. 2016 Oct 21;174(11):1325–1348. doi: 10.1111/bph.13621

Table 1.

Curcumin clinical trials in patients with various chronic diseases

Disease	Curcumin dose	Pts (#)	Clinical outcome	References
Safety and tolerability
Healthy volunteers	2 gb ^, d	10	Safe and highly bioavailable	Shoba et al., 1998
	20 mgd	12	Safe and induced gall‐bladder contraction	Rasyid and Lelo, 1999
	20, 40, 80 mgd	12	Safe and increased gall‐bladder contraction	Rasyid et al., 2002
	0.5 g; 2 daysc	10	Safe and no effect on iron absorption	Tuntipopipat et al., 2006
	500–12 000 mgd	24	Safe and well tolerated	Lao et al., 2006
	300 mg·day⁻¹; 6 daysb	12	Safe	Juan et al., 2007
	10 and 12 gd	12	Safe and improved absorption	Vareed et al., 2008
	500 mgb ^, c ^, d	8	Safe and activated bowel motility	Shimouchi et al., 2009
	150 mg·day⁻¹; 2 weeksb	11	Safe and well tolerated	Dominiak et al., 2010
	0.5–6 g·day⁻¹; 7 days	24	Safe and decreased lipid levels	Pungcharoenkul and Thongnopnua, 2011
	30 mga ^, d	14	Safe and bioavailable	Sasaki et al., 2011
	3 × 209–376 mg·day⁻¹ a	9	Safe and improved absorption	Cuomo et al., 2011
	80 mg·day⁻¹; 4 weeks	38	Safe and have multiple health benefits	DiSilvestro et al., 2012
	150 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeks	45	Safe and improved BP and heart rate	Sugawara et al., 2012
	1 gd	10	Safe and bioavailable	Vitaglione et al., 2012
	2 gb ^, d	8	Safe and bioavailable	Kusuhara et al., 2012
	4 × 4 g; 2 daysb	8	Safe and highly bioavailable	Volak et al., 2013
	376 mga ^, d	15	Safe and bioavailable	Jager et al., 2014
	12 ga ^, d	10	Safe and well tolerated	Klickovic et al., 2014
Cancer
BPH	1 g·day⁻¹; 24 weeksb	61	Reduced signs and symptoms	Ledda et al., 2012
Breast	6 g·day⁻¹; 7 daysb	14	Safe and well tolerated	Bayet‐Robert et al., 2010
Cancerous lesions	Ointment	62	Reduced lesion size and pain	Kuttan et al., 1987
Cancerous lesions	0.5–1.2 g·day⁻¹; 3 months	25	Well tolerated and efficacious	Cheng et al., 2001
Cervical	500 mg·day⁻¹; 30 days	280	Increased HPV clearance rate	Basu et al., 2013
CML	3 × 5 g; 6 weeksc	50	Reduced nitric oxide levels	Ghalaut et al., 2012
Colorectal	220 mg·day⁻¹; 29 daysa	15	Inhibited basal and LPS‐induced PGE₂	Plummer et al., 2001
	2.2 g·day⁻¹ c; 4 months	15	Well tolerated	Sharma et al., 2001
	0.45, 3.6 g·day⁻¹; 4 months	15	Well tolerated and efficacious	Sharma et al., 2004
	0.45, 1.8, 3.6 mg·day⁻¹; 7 days	12	Inhibited inflammation and DNA damage	Garcea et al., 2005
	1.08 g·day⁻¹; 10–30 days	26	Improved the general health	He et al., 2011
	2 or 4 g·day⁻¹; 30 days	44	40% reduction in ACF number	Carroll et al., 2011
	2.35 g·day⁻¹; 14 days	26	High levels of curcumin were recovered	Irving et al., 2013
HNSCC	2 gd	39	Decreased IKKβ kinase activity in saliva	Kim et al., 2011
Pancreatic	8 g·day⁻¹; 8 weeks	25	Safe, well tolerated and efficacious	Dhillon et al., 2008
	8 g·day⁻¹; 4 weeksb	17	Showed partial response and stable disease	Epelbaum et al., 2010
	8 g·day⁻¹; 14 days every 3 weeksb	21	Safe and well tolerated	Kanai et al., 2011
