, NCT05089318, 2021), Givaudan's Turmipure GOLD (177, NCT04506411, 2023) and ESM's eggshell membrane plus BIOCURC (84, NCT03769857, 2019) all completed with no posted results and no paper we could find in PubMed by trial number or product name. Four other company joint trials were published, all positive. Missing trials can tilt meta-analyses toward benefit; we do not know what these found.
Unpublished trial
Longvida curcumin in rheumatoid arthritis (UCLA)
completed January 2011
40 planned participants; no results posted and no paper found. A second rheumatoid arthritis trial, of Meriva at the University of Arizona (NCT02543931), was stopped after 3 people.
Unpublished trial
Adjunctive curcumin with the Meru Health program for depression
completed December 2021
A company-sponsored randomized trial of 60 people adding curcumin to a digital mental-health program. No results posted and no paper found.
Results only on the registry
Curcumin plus vitamin D in early chronic lymphocytic leukemia
completed December 2018
35 patients with untreated early-stage CLL took curcumin and vitamin D3 for up to 6 courses. The posted overall response rate was 0%, and 57.5% were progression-free at 2 years. We found no paper reporting these outcomes.
Registry vs paper mismatch
Curcumin for familial adenomatous polyposis: the registry swaps the two group averages
paper 2018; results posted on the registry
The paper (PMID 29802852) reports 22.6 polyps with curcumin and 18.6 with placebo. The registry lists 18.6 under curcumin and 22.6 under placebo, while each group's confidence interval still matches the paper. It looks like a data-entry error, and the difference was not significant either way, but a reader of the registry alone would think curcumin did better.
Unpublished trials
Cancer trials completed without results: breast tumor window trial, high-risk breast pilot, childhood leukemia
completed 2016–2024
A Medical University of South Carolina trial giving curcumin before breast cancer surgery to measure tumor effects (22 people, 2023), an Ohio State pilot in obese women at high breast cancer risk (29, NCT01975363, 2016) and an Ain Shams University trial in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (30, NCT05045443, 2024) have no posted results and no paper we could find.
Drug under another form
The strongest positive cancer trial used intravenous curcumin (CUC-1), not a capsule
registered as NCT03072992; published 2020
The 150-woman Armenian breast cancer trial that found a 51% vs 33% response gave curcumin by weekly infusion with paclitaxel. Oral curcumin is poorly absorbed, so this result cannot be carried over to supplements. The registry record has no posted results and the paper (PMID 32335356) is not linked to the trial number in PubMed, so a search by trial number misses it.
FDA adverse-event reports
767 reports to the FDA naming a turmeric or curcumin product
2006–2026
195 involved a hospital stay, 70 were life-threatening and 6 recorded a death (in 4 of the 6, other products were also listed). In 175 reports the turmeric product was the only product listed. Reaction groups: digestive 231, allergic, skin or breathing 166, heart or blood pressure 105, liver 74 (34 hospitalized; 28 with turmeric as the only product), bleeding or clotting 49, kidney 33. Liver reports numbered 1 to 6 a year from 2013 to 2024, except 11 in 2022, then 27 in 2025. A report is not proof that turmeric caused anything.
Retractions
164 retracted curcumin papers in PubMed
checked 2026-10-28
PubMed flags 163 papers on curcumin or turmeric as retracted (count on 2026-10-28). Six of them are by B. B. Aggarwal, once among the most-cited curcumin cancer researchers, who has 27 retracted papers in all. Most of the retracted curcumin papers are lab studies.
Preprint
Same Thai diabetes trial: 265 participants in the preprint, 227 in the published papers
preprint May 2024; papers 2024
The preprint on atherosclerosis risk describes 265 people with type 2 diabetes randomized for 12 months; the published papers from the same team (PMIDs 39125322 and 39125295, the latter the largest depression trial) report 227. The abstracts do not explain the difference, which may be drop-outs.
Preprint
Curcumin plus omega-3 for lung nodules in smokers: no effect in a pilot
July 2026
A randomized pilot (19 people, 6 months) found no difference from placebo in nodule size, number or density on CT. Not yet peer reviewed.
Patent
US 2011/0287085: "Liposomal curcumin for treatment of cancer"
2011
Filed by R. Kurzrock, L. Li, K. Mehta and colleagues. It claims liposomal curcumin for cancer. A patent is a legal claim, not proof; liposomal curcumin has so far reached only early safety trials.
Patent
CN101669932: a long-acting curcumin derivative for an antidepressant drug
2010
A Chinese patent claiming a modified curcumin molecule for depression, an example of companies patenting new molecules because plain curcumin cannot be patented. We found no human trial of this derivative.
Government funding
NIH RePORTER lists 859 funded projects naming curcumin or turmeric
to 2026
Recent cancer examples: an NCI contract to the Mayo Clinic for the Meriva gastric-precancer trial and a University of Texas at Austin grant on natural-compound combinations to prevent prostate cancer.

