An Ancient Anti-Inflammatory

Turmeric

Turmeric is a rhizome (or underground stem) of the perennial herb Curcuma Domestica. It’s instantly recognisable, thanks to its vibrant yellow colour. It’s used as a spice in cooking and is known for its amazing anti-inflammatory benefits.

What Turmeric can do for you?

Turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory that helps ease aches and supports joint and digestive health.

  • Sooths joint and muscle discomfort
  • Reduces redness and swelling
  • Helps protect the gut
  • Aids digestion
  • Aids sports performance and recovery

The Science

Turmeric is a traditional Ayurvedic spice whose principal active compound, curcumin, exerts strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. It modulates inflammatory pathways such as NF-kB and COX-2, offering relief from joint discomfort, muscular pain, and chronic inflammatory conditions. Turmeric also supports liver detoxification, brain health, and gut integrity. Due to its low natural bioavailability, turmeric is often paired with black pepper (piperine) to enhance absorption. Its versatility as an anti-inflammatory and metabolic tonic makes it a cornerstone of natural health strategies for inflammation-driven conditions

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The Studies

"At The Naked Pharmacy, we ensure that all of our supplements are made with effective strength bioactives, so they are clinically proven to work.

We aim for each supplement to be scientifically supported by multiple randomised placebo-controlled studies. All clinical trial studies we use to support our supplements are undertaken on human patients, using the same dosage and formulation of the product. The scientific studies are published in peer review journals."

The scientific studies to support our claims on turmeric are published in the following peer review journals:

Study: A randomized, pilot study to assess the efficacy and safety of curcumin in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis by Chandran B et al, 2012— RCT Randomised placebo controlled, 45 Human participants.

What the study looked at:

Curcumin, a natural compound known for reducing inflammation, was tested for its safety and effectiveness in people with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The study also looked at how it works alone and combined with a common arthritis drug called diclofenac.

What they did:

45 RA patients were divided into three groups: one took curcumin (500 mg), another took diclofenac sodium (50 mg), and the third took both. Researchers measured how much their arthritis symptoms improved using standard scores for joint swelling and tenderness.

What they found:

All groups showed improvement, but the group taking curcumin alone had the biggest and best improvement in arthritis symptoms. Curcumin was also safe and didn’t cause any side effects.

What it means:

Curcumin appears to be a safe and effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, possibly even better than diclofenac alone. More research with larger groups is needed to confirm these promising results.

 

Study: Efficacy and safety of Curcuma domestica extracts in patients with knee osteoarthritis by Kuptniratsaikul V et al, 2009— RCT Randomised placebo controlled,— 107 Human participants— P value: 0.016.

What the study was about:

The study tested whether extracts from Curcuma domestica (a type of turmeric) can safely reduce pain and improve knee function in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA), compared to ibuprofen.

How they did it:

107 patients with knee OA and significant pain were randomly assigned to take either Curcuma domestica extract (2 grams per day) or ibuprofen (800 mg per day) for 6 weeks. Researchers measured pain while walking and climbing stairs, knee function during a 100-meter walk and stair climbing, and tracked any side effects.

What they found:

Both groups showed significant improvement in pain and function over the 6 weeks. The results were very similar between the turmeric extract and ibuprofen groups, except that turmeric showed a bit better improvement for pain on stairs. Side effects were similar and not significantly different between groups.

What it means:

Curcuma domestica extract appears to be as effective and safe as ibuprofen for treating pain and improving function in knee osteoarthritis.


Study: Safety and anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin: a component of tumeric (Curcuma longa) by Chainani-Wu N, 2003.

What the review was about:

This review looked at research on curcumin, the active compound in turmeric, focusing on how safe it is and how well it fights inflammation.

How the review was done:

Researchers searched medical databases, herbal medicine books, and online sources to find studies on curcumin’s safety and anti-inflammatory effects.

What they found:

Many studies—lab, animal, and human—show that curcumin has antioxidant, antiviral, antifungal, and especially anti-inflammatory properties. Importantly, human trials with doses up to 8,000 mg daily for 3 months found no harmful side effects. Other trials using lower doses also confirmed it is safe. Curcumin works by blocking many molecules that cause inflammation in the body.

What it means:

Curcumin is safe to use and helps reduce inflammation by targeting several key players involved in the inflammatory process.

Glossary of terms:

There are a few key terms to be aware of when reviewing these studies:

Randomised Clinical Trial

A clinical trial in which the participants are assigned randomly (by chance alone) to different treatments.

Double-blind study

A study in which neither the participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment. This procedure is utilised to prevent bias in research results.

Double-blind studies are particularly useful for preventing bias due to demand characteristics or the placebo effect.

P-value

The probability of obtaining the observed results of a test. The lower the p-value is, the more confident we can be of a true result. For example, a p- value of 0.001 confirms a result as 99.9% accurate.

Placebo

An inactive treatment used in a clinical trial, sometimes referred to as a “sugar pill”.

A placebo-controlled trial compares a new treatment with a placebo, in order to give greater confidence that the result is only due to the test/active ingredient.