	0.2–0.4 g·day⁻¹; 9 months	16	Safe and well tolerated	Kanai et al., 2013
Prostate	100 mg·day⁻¹; 6 monthsb	85	Reduced serum PSA levels	Ide et al., 2010
Prostate	3 g·day⁻¹; 3 months	40	No significant effect	Hejazi et al., 2016
Solid tumours	3 × 100 mg·day⁻¹;4 monthsa	160	Decreased side effects of chemotherapy	Belcaro et al., 2014
Solid tumours	180 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeks	80	Improved quality of life	Panahi et al., 2014c
Cardiovascular disease
ACS	15–60 mg·day⁻¹; 2 years	75	Reduced total and LDL cholesterol	Alwi et al., 2008
AMI	4 g·day⁻¹; 7 days	121	Inhibited MI associated with CABG	Wongcharoen et al., 2012
CVH	180 gc ^, d	14	Improves postprandial endothelial function	Nakayama et al., 2014
Dyslipidemia	1 g·day⁻¹; 30 days	30	Decreased triglycerides level	Mohammadi et al., 2013
Metabolic and CVH	0.9 g·day⁻¹; 24 weeksb	56	No effect	Soare et al., 2014
MS	1890 mg·day⁻¹; 12 weeks	65	Lowered lipid level	Yang et al., 2014
MS	1000 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeksb	100	Effective as adjunctive therapy	Panahi et al., 2014a
Inflammatory diseases
Bronchial asthma	500 mg·day⁻¹; 30 days	77	Decreased airway obstruction	Abidi et al., 2014
CKD	2 × 824 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeksb	16	Safe and well tolerated	Moreillon et al., 2013
Crohn's disease	1.1 and 1.6 g·day⁻¹; 1 month	5	Efficacious	Holt et al., 2005
FAP	3 × 480 mg·day⁻¹; 6 monthsb	5	Decreased number and size of adenomas	Cruz‐Correa et al., 2006
Gastritis	3 × 700 mg·day⁻¹; 4 weeksc	36	No significant effect	Koosirirat et al., 2010
Gingivitis	Mouthwash	30	Effective in mechanical periodontal therapy	Muglikar et al., 2013
H. pylori infection	2 × 30 mg·day⁻¹; 7 days	25	Improved dyspeptic symptoms	Di Mario et al., 2007
IBD	1–4 g·day⁻¹; 3 weeks	11	Significant decrease in relapse	Suskind et al., 2013
Nephritis	500 mg·day⁻¹; 3 months	24	Decreased proteinuria, haematuria and BP	Khajehdehi et al., 2012
OLP	2000 mg·day⁻¹; 7 weeks	100	Safe and well‐tolerated	Chainani‐Wu et al., 2007
	6000 mg·day⁻¹	20	Safe, well‐tolerated and efficacious	Chainani‐Wu et al., 2012b
	2.137 g·day⁻¹; 30 months	53	Efficacious	Chainani‐Wu et al., 2012a
Oral mucositis	2 × 10 drops per daya; 21 days	7	Well‐tolerated and efficacious	Elad et al., 2013
Oral mucositis	With honeyb ^, c	60	Inhibited oral mucositis	Francis and Williams, 2014
Osteoarthritis	1 g·day⁻¹ a	100	Safe and efficacious	Belcaro et al., 2010a
	200 mga	50	Efficacious	Belcaro et al., 2010b
	1000 mg·day⁻¹; 3 months	44	Served as adjuvant therapy	Pinsornsak and Niempoog, 2012
	1500 mg·day⁻¹; 4 weeks	185	As effective as ibuprofen	Kuptniratsaikul et al., 2014
	1500 mg·day⁻¹; 3 weeks	40	Safe and efficacious	Panahi et al., 2014b
	180 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeksa	45	Efficacious	Nakagawa et al., 2014
	2 × 126 mg·day⁻¹; 3 months	22	Significant improvement	Henrotin et al., 2014
Pancreatitis	0.5 g·day⁻¹; 6 weeksb	20	Reduced MDA and increased GSH	Durgaprasad et al., 2005
Peptic ulcer	3 g·day⁻¹; 4–12 weeks	45	Alleviated abdominal pain and discomfort	Prucksunand et al., 2001
