Research Continues to Firmly Establish Curcumin as a Treatment for Osteoarthritis

Over time, wear and tear on your knees can lead to loss of cartilage and degeneration of the joint. And that can lead to pain. Since conventional treatments have long-term safety concerns and can actually make the disease worse, growing attention is being paid to natural treatments. One of “the most potent and effective” natural supplements is curcumin. This new study adds to the growing body of evidence for curcumin as a helpful treatment for osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is very common, and knee osteoarthritis is the most common form of the disease. Curcumin, the active ingredient in the herb turmeric, has been shown to help.

In this new double-blind study, 139 people with osteoarthritis in their knees were given either a placebo or a low dose of 250mg of turmeric extract standardized for 60% curcuminoids for 90 days.

The main endpoint was self-assessed pain. The turmeric supplement was significantly better at reducing pain as early as day 7. By the end of the study, pain reduction was significantly greater in the turmeric group than in the placebo group: 14.41 points on a visual analogue scale versus 6.02 points. At day 90, pain was 25.05% better in the turmeric group compared to 10.57% in the placebo group.

Several domains of osteoarthritis were then measured on the knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS). An improvement in KOOS scores of at least 8-10 points is considered clinically important. In this study, every domain of the KOOS score achieved that level. KOOS scores were significantly improved versus placebo for all domains, including pain, symptoms, activities of daily living, function, and knee related quality of life. Pain scores improved by 42.98% compared to only10.99% on placebo.

Several markers of inflammation also improved significantly more on the turmeric.

The turmeric did all of its work safely.

This study adds to the evidence that curcumin safely reduces pain and improves function and quality of life in people with osteoarthritis.

J Pain Res. 2025;18:411-427.

 

Garlic Reduces the Risk of Gastrointestinal Cancers

Gastric cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world and fourth most common cause of cancer death. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the world and the second leading cause of cancer death. That’s a lot, so any help is important. Help could come from garlic.

This systematic review and meta-analysis included 20 studies of garlic intake and colorectal cancer. 11 of the studies were on gastric cancer, and 9 were on colorectal cancer.

This study suggests that one way to reduce your risk of gastrointestinal cancers is to increase your intake of garlic.

Oncol Lett. April 2022;23(4):125.

 

A Natural Supplement for Female Athletes

Want a safe, natural supplement that can improve recovery safely in female athletes? Check out this herb.

Recovery is crucial for athletes and people who work out or train: it helps you to train, to maintain high performance and to prevent injuries.

Ashwagandha is a great herb for working out, but research on female athletes is limited. This double-blind, placebo-controlled study is the very first study to look at the effect of ashwagandha on total quality recovery in female athletes.

Thirty professional female soccer players were given either a placebo or 600mg a day of ashwagandha root extract for 28 days.

Compared to placebo, the athletes on ashwagandha had significantly better total quality recovery. They also had significantly better sleep. Athletes commonly have worse sleep than nonathletes, and female athletes have worse sleep than male athletes. Sleep is an important component of recovery because it improves muscle repair and athletic performance, and it may reduce the risk of injury.

The ashwagandha was safe: there were no adverse effects.

This study suggests for the first time that ashwagandha can safely and significantly improve recovery in female athletes.

European Journal of Sport Science. February 2025;25(3):e12265.