Table 4.
Summary of studies examining the effect of curcumin intake on exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD)
| Author and year | Population | Study design | Duration | Curcumin supplement | Dosage | Curcuminoids content | Activity type | Key findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Takahashi et al., 2013 [25] |
26 males (26.8 ± 2.0 years) (recreationally active) |
Double-blind, placebo-controlled, counterbalanced crossover design | 1 day | Theracurmin | Placebo | NA | Walking or running at 65% V̇O2 max on a treadmill for 60 min |
↑ GPX ↑ d-ROM’s |
|
90 mg/day 2 h before exercise |
10% curcumin, 2% curcuminoids without curcumin |
↑ Plasma curcumin ↑ BAP ↑ GSH † TBARS † GSSH † SOD |
||||||
|
180 mg/day 2 h before and immediately after exercise | ||||||||
| Nakhostin-Roohi et al., 2016 [19] |
10 males (25.0 ± 1.6 years) (untrained) |
Randomised controlled trial—double-blind crossover | Single dose | Theracurmin |
150 mg Immediately post-exercise |
10% curcumin, 2% curcuminoids without curcumin | Unaccustomed squat exercises |
↓ CK ↓ VAS for pain ↑ TAC |
| Tanabe et al., 2018 [22] |
10 males (28.5 ± 3.4 years) (untrained) |
Double‐blind crossover design | 7 days | Theracurmin |
180 mg (90 mg twice a day—at breakfast and dinner) Consumed for 7 days before exercise |
Not defined | 30 maximal eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors at an angular velocity of 120°/s |
↓ Plasma curcumin ↓IL-8 |
|
10 males (29.0 ± 3.9 years) (untrained) |
180 mg (90 mg twice a day—at breakfast and dinner) Consumed for 7 days after exercise |
↑ Plasma curcumin ↓ VAS for muscle soreness ↓ CK |
||||||
| Tanabe et al., 2019 [23] |
8 males (28.8 ± 3.6 years) (untrained) |
Randomised, controlled, single-blind, parallel design study | 7 days |
Theracurmin CR-033P |
PRE—180 mg (90 mg twice a day—at breakfast and dinner) Consumed for 7 days before exercise |
30% curcumin, 6% other curcuminoids | 30 maximal eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors at an angular velocity of 120°/s |
↑ Plasma curcumin at baseline † CK |
|
8 males (29.8 ± 3.4 years) (untrained) |
4 days |
POST—180 mg (90 mg twice a day—at breakfast and dinner) Consumed for 4 days after exercise |
↓ VAS for muscle soreness † CK |
|||||
| Tanabe et al., 2015 [53] |
14 males (23.5 ± 2.3 years) (untrained) |
Randomised, crossover design | Single dose | Theracurmin |
300 mg 150 mg—1 h before exercise 150 mg—12 h after exercise |
Not defined | 50 maximal eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors at an angular velocity 120°/s |
↑ Plasma curcumin ↓ MVC torque ↓ CK † IL-6 and TNF-α |
| McFarlin et al., 2016 [24] |
16 (5 M, 11 F) (20 ± 1 years) (untrained) |
Randomised controlled | 6 days | Longvida |
400 mg 48 h before exercise and for 72 h after |
Not defined | 6 sets of 10 repetitions of the leg press exercise with a beginning load set at 110% of their estimated 1RM |
† Subjective quadriceps pain †ADL ↓CK ↓TNF-α ↓IL-8 † IL-10 † IL-6 |
| Sciberras et al., 2015 [52] |
11 males (35.5 ± 5.7 years) (trained) |
Double-blind randomised crossover | 4 days | Meriva® | 500 mg with midday meal for 3 days and 500 mg just before exercise | Not defined | Participants exercised for 2 h at a power output equivalent to 95% of their lactate threshold |
† IL-6, IL-10 ↑ DALDA Questionnaire (better than usual) |
| F. Drobnic et al., 2014 [70] |
C—9 males (32.7 ± 12.3 years) (trained) |
Randomised, placebo-controlled, single-centre, single-blind pilot trial | 4 days | Meriva® |
1 g twice a day 48 h prior to exercise and continued for 24 h after exercise |
200 mg/dose | Modified downhill running test—running at a constant speed for 45 min after a 10-min warm-up on treadmill |
†CRP † hsCRP † MCP-1 † FRAP † GPx † CK ↓ IL-8 † Intensity of pain |
|
P—10 males (38.1 ± 11.1 years) (trained) | ||||||||
| Jäger et al., 2019 [57] |
63 (31 M, 32 F) (21 ± 2 years) (trained) |
Double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled parallel design | 8 weeks | CurcuWIN® |