Periodontitis	2% gelc	37	Effective in scaling and root planing	Behal et al., 2011
	1%·week⁻¹; 3 weeksa	23	Mild to moderate beneficiary effect	Gottumukkala et al., 2013
	1%; 1, 3 and 6 monthsa	20	Inhibited growth of oral bacteria	Bhatia et al., 2014
	50 mg·cm⁻²; 6 monthsa	60	Reduced plaque and gingival index scores	Gottumukkala et al., 2014
Plaque	2 × 0.1%; 21 daysc	100	Prevented plaque and gingivitis	Waghmare et al., 2011
Prostatitis	200 mg·day⁻¹; 14 daysb	284	Improved efficacy of prulifloxacin	Cai et al., 2009
Pulmonary complication	500 mg; 4 weeks	89	Safe, well‐tolerated and efficacious	Panahi et al., 2015b
Rheumatoid arthritis	1.2 g·day⁻¹; 2 weeks	18	Reduced stiffness and joint swelling	Deodhar et al., 1980
Rheumatoid arthritis	2 × 500 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeksb	45	Reduced DAS and ACR scores	Chandran and Goel, 2012
Ulcerative colitis	2 g·day⁻¹; 6 months	45	Prevented disease relapse	Hanai et al., 2006
	0.5 g·day⁻¹; 1 year	1	Efficacious	Lahiff and Moss, 2011
	140 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeksa ^, b	45	Safe and efficacious	Singla et al., 2014
	3 g·day⁻¹; 1 monthb	50	Effective, no adverse effects	Lang et al., 2015
Ulcerative proctitis	1.1 g and 1.65 g·day⁻¹; 1 month	5	Efficacious	Holt et al., 2005
Uveitis	1.125 g·day⁻¹; 12 weeks	53	Efficacy equal to corticosteroid therapy	Lal et al., 1999
Uveitis	2 × 0.6 g·day⁻¹; 12–18 months	106	Well tolerated and reduced eye discomfort	Allegri et al., 2010
Metabolic disease
Diabetes	5 g·day⁻¹; 3 months	1	Decreased fasting blood sugar level	Srinivasan, 1972
	600 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeks	72	Inhibited cytokines and oxidative stress	Usharani et al., 2008
	3 × 500 mg·day⁻¹; 2 monthsc	40	Attenuated proteinuria, TGFβ and IL‐8	Khajehdehi et al., 2011
	1.5 g·day⁻¹; 3, 6 and 9 months	240	Safe, well tolerated and efficacious	Chuengsamarn et al., 2012
	300 mg·day⁻¹; 3 months	100	Effective, decreased serum A‐FABP level	Na et al., 2014
	2 × 750 mg·day⁻¹; 6 months	240	Lowered the atherogenic risks	Chuengsamarn et al., 2014
	500 mg·day⁻¹; 15–30 days	–	Reduced albumin excretion, activated Nrf2	Yang et al., 2015
	1 g·day⁻¹; 4 weeksa	25	Decreased oedema score, improved response	Appendino et al., 2011
	500 mg·day⁻¹; 4 weeksa	38	Efficacious	Steigerwalt et al., 2012
Obesity	1 g·day⁻¹; 30 days	30	Decreased oxidative stress	Sahebkar et al., 2013
	1 g·day⁻¹; 4 weeks	30	Improved immune response	Ganjali et al., 2014
	1 g·day⁻¹; 30 days	30	Reduced anxiety	Esmaily et al., 2015
Neurological disease
Alzheimer's disease	2 and 4 g·day⁻¹; 24 weeks	33	Patients' response yet to be published	Ringman et al., 2005
Alzheimer's disease	1 and 4 g·day⁻¹; 6 months	34	Safe and increased vitamin E level	Baum et al., 2008
Depression	500 mg·day⁻¹; 5 weeks	40	Reduced symptoms	Bergman et al., 2013
	1 g·day⁻¹; 8 weeks	56	Reduced depression	Lopresti et al., 2014
	1000 mg·day⁻¹; 6 weeks	60	Safe and efficacious	Sanmukhani et al., 2014
