To give a sense of the medical majesty of this herb, we offer a partial list of U.S. institutions that have published papers on turmeric and/or its most well known components, the curcuminoids. The authors of this compilation chose to identify only U.S. institutions working in this area to demonstrate to the most skeptical and provincial that the enormous potential benefits of turmeric are definitely in the sights of our most brilliant scientists. The most amazing thing about this prodigious body of work is that the public is still completely unaware.

U.S. Institutions Studying Turmeric/Curcumin

A great herbalist and teacher once stated that if, after a lifetime of study, a student could understand the activity of just one herb, then that student would be a bona fide herbalist. In our judgment, if a student should accept that challenge, an herb worthy of a lifetime's study would be turmeric. We also believe that, after a lifetime's study, the student would not even begin to understand the full complexity of this, the world's most important herb. To give a sense of the medical majesty of this herb, we offer a partial list of U.S. institutions that have published papers on turmeric and/or its most well known components, the curcuminoids. The authors of this compilation chose to identify only U.S. institutions working in this area to demonstrate to the most skeptical and provincial that the enormous potential benefits of turmeric are definitely in the sights of our most brilliant scientists. The most amazing thing about this prodigious body of work is that the public is still completely unaware.

This list obviously does not include works in progress or the most impressive findings from other research institutions around the world. Also, while many of the studies here indicate profound and complex therapeutic activities to curcumin, consider it is just one component of this herb/spice that has been revered by billions for thousands of years. Numerous studies indicate curcumin's activity and bioavailability is significantly enhanced when delivered in the context of the other 4 known curcuminoids and the hundreds of other constituents in the whole plant. Inquire for a list of these references. The formatting begins with the name of the institution, followed by the departments and the head researcher and date of the study. The PMID # is the locator at the National Library of Medicine and the number after the hyphen is the number of researchers involved in the study. The summary presents the exact findings from either the abstract or full text of the article. Parentheses are included as summaries by the authors of this compilation.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Department of Pathology, Brosnan CF. 2001

Curcumin has been used for centuries to treat inflammatory disorders. Due to its low toxicity it is currently under consideration as a broad anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor cell agent. We conclude that gammadelta T cells (allergic inflammatory agents)…are highly sensitive to curcumin and that this effect may contribute to the anti-inflammatory properties of this compound. PMID: 11544338-8R

Schneider Children's Hospital of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Trachtman H. 2001

The protective effect of curcumin against (toxin)-induced injury…was not related to its antioxidant properties. Instead, curcumin enhanced expression of heat shock protein…PMID: 11322764-3R

Department of Oncology, Augenlicht LH. 2000

The butyrate response was…compared in detail with…curcumin, a component of mustard and curry structurally and functionally related to sulindac that also has chemopreventive activity. PMID: 10969808-3R

Columbia University

College of Physicians and Surgeons, Katz AE. 2001

Curcumin causes a marked decrease in the extent of cell proliferation…and…could be a potentially therapeutic anti-cancer agent, as it significantly inhibits prostate cancer growth, and has the potential to prevent the progression of this cancer to its hormone refractory state. PMID: 11398177-5R

Katz A. 2000

These results, taken together with our previous results that curcumin can induce apoptosis in both androgen-dependent and androgen-independent prostate cancer cells, support our view that curcumin may be a novel modality by which one can interfere with the signal transduction pathways of the prostate cancer cell and prevent it from progressing to its hormone-refractory state. PMID: 10851300-3R

Cornell University

The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Bertagnolli MM. 2000

These data (approximately 63% decreased adenoma tumor formation) place the plant phenolics CAPE and curcumin among a growing list of anti-inflammatory agents that suppress Apc-associated intestinal carcinogenesis. PMID: 10783313-8R

Department of Surgery, Bertagnolli MM. 2000

These results show that mucosal…T cells and B cells increase in animals treated with curcumin, suggesting that curcumin modulates lymphocyte-mediated immune functions. PMID: 10729246-4R

