Curcumin and Its Role in Chronic Diseases
Curcumin, a yellow pigment from the spice turmeric, is used in Indian and Chinese medicine since ancient times for wide range of diseases. Extensive scientific research on this molecule performed over the last 3 to 4 decades has proved its potential as an
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Curcumin and Its Role in Chronic Diseases A. Kunwar and K.I. Priyadarsini
Abstract Curcumin, a yellow pigment from the spice turmeric, is used in Indian and Chinese medicine since ancient times for wide range of diseases. Extensive scientific research on this molecule performed over the last 3 to 4 decades has proved its potential as an important pharmacological agent. The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and chemopreventive activities of curcumin have been extended to explore this molecule against many chronic diseases with promising results. Further, its multitargeting ability and nontoxic nature to humans even up to 12 g/day have attracted scientists to explore this as an anticancer agent in the clinic, which is in different phases of trials. With much more scope to be investigated and understood, curcumin becomes one of the very few inexpensive botanical molecules with potent therapeutic abilities. Keywords Curcumin Turmeric Polyphenol
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Antioxidant
Anti-inflammatory
Anticancer
Introduction
Curcumin, a natural polyphenol, is one of the most investigated biomolecules from Mother Nature. Its natural source, Curcuma longa or turmeric is used in Indian Ayurvedic and Siddha medicines and also in Chinese medicines since thousands of years [3, 6, 22, 107]. Turmeric is a perennial plant of the ginger family, cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions of South Asia, and India is one of the largest producers of turmeric [35]. In Ayurveda, turmeric is used to treat ailments like arthritis, sprains, open wounds, acnes, stomach upset, flatulence, dysentery, ulcers, A. Kunwar K.I. Priyadarsini (&) Radiation and Photochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai 400085, India e-mail: [email protected] A. Kunwar e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 S.C. Gupta et al. (eds.), Anti-inflammatory Nutraceuticals and Chronic Diseases, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 928, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41334-1_1
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A. Kunwar and K.I. Priyadarsini
jaundice, skin and eye infections. As a dietary agent, turmeric is regularly used as a spice and also as a coloring agent in Indian cuisine. Both turmeric and its active principle, curcumin, are permitted like other natural pigments and the food additive, E number for curcumin is E100. Depending on the origin and soil conditions, the percentage of curcuminoids in turmeric varies from 2 to 9 % of its dry weight. The word “curcuminoid” refers to a mixture of four polyphenols, such as curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bis-demethoxy curcumin and cyclic curcumin. Out of these, curcumin is nearly 70 % of the total curcuminoids. In addition to these curcuminoids, turmeric also contains essential oils primarily composed of mono and sesquiterpenes, like turmerones, turmerol, etc. The strong yellow color of turmeric is mainly due to curcuminoids. Historically, the first scientific report on isolation and chemical characteristics of curcumin was made in 1815 [115], and its molecular formula a
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