Sources searched on 2026-10-28: ClinicalTrials.gov, Drug and trade names (Meriva, BCM-95, Theracurmin, Longvida, CurcuWIN, C3 Complex, Curcugen, NovaSOL, Flexofytol), FDA CAERS (openFDA), PubMed retraction records, NIH LiverTox, Europe PMC preprints, Europe PMC patents, NIH RePORTER. Where we look

Safety notes

Liver injury: the US Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network found 10 turmeric-linked cases enrolled between 2004 and 2022, all since 2011; 5 were hospitalized and 1 died of liver failure. 7 of the 10 carried the gene variant HLA-B*35:01, and 3 of the 7 products tested also contained black pepper extract (piperine). Injury typically appeared 1 to 4 months after starting. Source
The NIH LiverTox database (2025 update) says some turmeric products have been implicated in several dozen cases of clinically apparent acute liver injury, despite a long history of safe use as a spice. A 2025 pathology series of 11 cases found liver tests returned to normal in all after stopping. Source
Bleeding: turmeric may add to the effect of blood thinners and antiplatelet drugs. A case report describes repeated bleeding inside the eye in a man taking a turmeric supplement; a small study of Meriva for 10 days found no change in INR in people on warfarin. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before combining. Source
Gallbladder: in 12 healthy volunteers, 40 mg of curcumin made the gallbladder contract by about half within 2 hours, so people with gallstones or bile-duct problems should be cautious. Source
Iron: a 66-year-old taking turmeric extract capsules for osteoarthritis developed iron-deficiency anemia that resolved within weeks of stopping. Curcumin binds iron in the gut. Source
Cancer treatment: case reports describe liver toxicity in a man on paclitaxel taking 15 g of turmeric a day with other supplements, and prolonged low white-cell counts in a woman drinking large amounts of turmeric root during chemotherapy (PMID 34084680). Tell the oncology team about any turmeric supplement. Source
Stomach: high doses commonly cause stomach pain, nausea or diarrhea; in one pancreatic cancer trial, 5 of 17 patients stopped 8 g a day within two weeks because of abdominal fullness or pain. Source

Possible links

Where one finding points to others. These are leads for research, not conclusions.

Other conditions

Ulcerative colitis 319 papers Not yet read by us; a 2022 review of autoimmune trials counted 9 randomized trials here, the most of any condition it covered. See on PubMed
Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes 429 papers Not yet read by us; the 227-person Thai depression trial was run in people with type 2 diabetes. See on PubMed
Fatty liver disease 253 papers Not yet read by us; notable because turmeric is also a rare cause of liver injury. See on PubMed
Memory and Alzheimer's (human studies) 928 papers Not yet read by us. See on PubMed
Anxiety 186 papers Several depression trials also measured anxiety and some found an effect there but not on depression. See on PubMed
Muscle soreness after exercise 69 papers Not yet read by us; the same anti-inflammatory idea as joint pain. See on PubMed

Same mechanism

Blocking the NF-κB inflammation switch 2,419 papers The most studied proposed mechanism, behind the arthritis, depression and cancer ideas alike; mostly lab work. See on PubMed
COX-2, the target of celecoxib 543 papers Explains why trials compare turmeric with NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and diclofenac. See on PubMed
BDNF and brain inflammation 175 papers The proposed depression mechanism; several trials measured BDNF, cortisol and cytokines alongside mood. See on PubMed Source
The skeptical view: a 'pan-assay interference' compound A 2017 medicinal-chemistry review argues curcumin is unstable, reactive and barely absorbed, so many lab signals may be artifacts, and that no double-blind placebo-controlled trial of curcumin had then succeeded. It is the strongest published counter-argument to the field. Source

Combinations

Curcumin with piperine (black pepper extract) 612 papers In volunteers, 20 mg of piperine raised blood levels from 2 g of curcumin by 2,000% (PMID 9619120); 43 randomized trials use the pair. Piperine was in 3 of the 7 products tested in the US liver-injury series, and the 200-patient rheumatoid arthritis trial with piperine found no benefit. See on PubMed
Curcumin with boswellia (frankincense) 168 papers Two positive arthritis trials (201 and 162 patients) used turmeric-boswellia combinations, and a 2025 network analysis ranked boswellia above curcumin for knee pain, so combination results cannot be credited to turmeric alone. See on PubMed
Curcumin with chemotherapy Trials paired curcumin with docetaxel, paclitaxel, gemcitabine and FOLFOX; results range from no benefit (prostate) to more tumor response (breast). Interaction case reports exist (see safety notes). See on PubMed