Henry Ford Health System

Department of Surgery, Gautam SC. 2005

These data indicate that curcumin differentially sensitizes glioma cells (a type of malignant cells generally resistant or only weakly sensitive to cell-death inducing molecules) to TRAIL(TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligands-a membrane protein that induces cell death in a variety of tumor cells)-induced apoptosis through the activation of both extrinsic (receptor-mediated) and intrinsic (chemical-induced) pathways of apoptosis. These results define a potential use of curcumin to sensitize glioma cells for TRAIL-mediated immunotherapy. PMID: 16416600-6R

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport

Department of Pathology, Johnson AC. 2006

These results provided novel insights into the mechanisms of curcumin inhibition of colon cancer cell growth and potential therapeutic strategies for treatment of colon cancer. PMID: 16170359-3R

Chen A. 2005

In the present report, we observed that curcumin, in a dose-dependent manner, inhibited the growth of … a human colon cancer-derived cell line… PMID: 15486348-2R

Medical College of Ohio

Department of Urology, Selman SH 2001

The development of an effective nontoxic…agent that may be used immediately after bladder tumor resection to prevent the implantation of tumor cells would be a significant clinical advancement…curcumin is a potent cytotoxic agent against (multiple) bladder tumor cell lines. In addition, curcumin effectively inhibits tumor implantation and growth in this murine bladder tumor model. PMID: 11547120-5R

Michigan State University

Department of Horticulture and National Food Safety and Toxicology Center, Nair MG. 2000

(Curcuminoids) from Curcuma longa were assayed for their cytotoxicity, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. These compounds showed activity against leukemia, colon, CNS, melanoma, renal, and breast cancer cell lines…Curcumins I-III also showed good inhibition of the COX-II enzyme…PMID: 10969724-3R

National Cancer Institute

Division of Cancer Prevention, Sigman CC. 2000

Numerous diet-derived agents are included among the >40 promising agents and agent combinations that are being evaluated clinically as chemopreventive agents for major cancer targets including breast, prostate, colon and lung. Examples include green and black tea polyphenols,…, curcumin,… PMID: 10721931-13R

New York Medical College

Westchester Medical Center and Alumni of the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Duvvi. 2001

Curcumin, a spice widely used in Indian dishes, has anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory properties. It also inhibits the oestrogenic effects of DDT and is synergistic with phytooestrogens. PMID: 11467202-1R

North Carolina State University

Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, Department of Food Science, Fleming HP. 2000

Turmeric,…was found to almost completely prevent aldehyde formation…PMID: 11052754-3R

Texas Southern University

Department of Biology, Shishodia S. 2007

(This paper is a comprehensive review of curcumin’s use in cancer therapy. It highlights the many molecular targets of curcumin, and the ways in which it is effective against tumorogenesis.) PMID: 17645940-3R

Tufts University School of Medicine

Vision Research Laboratories of New England Eye Center and the Department of Ophthalmology, Fini ME. 2000

Our findings provide evidence that curcuminoids target the FGF-2 angiogenic signaling pathway [FGF-2 stimulates the growth and development of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) that contribute to the pathogenesis of several diseases (i.e. cancer, atherosclerosis)]and inhibit expression of gelatinase B [ and essential component in the process of tumour invations and metastasis] in the angiogenic process. PMID: 10744729-8R

University of California, Los Angeles

Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Cole GM. 2001

Inflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients is characterized by increased cytokines and activated microglia…Low and high doses of curcumin significantly lowered oxidized proteins and interleukin-1beta, a proinflammatory cytokine elevated in the brains of these mice. With low-dose but not high-dose curcumin treatment, the astrocytic marker GFAP was reduced, and insoluble beta-amyloid (Abeta), soluble Abeta, and plaque burden were significantly decreased by 43-50%. In view of its efficacy and apparent low toxicity, this Indian spice component shows promise for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. PMID: 11606625-6R

Division of Urology, Shoskes DA. 2000

The combination of mycophenolic acid with curcumin… reduces renal injury and facilitates repair. PMID: 10688038-2R

University of California San Diego

Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Chauhan DP. 2001

These data suggest that a non-toxic concentration of curcumin has a significant effect on the in vitro growth of HT-29 cells, specifically inhibits COX-2 expression, and may have value as a safe chemopreventive agent for colon cancer. PMID: 11566484-3R

