Curcumin and multiple health outcomes: critical umbrella review of intervention meta-analyses.

2025-06-05
Frontiers in pharmacology 16
- Qin Xu
- Hua Lian
- Rui Zhou
- Zhenzhen Gu
- Jiao Wu
- Yu Wu
- Zhongyu Li

PubMed: 40538540
DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1601204

Study Design

Type: Systematic Review
Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched from inception to 18 June 2024. AMSTAR-2 and GRADE used for quality assessment.

Objective

This review aimed to determine the therapeutic effects and safety of oral curcumin compared with other comparators for human health and wellbeing outcomes.

Methods

PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched from their inception to 18 June 2024. The Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews-2 checklist, and Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation system were used to assess the methodological and evidence quality for each meta-analysis, respectively. The results are presented in a narrative review.

Results

We included 25 studies. The overall methodological quality was relatively poor, and there is considerable room for improvement. The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on lipid profiles, blood pressure, inflammatory markers and oxidative stress, musculoskeletal diseases, emotional and cognitive function, ulcerative colitis, liver and kidney function, primary dysmenorrhea or premenstrual syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, COVID-19, painful statues, and HR-QOL. However, for many diseases, the conclusions remain uncertain.

Conclusion

The available evidence suggests that curcumin is a safe medicinal agent that improves multiple clinical outcomes; however, the scientific quality of published studies needs to be improved.

Research Insights

Turmeric→Improved Blood Lipid Profile
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on lipid profiles
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate
Turmeric→Improved Cognitive Function
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... cognitive function
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Small
Turmeric→Improved Emotional Function
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... emotional and cognitive function
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Small
Turmeric→Improved Health-related Quality of Life
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... HR-QOL
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Small
Turmeric→Improved Kidney Function
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... kidney function
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Small
Turmeric→Improved Liver Function
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... liver and kidney function
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Small
Turmeric→Improved Musculoskeletal Disease Symptom
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... musculoskeletal diseases
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate
Turmeric→Reduced Abdominal Pain
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... primary dysmenorrhea or premenstrual syndrome
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate
Turmeric→Reduced Blood Pressure
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... blood pressure
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Small
Turmeric→Reduced COVID-19 Severity
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... COVID-19
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Small
Turmeric→Reduced Inflammatory Markers
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... inflammatory markers and oxidative stress
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate
Turmeric→Reduced Oxidative Stress
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... oxidative stress
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate
Turmeric→Reduced Pain
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... painful statues
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate
Turmeric→Reduced Premenstrual Syndrome Symptom
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... premenstrual syndrome
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate
Turmeric→Reduced Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... rheumatoid arthritis
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate
Turmeric→Reduced Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms
The findings suggest that curcumin has potentially positive effects on ... ulcerative colitis
Effect
Beneficial
Effect size
Moderate

Adverse Events Reported

Turmeric→Overall tolerability
The available evidence suggests that curcumin is a safe medicinal agent that improves multiple clinical outcomes
Finding
Reported