Table 1.
Meta-analyses of RCTs investigating the effect of curcumin intake on inflammation.
| Ref. | No. of Studies Included | Health Status of Subjects | No. of Subjects | Age of Subjects (Years) | Design | Period (Weeks) |
Dose | Outcomes (Effect Size) |
Quality of Primary Studies | Databases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qiu et al. 2023 [22] | 2 publications [23,24] | Mets | 122 | 34–64 | P | 6–8 | 80 mg/day of curcumin, 1000 mg/day of curcuminoids |
↔ IL-6 (MD = −1.5 pg/mL; 95% CI −3.97 to 0.97; p = 0.23) ↓ TNF-α (MD = −12.97; 95% CI −18.37 to −7.57; p < 0.00001) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (71.4%) | PubMed, SCOPUS, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, and China Biological Medicine |
| 2 publications [23,25] | Mets | 130 | 54–64 | P | 6–8 | 80 mg/day of nano-curcumin, 2400 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ CRP (MD = −1.24 mg/L; 95% CI −1.71 to −0.77; p < 0.00001) |
|||
| 2 publications [26,27] | Mets | 143 | 34–61 | P | 8–12 | 80 mg/day of nano-curcumin, 1000 mg/day of curcuminoids |
↔ hs-CRP (MD = −1.10 mg/L; 95% CI −4.35 to 2.16; p = 0.51) |
|||
| Dehzad et al. 2023 [28] | 9 publications [29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37] | Healthy, Mets, NAFLD, IGTT, prediabetes, T2DM, major depressive disorder | 1172 | 18–70 | P | 4–42 | 50–1500 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ leptin (WMD = −4.46 ng/mL; 95% CI −6.70 to −2.21; p < 0.001; I2 = 96.1%; p < 0.001) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (61.0%) | PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar |
| 11 publications [29,30,31,32,34,36,37,38,39,40,41] | Healthy, Mets, IGTT, T2DM, prediabetic, NAFLD | 783 | 18–70 | P | 4–42 | 50–1500 mg/day of curcumin | ↑ adiponectin (WMD = 2.48 μg/mL; 95% CI 1.34 to 3.62; p < 0.001; I2 = 96.3%; p < 0.001) |
|||
| Dehzad et al. 2023 [42] | 46 publications [23,29,38,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85] | Mets, healthy, obese, hemodialysis, chronic pulmonary complications, solid tumor, OA, T2DM, CAD, COPD, hyperlipidemia, migraine, infertile men, NAFLD, coronary elective angioplasty, RA, PCOS, Takayasu arteritis, pre-HTN, UC, diabetic foot ulcer | 2873 | 18–70 | P, CO |
4–24 | 80–2000 mg/day of curcumin, 150–1500 mg/day of curcuminoids, 900–3000 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ CRP (WMD = −0.58 mg/L; 95% CI −0.74 to −0.41; p < 0.05) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (84.2%) | PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar |
| 23 publications [24,43,47,48,50,54,55,56,60,63,64,67,68,71,79,83,86,87,88,89,90,91,92] | Mets, T2DM, OA, PUD, UC, obese, hemodialysis, NAFLD, HIV, solid tumor, migraine, lupus erythematosus, Takayasu arteritis, infertile coronary elective angioplasty | 1488 | 18–70 | P, CO |
4–12 | 80–1500 mg/day of curcumin, 150–1000 mg/day of curcuminoids, 1500–3000 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ TNF-α (WMD = −3.48 pg/mL; 95% CI −4.38 to −2.58; p < 0.05) |
|||
| 20 publications [23,24,45,46,47,48,50,54,63,64,68,83,86,89,91,93,94,95,96,97] | Mets, obese, chronic pulmonary complications, solid tumor, OA, hemodialysis, hyperlipidemia, lupus erythematosus, migraine, pre-HTN, ankylosing spondylitis, chronic branchial asthma, chronic knee pain | 1166 | 18–70 | P, CO |
4–12 | 60–1500 mg/day of curcumin, 100–1500 mg/day of curcuminoids, 2800–3000 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ IL-6 (WMD = −1.31 pg/mL; 95% CI −1.58 to −0.67; p < 0.05) |
|||
| 6 publications [47,79,86,88,91,98] | Obese, knee OA, PUD, pre-HTN, coronary elective angioplasty | 482 | 18–70 | P, CO |
