Turmeric Essential Oils for the Treatment of Colitis

Written by Angeline A. De Leon, Staff Writer. In a mouse model of ulcerative colitis, a combination of turmeric essential oils and curcumin significantly decreased disease severity compared to controls.

In the field of complementary medicine, curcumin, the most active constituent in turmeric, has a well-established history of therapeutic use, with applications ranging from arthritis and depression to anorexia and chronic inflammatory diseases ¹. Newer research also shows that like turmeric, essential turmeric oils (ETO), comprised of aromatic-turmerones (ketones with anti-cancer effects), also possess critical anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties ², with the added benefit of enhanced bioavailability in the body ³. In fact, curcumin complexed with essential turmeric oils (ETO-curcumin) has been shown to be up to ten times more absorbable, compared to standard curcumin ⁴. ETO-curcumin also demonstrates powerful anti-tumor properties in cancer studies ⁵. Recent evidence indicates that curcumin may be helpful in managing inflammatory disorders such as ulcerative colitis (UC, an inflammatory bowel disease affecting the digestive tract) ⁶, by attenuating inflammatory burden. However, its exact mechanism of action is still under study. In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers at Baylor University conducted a comparative trial looking at the anti-inflammatory effects of ETO-curcumin vs. standard curcumin in animal models of dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis (DSS).

A total of 15 male mice (five weeks old) were induced with chronic colitis by administration of DSS dissolved in drinking water. Severity of colitis was evaluated daily after DSS treatment using disease activity index (DAI, measuring changes in body weight, stool consistency, and fecal blood). Mice belonging to the treatment arm were administered either ETO-curcumin (n = 10) or standard curcumin (n = 10) at a dose range of 5, 25, and 50 mg/kg daily for seven days. A smaller group of five mice were allocated to untreated control.

At a treatment dose of 25 mg/kg body weight, both ETO-curcumin and standard curcumin groups resulted in decreased severity of colitis, compared to control, based on DAI scores on Day 6 (p < 0.001, p < 0.01, respectively). Both treatment groups also showed lower histological scores, relative to control (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, respectively). At a treatment dose of 50 mg/kg body weight, ETO-curcumin was associated with significantly lower DAI at Day 7, compared to both control and standard curcumin (p < 0.001, p < 0.05, respectively). Also, although both ETO-curcumin and standard curcumin were equally effective in maintaining fecal consistency (both p < 0.05, compared to control), ETO-curcumin was superior to standard curcumin in maintaining body weight (p < 0.05). Analysis of colonic tissue samples also revealed that the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-10 and IL-11, was significantly upregulated by ETO-curcumin, compared to controls (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, respectively).

Overall findings confirm that although both standard curcumin and ETO-curcumin effectively attenuate inflammatory burden, the anti-inflammatory efficacy of ETO-curcumin is significantly greater than that of standard curcumin, particularly at higher doses. Evidence also suggests that ETO-curcumin’s protective effects against colitis are accomplished through modulation of the immune response. Further work is needed to understand the effects of ETO-curcumin in a human model of ulcerative colitis.

Source: Toden S, Theiss AL, Wang X, et al. Essential turmeric oils enhance anti-inflammatory efficacy of curcumin in dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis. Scientific Reports. 2017; 7: 814. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00812-6.

© The Author(s) 2017. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Posted January 29, 2018.

Angeline A. De Leon, MA, graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010, completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a concentration in neuroscience. She received her master’s degree from The Ohio State University in 2013, where she studied clinical neuroscience within an integrative health program. Her specialized area of research involves the complementary use of neuroimaging and neuropsychology-based methodologies to examine how lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and meditation, can influence brain plasticity and enhance overall connectivity.

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