Using Ancient Spices to Treat Chronic Diseases: Turmeric’s Potential to Modulate Disease Pathogenesis in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Review

Abstract

This review aims to highlight two major health conditions that could benefit from regular supplementation of turmeric, as well as to discuss the importance of more widespread uses of this natural therapeutic in commonly used multivitamins and multi-drug regimens. There is a wide range of potential benefits patients could gain from this supplement, but we will be focusing only on the effects on inflammation in two of the most prevalent chronic inflammatory diseases, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We propose that turmeric supplementation could be more commonly used in a healthcare setting as an adjuvant treatment in these inflammatory conditions. Future studies investigating turmeric’s role for treatment in RA and IBD must aim to further evaluate the effects of curcumin on the human microbiota and how its bioavailability can be increased to provide therapeutic results.