Who does the research

A. Sahebkar 47 papers Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran; the most frequent author across our three lists, mostly meta-analyses and small trials (394 curcumin papers in PubMed overall).
B. B. Aggarwal 28 papers Formerly MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas; a leading early curcumin cancer researcher. PubMed marks 27 of his papers as retracted, 6 of them on curcumin.
Y. Henrotin 18 papers University of Liège, Belgium; lead author of the Flexofytol trials in knee and hand osteoarthritis, which are sponsored by the product maker Tilman S.A. on ClinicalTrials.gov.
A. B. Kunnumakkara 15 papers Frequent co-author of curcumin cancer reviews.
M. Majeed 14 papers Sabinsa Corporation, maker of Curcumin C3 Complex; 95 PubMed papers on curcumin list Sabinsa.
A. L. Lopresti 9 papers Murdoch University and Clinical Research Australia, Perth; ran the Australian depression trials and the Curcugen knee trial.

Who pays for it

US National Cancer Institute (NIH) 38 papers
National Natural Science Foundation of China 21 papers
US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH) 12 papers
US National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIH) 9 papers
Cancer Research UK 8 papers

Counts are papers in our three PubMed lists (1,688 unique records); funding is listed only where PubMed records it, and most papers list none. Companies that sponsored registered trials of their own branded formulations, from ClinicalTrials.gov sponsor fields: Tilman S.A. (Flexofytol, 4 trials), EuroPharma (CuraMed and Curamin), Givaudan France Naturals (Turmipure GOLD), Aché Laboratórios (Motore), Bioxtract SA (Arantal), ESM Technologies (BIOCURC and curQ+ combinations), Indena (Meriva) and SignPath Pharma (Lipocurc).

What people report

We read public first-person posts and counted every outcome, good or bad. 40 reports, read on 2026-10-28; 7 mention side effects.

18Helped
9No effect
1Got worse
7Mixed
5Too early

Why these counts prove nothing on their own: people who post are not a random sample, most take other treatments at the same time, and nobody checks the diagnosis. We show them because they tell researchers what to test next.