4–16 | 80–1500 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ IL-1β (WMD = −0.46 pg/mL; 95% CI −1.18 to 0.27; p > 0.05) |
|||
| Shen et al. 2022 [99] | 2 publications [58,73] | PCOS | 81 | 24–35 | P | 6–8 | 93.34–1000 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ CRP (WMD = −0.785; 95% CI −1.553 to −0.017; p = 0.045) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (73.5%) | PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, Clinical Trials, Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese National knowledge Infrastructure, VIP database, and Wanfang Database |
| Sun et al. 2022 [100] | 9 publications [27,29,38,49,60,61,76,80,101] | Mets, T2DM, DFU, CHD, hyperlipidemia, IGT | 697 | 38–70 | P, CO |
6–24 | 80–2100 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ hs-CRP (WMD = −1.11; 95% CI −2.16 to −0.05; p = 0.039) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (69.3%) Jadad scale (77.0%) |
PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang, and CBM |
| 4 publications [29,31,38,39] | T2DM, IGT | 525 | 57–70 | P, CO |
10–36 | 180–1500 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ adiponectin (WMD = 6.43 ng/mL; 95% CI −1.19 to 14.05; p = 0.98) |
|||
| Futuhi et al. 2022 [102] | 5 publications [71,72,81,103,104] | ESRD hemodialysis, CKD | 212 | 32–73 | P | 8–12 | 120 mg/day of curcumin, 1000 mg/day of curcuminoids, 2500 mg/day of turmeric |
↔ CRP (WMD = −0.13 mg/L; 95% CI −3.25 to 3.30; p = 0.93) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (73.0%) | PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science |
| 3 publications [71,103,104] | ESRD, hemodialysis, CKD | 141 | 32–73 | P | 8–12 | 120 mg/day of curcumin, 1500 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ TNF-α (WMD = −18.87 pg/mL; 95% CI −28.36 to −9.38; p < 0.001) |
|||
| Gorabi et al. 2022 [105] | 7 publications [25,43,44,45,46,47,106] | Mets, RA, overweight, infertility | 493 | 18–65 | P | 4–12 | 80–1000 mg/day of curcumin, 250–500 mg/day of curcuminoids 900–2400 mg/day of turmeric. |
↓ CRP (WMD = 3.67 mg/L; 95% CI −6.96 to −0.38; p = 0.02; I2 = 99.5%; p < 0.001) ↓ CRP (WMD = −2.77 mg/L; 95% CI −4.34 to −1.19; p < 0.001) at ≤1000 mg/day of curcumin compared with dose > 1000 mg/day of curcumin ↓ CRP (WMD = −3.48 mg/L; 95% CI −5.64 to −1.33; p < 0.001) with intervention duration of >10 weeks |
Jadad scale (81.3%) |
MEDLINE/ PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus |
| 22 publications [27,29,38,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,103,107,108,109,110] | Mets, CAD, chronic cutaneous, ESRD, knee OA, T2DM, migraine | 1142 | 18–73 | P | 3 days–8 weeks | 1000–4000 mg/day of curcuminoids, 1500 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ hs-CRP in RCTs with ≤1000 mg/day and those with ≤10-week intervention period | |||
| Ashtary-Larky et al. 2021 [111] | 5 publications [23,48,50,71,76] | NAFLD, Mets, migraine, T2DM, hemodialysis | 279 | 28–68 | P | 6–12 | 40–120 mg/day of nano-curcumin | ↓ CRP (WMD = −1.29 mg/L; 95% CI −2.15 to −0.44; p = 0.003) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (55.6%) | PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science |
| 3 publications [23,48,50] | NAFLD, Mets, migraine | 172 | 28–63 | P | 6–12 | 40–80 mg/day of nano-curcumin | ↓ IL-6 (WMD = −2.78 mg/dL; 95% CI −3.76 to −1.79; p <0.001) |
|||
| 2 publications [50,112] | NAFLD, migraine | 122 | 28–49 | P | 8–12 | 40–80 mg/day of nano-curcumin | ↔ TNF-α (WMD = −3.09 mg/dL; 95% CI −8.75 to 2.57; p = 0.284) |
|||