	10–1000 mg·day⁻¹; 6 weeksb	111	Safe and efficacious	Panahi et al., 2015a
	2 × 0.5 g·day⁻¹; 8 weeks	50	Reduced IDS‐SR30 score	Lopresti et al., 2015
	2 × 1 g·day⁻¹; 6 weeks	108	Reduced depression	Yu et al., 2015
Skin diseases
Psoriasis	2 × 1%·day⁻¹; 4 weeks	40	Suppressed PhK activity	Heng et al., 2000
	4.5 g·day⁻¹; 16 weeksa	12	Showed response rate 16.7%	Kurd et al., 2008
	2 g·day⁻¹; 12 weeks	63	Effective and decreased serum IL‐22 levels	Antiga et al., 2015
Radiation dermatitis	6 g·day⁻¹ throughout RT	30	Reduced severity of radiation	Ryan et al., 2013
Vitiligo	2× cream per day; 12 weeks	10	Improved degree of repigmentation	Asawanonda and Klahan, 2010
Infectious diseases
HIV	2.5 g·day⁻¹; 56 days	40	Well tolerated	James, 1996
Tuberculosis	6 g·day⁻¹; 2–4 monthsa	578	Prevented hepatotoxicity	Adhvaryu et al., 2008
Others
Arsenic carcinogenicity	2 × 500 mg·day⁻¹; 3 monthsb	286	Reduced DNA damage	Biswas et al., 2010
Cholecystectomy	500 mg every 6 h	50	Improved post‐operative pain	Agarwal et al., 2011
CRT	480 mg·day⁻¹; 1 monthb	43	Improved graft function, reduced rejection	Shoskes et al., 2005
Déjérine‐Sottas	50–75 mg·kg⁻¹·day⁻¹; 12 months	1	Improved patient's quality of life	Burns et al., 2009
MGUS and SMM	2 × 2 g·day⁻¹; 3 months	36	Slowed the disease process	Golombick et al., 2012
MGUS	2 × 2 g·day⁻¹; 3 months	26	Reduced paraprotein levels	Golombick et al., 2009
Oxidative stress	90 mgd	10	Reduced oxidative stress	Takahashi et al., 2014
PMS	2 capsules·day⁻¹; 7 days	70	Attenuated severity of PMS symptoms	Khayat et al., 2015
Pruritus	1 g·day⁻¹; 4 weeks	96	Safe, effective and anti‐inflammatory	Panahi et al., 2012a
Salivary pathogens	1.5 g·L⁻¹	13	Not effective	Araujo et al., 2012
Thalassemia	3 × 500 mg·day⁻¹; 12 months	21	Ameliorated oxidative damage	Kalpravidh et al., 2010
VEF	150 mg·day⁻¹; 8 weeks	32	Improved endothelial function	Akazawa et al., 2012

Curcumin formulation.

Combination.

Turmeric.

Administered once.

AC, arsenic carcinogenicity; ACS, acute coronary syndrome; ACR, American College of Rheumatology; AMI, acute myocardial infarction; BPH, benign prostatic hyperplasia; CABG, coronary artery bypass graft; CBP, chronic bacterial prostatitis; CDAI, clinical disease activity index; CKD, chronic kidney disease; CML, chronic myeloid leukaemia; CP, chronic periodontitis; CRT, cadaveric renal transplantation; CVH, cardiovascular health; DM, diabetic microangiopathy; DR, diabetic retinopathy; DAS, disease activity score; FAP, familial adenomatous polyposis; GSH, glutathione; HC, hepatocellular carcinoma; HM, haematological malignancies; HNSCC, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; LN, lupus nephritis; MI, myocardial infarction; MDA, malonaldialdehyde; MDD, major depressive disorder; MGUS, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance; MS, metabolic syndrome; OLP, oral lichen planus; PSA, prostate‐specific antigen; PMS, premenstrual syndrome; SMM, smoldering multiple myeloma; T2D, type 2 diabetes; THC, tetrahydrocurcuminoid; UC, ulcerative colitis; VEF, vascular endothelial function.