A new Saint Louis University study has revealed that a chemical that gives curry its zing holds promise in preventing or treating liver damage from an advanced form of a condition known as fatty liver disease.
The chemical, curcurmin, is contained in turmeric, a plant used by the Chinese to make traditional medicines for thousands of years.
The recent study has highlighted its potential in countering an increasingly common kind of fatty liver disease called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
“My laboratory studies the molecular mechanism of liver fibrosis and is searching for natural ways to prevent and treat this liver damage,” said Anping Chen of Saint Louis University.
“While research in an animal model and human clinical trials are needed, our study suggests that curcumin may be an effective therapy to treat and prevent liver fibrosis, which is associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH),” said Chen.
High levels of blood leptin, glucose and insulin are commonly found in human patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes, which might contribute to NASH-associated liver fibrosis.
Chen”s work has tested the effect of curcumin on the role of high levels of leptin in causing liver fibrosis in vitro, or in a controlled lab setting.
“Leptin plays a critical role in the development of liver fibrosis,” he said.
High levels of leptin activate hepatic stellate cells, which are the cells that cause overproduction of the collagen protein, a major feature of liver fibrosis.
The researchers found that among other activities, curcumin eliminated the effects of leptin on activating hepatic stellate cells, which short-circuited the development of liver damage.
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae.
It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20°C and 30°C, and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered annually for their rhizomes, and reseeded from some of those rhizomes in the following season.
The rhizomes are boiled for several hours and then dried in hot ovens, after which they are ground into a deep orange-yellow powder commonly used as a spice in curries and other South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine, for dyeing, and to impart color to mustard condiments. Its active ingredient is curcumin and it has a distinctly earthy, slightly bitter, slightly hot peppery flavor and a mustardy smell.
In medieval Europe, turmeric became known as Indian saffron, since it was widely used as an alternative to the far more expensive saffron spice.
Erode, a city in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the world’s largest producer and most important trading center of turmeric in Asia. For these reasons, Erode in history is also known as “Yellow City” or “Turmeric City”. Sangli, a town in the southern part of the Indian western state of Maharashtra, is the second largest and most important trading center for turmeric in Asia.