University of Florida

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wo O. 2007

As the active component of curcuma longa, curcumin possesses many therapeutic properties; we have previously described its antidepressant activity in our earlier studies using the chronic unpredictable stress model of depression in rats… Moreover, curcumin treatment… may reverse or protect hippocampal neurons from further damage in response to chronic stress, which may underlie the therapeutic actions of curcumin. PMID: 17617388-7R

Division of Nephrology, Hypertension and Transplantation, Department of Medicine, Nick HS. 2001

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)… occurs as an adaptive and protective response to several inflammatory stimuli…Curcumin has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and renoprotective effects. PMID: 11592943-4R

University of Illinois at Chicago

The Program for Collaborative Research in Pharmaceutical Science and the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Kim JY. 2001

…a novel curcuminoid isolated from turmeric (Curcuma longa, Zingiberaceae) that has been demonstrated to protect neuronal cells from beta-amyloid insult…PMID: 11549465-2R

Kim JK. 2001

beta-Amyloid (betaA) induced oxidative stress is a well-established pathway of neuronal cell death in Alzheimer's disease. From turmeric, Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae), three curcuminoids,… were found to protect…cells from betaA(1-42) insult…These compounds were better antioxidants than alpha-tocopherol…alpha-Tocopherol did not protect the cells from betaA(1-42) insult…PMID: 11297823-3R

University of Michigan Medical School

Department of Internal Medicine, Ruffin M. 2006

The tolerance of curcumin in high single oral doses appears to be excellent. PMID: 16545122-10R

Rangarajan PN. 2005

Here we show that curcumin,… inhibits chloroquine-resistant (chloroquine is one of the medications used in the treatment and prevention of malaria) Plasmodium falciparum (the parasite that causes malaria) growth in culture in a dose dependent manner…Additionally, oral administration of curcumin to mice infected with malaria parasite (Plasmodium berghei) reduces blood parasitemia by 80-90% and enhances their survival significantly. Thus, curcumin may represent a novel treatment for malarial infection. PMID: 15582601-5R

University of Missouri-Kansas City

Hormone Research Laboratory,School of Dentistry and Medicine, Virji AS. 2000

…it is concluded that curcumin is considerably more potent than genistein and quercetin, but cisplatin is five fold more potent than curcumin in inhibition of growth and DNA synthesis...The data presented in this study demonstrate that curcumin compares favorably with cisplatin in its inhibitory effect on both cell growth and DNA synthesis in human oral squamous ccarcinoma cell line. PMID: 10928101-2R

University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences

Department of Medicine, Tomita M. 2005

Curcumin also inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced transcription of (a protein that plays a pivotal role in the induction and perpetuation of inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS))... However (this process)…was not inhibited by another anti-oxidant, epigallocatechin gallate…Our results…offer further support for its (curcumin’s) potential use in the treatment of inflammatory conditions of the CNS. PMID: 15733321-4R

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Department of Pathology, Zarnegar R. 2000

(Confirmed that curcumin is an inhibitor of Ap-1, a protein which can play a pathophysiological role in the proliferation of cancer cells and inflammation). PMID: 10713700-3R

University of Texas at Arlington

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ansari GA. 2000

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a yellow pigment of turmeric with antioxidant properties has been shown to be a cancer preventative in animal studies (conducting glutathione research). PMID: 10996298-8R

University of Texas Health Center at Tyler

Department of Molecular Biology, Rao LV. 2000

…we investigated the effect of curcumin, a natural plant phenolic compound known to exhibit anticarcinogenic, antioxidant, and antiinflammatory properties, on Egr-1 expression (regulates a number of pathophysiologically relevant genes)… the data show that curcumin suppresses the induction of transcription factor Egr-1. PMID: 10674404-2R

University of Texas Medical Branch

Department of Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics, Awashi YC. 2000

…a diet supplemented with only 0.005% (w/w) curcumin had significantly less opacification of lenses…PMID: 10814889-6R

University of Toledo

College of Art and Sciences, Jankun J. 2001

Understanding how curcumin inhibits lipoxygenase may help in the development of novel anti-cancer drugs used for treatment where lipoxygenases are involved. PMID: 11029517-4R

Wayne State University School of Medicine

Department of Medicine, Majumdar AP. 2001

Curcumin…appears to exert its anticarcinogenic properties by inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis in certain gastric and colon cancer cells. PMID: 11396178-3R