Digestive health centre

Curry ingredient appears to delay liver damage

24th March 2010 - It’s the ingredient that Indian chefs use to give chicken tikka masala its distinctive colour. Curcumin is one of the main components of the spice turmeric, which is also used to turn rice yellow in Indian cuisine.

However, it seems it might have another important role in the fight against liver damage.

Researchers in Austria and the US say curcumin seems to delay the onset of cirrhosis. They say their work builds on previous research which has indicated that it has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties which may be helpful in combating disease.

Indian medicine

Practitioners of Indian Ayurvedic medicine have traditionally used it to treat a range of gastrointestinal disorders. The researchers from Medical University, Graz in Austria and the College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, wanted to find out if curcumin could delay the damage caused by progressive inflammatory conditions of the liver.

These include primary sclerosing cholangitis and primary biliary cirrhosis, both of which cause the liver’s plumbing system of bile ducts to become inflamed, scarred, and blocked. This leads to extensive tissue damage and irreversible - and ultimately fatal - liver cirrhosis.

The conditions can be sparked by genetic faults or autoimmune disease.

Tests in mice

They analysed tissue and blood samples from mice with chronic liver inflammation before and after adding curcumin to their diet for a period of four and a period of eight weeks.

The results were compared with the equivalent samples from mice with the same condition, but not fed curcumin.

The findings showed that the curcumin diet significantly reduced bile duct blockage and curbed liver cell (hepatocyte) damage and scarring (fibrosis) by interfering with several chemical signalling pathways involved in the inflammatory process.

There were no such effects seen in the mice who had been fed a normal diet.

The results appear in the latest edition of the journal, Gut.

The authors say their investigation is at a very early stage, but believe it could offer an alternative to existing options which include a liver transplant.

No ‘curry cure’: Liver charity

This is not the first time that a spice used in curries has been shown to have hidden health benefits. Last October Irish scientists reported that curcumin destroyed oesophageal cancer cells.

The British Liver Trust has given a cautious welcome to the findings. Its Chief Executive, Alison Rogers, says “we need to see much more evidence before a 'curry cure' offers hope for people with a serious and often progressive and debilitating liver disease such as PSC [Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis].”

In an emailed statement she adds, “we do not currently recommend that anyone worried about inflammatory liver disease ... increases their curry consumption.”