Read all 40 reports

No effect Says supplements such as turmeric made no difference to them either way. HealthUnlocked, 2018 (Speaks of supplements generally, including turmeric; year inferred from "8 years ago".)
Helped Golden paste reduced pain and inflammation and let them use less diclofenac and codeine; it did not replace their arthritis drugs. HealthUnlocked, 2019 (Still on biologics and DMARDs; year inferred from "7 years ago".)
Mixed Says turmeric worked but a severe itchy rash appeared within five days and came back when retried. Side effects: itchy rash. HealthUnlocked, 2019 (Benefit not described in detail; year inferred.)
Mixed Helped stiffness, but bruising started and blood tests showed changed clotting; normal again soon after stopping. Side effects: easy bruising, altered clotting on blood tests. HealthUnlocked, 2019 (Clotting change reported by the poster, test values not given; year inferred.)
Helped Started turmeric while struggling to taper steroids and feels fairly convinced it is helping; waiting for blood results. HealthUnlocked, 2013 (Self-described belief before test results; on steroids; year inferred from "13 years ago".)
No effect After three months of steady use it made no difference to their joint or muscle pain; it did ease their IBS pain. Side effects: stomach pain and diarrhea at higher doses. HealthUnlocked, 2025-12 (Period overlapped with GCA/PMR onset; date inferred from "10 months ago".)
Helped Says a liposomal liquid turmeric did wonders for them. HealthUnlocked, 2025-12 (Condition and duration not stated; brand named in post.)
Helped Reports that her husband gets significant relief from shoulder pain taking turmeric. HealthUnlocked, 2025-12 (Second-hand report about a named family member.)
Helped Two cups of turmeric tea a day and they are now almost pain free. HealthUnlocked, 2017 (Daily stretching at the same time; duration "recently"; year inferred.)
Helped Says raw turmeric and ginger in daily juices does the job. HealthUnlocked, 2017 (Condition only implied; ginger taken too; year inferred.)
No effect Tried a branded turmeric supplement and noticed no difference. HealthUnlocked, 2020-06 (Duration not stated.)
Too early High-dose tablet for about a year; feels better than before diagnosis but says it is impossible to know what helped. HealthUnlocked, 2020-06 (Outcome unclear rather than early; many co-treatments.)
Helped Makes turmeric lattes when a flare is coming and says it helps. HealthUnlocked, 2020-06 (Used only around flares; no details of effect size.)
No effect Turmeric capsules for a few months did not seem to do anything; planned to try raw turmeric shots. HealthUnlocked, 2020-06 (No follow-up on the shots.)
No effect Took golden paste daily; sometimes thought it helped but saw little overall improvement while the disease was very active. HealthUnlocked, 2020-06 (Poster suggests active disease may have masked any effect.)
Too early Had the best winter and spring since diagnosis while taking it, but says it is too soon to credit turmeric. HealthUnlocked, 2020-06 (Other changes at the same time, by the poster’s account.)
Helped Takes turmeric twice a day and notices a difference when they stop for a while. HealthUnlocked, 2020-06 (No duration or measures given.)
Helped Takes turmeric-and-pepper capsules recommended by their consultant after hand surgery and says they seem to work. HealthUnlocked, 2020-06 (Recent surgery; vague outcome.)
Helped In about six weeks of golden paste, needed their daily naproxen and co-codamol only twice. HealthUnlocked, 2016 (Self-reported medicine use; year inferred from "10 years ago".)
Helped After about ten days of golden paste halved painkillers, and later was working to drop the last anti-inflammatory. HealthUnlocked, 2016 (Several other treatments started around the same time; early report.)
Helped Thinks, in hindsight, that earlier turmeric capsules helped; switching to golden paste. HealthUnlocked, 2016 (Hindsight judgment; low confidence.)
Too early Switched from sertraline to curcumin; feels great but thinks the depressive episode ended naturally. Mental Health Forum, 2015-02 (One month of use; poster credits natural recovery.)
Mixed Four months without noticing anything; after restarting felt less anxious and clearer within an hour. Side effects: over-stimulation with BCM-95. LongeCity, 2013-02 (Self-experimenter; no diagnosis stated.)
Mixed Slightly less brain fog and knee inflammation at first, but the effect faded and they stopped because of the cost. LongeCity, 2013-02 (No diagnosis stated.)
Worse Curcumin brought back serious acid reflux after four years without symptoms. Side effects: acid reflux returned after 4 symptom-free years. LongeCity, 2013-02 (Purpose of taking it not stated.)
Mixed One capsule gave a clearer head, better mood and less anxiety; two capsules made them very mellow, tired and close to apathetic. Side effects: tiredness and apathy at two capsules. LongeCity, 2013-08 (No diagnosis stated; dose-dependent effects self-observed.)
Mixed Says curcumin makes them feel more grounded and helps sleep, but suspects it causes a reaction to aged cheese. Side effects: possible reaction to aged cheese: feeling wired, insomnia, pounding heartbeat. LongeCity, 2013-10 (The cheese link is the poster’s guess.)
Helped A large serving of turmeric in food produced a strong mood lift about an hour later. LongeCity, 2014-05 (Single occasion described.)
Helped Foot pain improved after six weeks; three years later says pain is more bearable with far fewer painkillers and injections. HealthUnlocked, 2017-07 (Poster first called it possibly coincidence; follow-up dated about 2020.)
Helped Took turmeric and ginger to thin the blood and says it seemed to help. HealthUnlocked, 2017-07 (No blood counts given.)
No effect Capsules for a long time and then months of a daily turmeric drink made no difference to their blood counts. HealthUnlocked, 2017-07-15 (Counts monitored by their clinic.)
Too early Has taken turmeric then curcumin since 2013 and is doing well on standard care without other drugs, but does not attribute it. HealthUnlocked, 2017-07 (Outcome unclear rather than early; standard care continued.)
Helped Before her blood-cancer diagnosis, turmeric-curcumin was working well for her arthritis and sciatica; stopped because of a clash with her new drug. HealthUnlocked, 2019 (Year inferred from "7 years ago".)
Too early A daily teaspoon of turmeric for a few weeks; feels better than at any time since diagnosis with no fatigue; awaiting blood counts. HealthUnlocked, 2017-07 (Early; no counts reported.)
Helped Platelets slowly fell over two years on 1,000 mg curcumin with no drug change; after halving the dose they rose despite more medication. HealthUnlocked, 2017-07-16 (Poster unsure of relevance; one person’s counts.)
Helped Takes turmeric for arthritis pain and has noticed it helps their depression somewhat. HealthUnlocked, 2022 (Year inferred from "4 years ago".)
No effect Noticed better balance, but cannot say turmeric lifts their depression. HealthUnlocked, 2022 (Hormone treatment at the same time.)
Mixed Helped back pain but made no difference to anxiety; stopped because of worries about blood clotting. HealthUnlocked, 2022 (Stopped on doctor’s comment, not a side effect.)
No effect Tried it briefly for anxiety and it did not seem to help. HealthUnlocked, 2022 (Poster says they did not stick with it long.)
No effect Stopped and restarted curcumin around monthly PSA tests; PSA stayed at 0.05 either way. HealthUnlocked, 2022-07 (Very low PSA, near the test’s rounding limit; one person.)

Checked against PubMed on 2026-10-28.