| Gorabi et al. 2021 [113] | 3 publications [47,86,98] | Knee OA, overweight | 307 | 18–65 | P | 4–16 | 1000 mg/day of curcuminoids, 500–900 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ IL-1 (WMD = −2.33 pg/mL; 95% CI −3.33 to −1.34; p < 0.001) |
Jadad scale (not indicated) | PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library |
| 12 publications [24,43,46,47,50,54,55,56,86,87,103,114] | Mets, T2DM, overweight, knee OA, NAFLD, ESRD, diabetic nephropathy, infertility, UC |
760 | 18–65 | P | 4–12 | 80–1500 mg/day of curcumin, 300–1500 mg/day of curcuminoids, 112–1500 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ TNF-α (WMD = −1.61 pg/mL; 95% CI −2.72 to −0.51; p < 0.001) |
|||
| 12 publications [24,45,46,47,48,50,54,86,103,107,109,114] | Mets, T2DM, overweight, knee OA, hyperlipidemia, ESRD, NAFLD, migraine | 808 | 18–65 | P | 4–12 | 80–1000 mg/day of curcumin, 300–1500 mg/day of curcuminoids, 112–1500 mg/day of turmeric |
↔ IL-6 (WMD = −0.33 pg/mL; 95% CI −0.99 to −0.34; p = 0.33) |
|||
| 4 publications [46,86,87,107] | Diabetic nephropathy, chronic cutaneous, overweight | 240 | 18–65 | P | 4–8 | 1000 mg/day of curcuminoids, 112–1500 mg/day of turmeric |
↔ IL-8 (WMD = 0.52 pg/mL; 95% CI −1.13 to −2.17; p = 0.53) |
|||
| Abdelazeem et al. 2021 [115] | 2 publications [58,73] | PCOS | 81 | 24–35 | P | 6–8 | 93.34–1000 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ CRP (MD = −0.55; 95% CI −1.64 to 0.54; p = 0.33) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (73.3%) | PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central and Google Scholar |
| Ferguson et al. 2020 [116] | 22 publications [27,38,43,45,46,48,50,51,52,53,57,60,63,65,66,67,70,103,106,107,117,118] | Episodic migraine, T2DM, RA, oral lichen planus, healthy, CAD, hemodialysis patients with pruritus, history of sulfur mustard intoxication, Mets, sulfur mustard-induced cutaneous complications, infertile men, NAFLD, high cholesterol or/and high CRP, overweight/obese, COPD, acute Takayasu arteritis, prediabetes | 1266 | 30–70 | P, CO |
12 days–24 weeks | 46–4560 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ CRP (WMD = −1.55 mg/L; 95% CI −1.81 to −1.30; p < 0.05) |
American Dietetic Association’s Quality Criteria Checklist (65.6%) | EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, and Cochrane Library |
| 11 publications [24,45,46,50,63,86,103,107,114,117,118] | Episodic migraine, oral lichen planus, dyslipidemia, obese, healthy, history of sulfur mustard intoxication, Mets, sulfur mustard-induced cutaneous complications, T2DM | 778 | 36–70 | P, CO |
12 days–12 weeks | 80–4560 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ IL-6 (WMD = −1.69 pg/mL; 95% CI −2.56 to −0.82; p < 0.05) |
|||
| 12 publications [24,43,46,50,63,67,86,112,114,118,119,120] | Episodic migraine, infertile men, healthy, dyslipidemia, NAFLD, overweight/obese, history of sulfur mustard intoxication, Mets, T2DM, acute Takayasu arteritis | 900 | 30–70 | P, CO |
4–12 | 80–1140 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ TNF-α (WMD = −3.13 pg/mL; 95% CI −4.62 to −1.64; p < 0.05) |
|||
| 4 publications [46,63,86,107] | Dyslipidemia, obese, Mets, sulfur mustard-induced cutaneous complications | 539 | 38–56 | P, CO |
4 | 112–1140 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ IL-8 (WMD = −0.54 pg/mL; 95% CI −0.82 to −0.28; p < 0.05) |
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| 3 publications [24,63,86] | Dyslipidemia, obese, Mets, history of sulfur mustard intoxication | 238 | 38–54 | P, CO |
4–8 | 665–1140 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ MCP-1 (WMD = −2.48 pg/mL; 95% CI −3.96 to −1.00; p < 0.05) |