Low-dose group 250 mg thrice a day (breakfast/lunch/dinner) |
50 mg of curcuminoids | 45-min downhill run at a – 15% grade and speed equivalent to 65% VO2Max after 5-min warm up |
↑ Subjective muscle pain (anterior, posterior) all groups † Subjective (total) muscle pain in high-dose group 1 h and 24 h post-exercise † Maximum bending torque and bending power in low-dose group |
|
High-dose group 1000 mg thrice a day (breakfast/lunch/dinner) |
200 mg of curcuminoids | |||||||
| Placebo | NA | |||||||
| McAllister et al., 2020 [66] |
14 males (21–30 years) (trained) |
Double-blinded, randomised, crossover design | 4 days | CurcuFresh |
1500 mg/day 1000 mg at breakfast and 500 mg at dinner for days 1, 2 and 3 and 45 min before testing on day 4 |
69 mg of curcuminoids | Dual stress challenges task that consisted of 35 min of steady-state exercise at a workload corresponding to 60% VO2 peak with mental stress challenges |
† GHS ↓SOD ↓ AOPP ↓ H2O2 |
| S. Basham et al., 2019 [26] |
20 males (21.7 ± 2.9 years) (trained) |
Randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover | 28 days | CurcuFresh |
1500 mg/day 1000 mg at breakfast and 500 mg at dinner for 28 days |
69 mg of curcuminoids | 225 repetitions of sit and stand using an aerobic step bench in 15 min |
↓ CK ↓ VAS † TAC † MDA † TNF-α |
| Amalraj et al., 2020 [20] | 30 (12 M, 18 F) (36 ± 11 years) (trained) | Randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind | 4 days | Cureit |
500 mg/day (consumed on day 2, 3 and 4 of study) |
Not defined | Downhill running for 45 min |
† CK ↓ VAS for muscle pain |
| Delecroix et al., 2017 [61] |
16 males (20.7 ± 1.4 years) (trained) |
Randomised, placebo-controlled, balanced crossover design | 4 days | MGD nature |
2 g curcumin + 20 mg Piperine consumed three times a day every 6 h between 8 am and 10 pm On exercise day—45 min before, immediately post- and 6 h post-exercise |
Not defined | 25 repetitions over 25 m of one-leg jumps on an 8% downhill slope |
† Isometric peak torque † Concentric peak torque † Jump performance † CK † Muscle soreness at any time point |
| Herrick et al., 2020 [54] |
47 (25 M, 22 F) (21.0 ± 2.6 years) (untrained) G1: 18 (C + FEN) G2: 14 (FEN) G3: 15 (P) |
Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel design | 28 days | CurQfen |
500 mg/day curcumin + 300 mg fenugreek dietary fibre (galactomannans) Consumed in the morning before eating |
190 mg of curcumin | Maximal graded exercise test on a cycle ergometer |
↑ Physical working capacity at the fatigue threshold ↑ delay the onset of neuromuscular fatigue † V̇O2peak †Time to exhaustion |
| Nicol et al., 2015 [21] |
17 males (33.8 ± 5.4 years) (trained) |
Double-blind randomised-controlled crossover | 5 days | Eurofins scientific inc. |
5000 mg/day 5 capsules twice daily for 2.5 days prior to exercise, then 5 capsules twice daily for 2.5 days after exercise |
Not defined | 7 sets of 10 eccentric single-leg press repetitions on a leg press machine |
a ↓ VAS for muscle pain ↓ CK ↓IL-6 (at 24 h relative to baseline) ‡TNF-α |
↑ Statistically significant increase
↓ Statistically significant decrease
† Change without statistical significance
‡ No impact
a moderate to large effect
C Curcumin Group, P Placebo Group, M Males, F Females, GPX glutathione peroxidase, d-ROM’s reactive oxygen metabolites, BAP biological antioxidant potential, GSH and GSSH reduced and oxidised glutathione, TBARS thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, SOD superoxide dismutase, CK creatine kinase, VAS visual analogue scale, TAC total antioxidant capacity, IL-8 Interleukin-8, MVC Maximal voluntary contraction, ADL Activities of daily living soreness, TNF-α Tumour Necrosis Factor-α, IL-10 Interleukin-10, IL-6 Interleukin-6, DALDA Questionnaire Daily Analysis of Life Demands Questionnaire, CRP C-Reactive Protein, MCP-1 monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, FRAP Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power, AOPP advanced oxidation protein products, H2O2 hydrogen peroxide, MDA malondialdehyde, FEN Fenugreek