SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1601204
Curcumin and Multiple Health Outcomes: Critical Umbrella Review of Intervention Meta-analyses
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine, Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
- 2Department of Oncology, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 3Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China
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Objective: This review aimed to determine the therapeutic effects and safety of oral curcumin compared with other comparators for human health and well-being outcomes. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched from their inception to June 18, 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.
Keywords: Curcumin, Metabolic indicators, Health Outcomes, evidence, Meta-analysis, Umbrella review
Received: 29 Mar 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Xu, Lian, Zhou, 谷, Wu and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhongyu Li, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine, Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Jiao Wu, Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China
Yu Wu, Department of Oncology, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100091, Beijing Municipality, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.