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| 2 publications [120,121] | Healthy, episodic migraine | 313 | 36–48 | P | 4–8 | 80–400 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ ICAM-1 (WMD = −86.24 ng/mL; 95% CI −206.80 to 34.32; p > 0.05) |
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| White et al. 2019 [122] | 5 publications [25,45,46,53,106] | RA, Mets, hyperlipidemia, overweight/obese with CRP ≥ 2 mg/L, ESRD | 376 | 29–69 | P, CO |
4–13 | 20.1–500 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ CRP (MD = −2.71 mg/L; 95%CI −5.73 to 0.31; p = 0.08) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (Supple) | PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library |
| 6 publications [27,51,52,54,57,103] | Mets, obese hyperlipidemia, CAD, knee OA, T2DM, Hemodialysis | 381 | 28–72 | P, CO |
4–12 | 22.1–2000 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ hs-CRP (MD = −1.44 mg/L; 95%CI −2.94 to 0.06; p = 0.06) |
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| 2 publications [86,98] | Obesity, knee OA | 205 | 42–58.6 | P, CO |
8–12 | 500–1000 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ IL-1β (MD = −4.25 pg/mL; 95%CI −13.32 to 4.82; p = 0.36) |
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| 7 publications [24,45,86,93,103,114,123] | T2DM, obese, Mets, hyperlipidemia, hemodialysis, knee OA, SLE | 478 | 20–69 | P, CO |
6–12 | 20.1–1000 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ IL-6 (MD = −0.71 pg/mL; 95%CI −1.68 to 0.25; p = 0.15) |
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| 7 publications [46,86,87,103,114,123,124] | Mets, T2DM, obese, knee OA, hemodialysis, nephropathy | 408 | 34–66 | P, CO |
4–12 | 66.3–1000 mg/day of curcumin | ↔ TNF-α (MD = −1.23 pg/mL; 95%CI −3.01 to 0.55; p = 0.18) |
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| Tabrizi et al. 2019 [125] | 5 publications [36,45,46,86,114] | Mets, obese, T2DM, hyperlipidemia | 293 | 18–75 | P | 4–8 | 294 mg/day of curcumin, 300–1000 mg/day of curcuminoids, 112 mg/day of turmeric |
↓ IL-6 (SMD = −2.08; 95% CI −3.90 to −0.25; p = 0.02) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (82.9%) | Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science |
| 9 publications [25,27,39,45,46,52,57,110,126] | T2DM, Mets, hyperlipidemia, overweight, obese, coronary vascular artery | 832 | 18–75 | P | 3 days–36 weeks | 112–2400 mg/day of turmeric, 4000 mg/day of curcuminoids, 294–1890 mg/day of curcumin |
↓ hs-CRP (SMD = −0.65; 95% CI −1.20 to −0.10; p = 0.02) |
|||
| 5 publications [24,46,86,87,114] | Mets, overweight, obese, T2DM, diabetic nephropathy | 291 | 18–75 | P | 4–8 | 112–1500 mg/day of turmeric, 300–1000 mg/day of curcuminoids |
↔ TNF-α (SMD = −1.62; 95% CI −3.60 to 0.36; p = 0.10) |
|||
| Clark et al. 2019 [127] | 5 publications [30,31,36,38,41] | Mets, prediabetes, obese, T2DM | 652 | 27.1–59.37 | P | 6–39 | 200–1500 mg/day of curcumin | ↑ adiponectin (WMD = 0.82 Hedges’ g; 95% CI 0.33 to 1.30; p ˂ 0.001) ↑ adiponectin (WMD = 1.05 Hedges’ g; 95% CI 0.64 to 1.45; p ˂ 0.001) for ≤ 10 weeks of follow-up period |
Jadad scale (100%) | PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Google scholar |
| Simental-Mendía et al. 2019 [128] | 5 publications [31,39,41,129,130] | Mets, prediabetes, obese, T2DM | 686 | 18–71 | P | 4–36 | 500–1500 mg/day of curcumin | ↑ adiponectin (WMD = 6.47 ng/mL; 95% CI 1.85 to 11.10; p = 0.010) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (60.0%) | PubMed–Medline, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar |
| Akbari et al. 2019 [131] | 3 publications [24,31,32] | Mets, obese, T2DM | 338 | 8–71 | P | 4–24 | 500–1000 mg/day of curcumin, 1500 mg/day of curcuminoids |
↓ leptin (SMD = −0.97; 95% CI −1.18 to −0.75; p < 0.001) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (77.8%) | Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PubMed, and Web of Science |
| 4 publications [24,31,32,39] | Mets, obese, T2DM | 572 | 8–71 | P | 4–36 | 500–1000 mg/day of curcumin, 1500 mg/day of curcuminoids |
↑ adiponectin (SMD = 1.05; 95% CI 0.23 to 1.87; p = 0.01) |
|||
| Atkin et al. 2017 [132] | 4 publications [31,33,36,129] | T2DM, Mets, depression | 465 | 8–61 | P | 4–24 | 250–1000 mg/day of curcuminoids | ↓ leptin (SMD = −0.69; 95% CI −1.16 to −0.23; p = 0.003; I2 = 76.53%) |
Jadad scale (40%) | PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar |
| Derosa et al. 2016 [133] | 9 publications [24,54,63,86,107,114,134,135,136] | Mets osteoarthritis, knee OA, oral lichen planus, obesity, T2DM, sulfur mustard intoxication, chronic pruritic skin lesions | 609 | 33–69 | P, CO |
2–32 | 200–6000 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ IL-6 (WMD = −0.60 pg/mL; 95% CI −1.06 to −0.14; p = 0.011) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (44.4%) | Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Google Scholar |
| Sahebkar et al. 2016 [137] | 9 publications [24,63,86,87,114,123,134,138,139] | Mets, obese, T2DM, type 2 diabetic nephropathy, major depressive disorder, knee OA, sulfur mustard-exposed veterans | 549 | 36–59 | P, CO |
4–12 | 300–1500 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ TNF-α (WMD = −4.69 pg/mL; 95% CI −7.10 to −2.28; p < 0.001) |
Cochrane risk of bias tool (42.9%) | Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Google Scholar |
| Sahebkar et al. 2014 [140] | 7 publications [52,62,107,110,135,141,142] | Healthy, obese, dyslipidemia, chronic complications due to sulfur mustard, oral lichen planus, coronary artery bypass grafting, OA | 342 | 25–70 | P | 4–12 | 80–6000 mg/day of curcumin | ↓ CRP (MD = 6.44 mg/L; 95% CI −10.77 to −2.11; p = 0.004) |
Jadad scale (66.7%) | Medline and SCOPUS |
CAD, coronary artery disease; CHD, coronary heart disease; CI, confidence interval; CKD, chronic kidney disease; CO, crossover; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CRP, C-reactive protein; DFU, diabetic foot ulcer; ESRD, end-stage renal disease; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; hs-CRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; HTN, hypertension; ICAM-1, intercellular adhesion molecule-1; IGT, impaired glucose tolerance; IGTT, impaired glucose tolerance test; IL-1, interleukin 1; IL-1β, interleukin 1β; IL-6, interleukin 6; IL-8, interleukin 8; MD, mean difference; Mets, metabolic syndrome; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; OA, osteoarthritis; P, parallel; PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome; pre-HTN, pre-hypertension; PUD, peptic ulcer disease; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RCTs, randomized controlled trials; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SMD, standardized mean difference; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor α; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus; UC, ulcerative colitis; WMD, weighted mean difference. The quality of primary studies is indicated as a percentage of low risk (Cochrane risk of bias tool) or ≥3 (Jadad scale) or positive quality (American Dietetic Association’s Quality Criteria Checklist). ↑, increase; ↓, decrease; ↔ no effect.