The Mahdi Times The Mahdi Times, Issue #28, March 2015 | Page 36

prevention or treatment of
cancer.
Curcumin is being studied
to see whether it helps
other diseases as well. One
small study of curcumin
and another antioxidant
called quercetin was done
in adults who had kidney
transplants. Those who
took the combination in
high dosages had fewer
transplant rejections than
those who received lower
doses or placebo. More
studies are needed to find
out whether this holds
true. Curcumin may also
promote the emptying of
the gallbladder, but again,
more studies are needed.
Early research has
suggested that curcumin
may help lower "bad"
cholesterol, reduce
inflammation, help
ulcerative colitis and
reduce arthritis symptoms,
although more reliable
human studies are still
needed. Tests of curcumin
in HIV disease have been
mixed and have generally
not shown it to be helpful.
In studies of mice,

curcumin appeared to help
block the plaques and
proteins that cause
problems in the brain
during Alzheimer’s disease.
Human studies have
already started to look at
this.

Although laboratory and
animal tests look very
promising, careful study is
needed to find out whether
curcumin will be useful for
treating these conditions in
humans. It is important to
remember that extracted
compounds such as
curcumin are not the same
as the whole herb. Studies