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Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) issued a medical advisory warning Australians of the risk of liver injury from using medicines and herbal supplements containing turmeric or its active ingredient, curcumin.

Facts About:

Health benefits of turmeric: 

• The risk of liver injury did not appear to relate to curcuma longa consumed in typical dietary amounts as a food. 
• As a staple ingredient in South and South East Asian cuisine, turmeric is also used in Ayurvedic and Chinese-medicine concoctions. 
• Several studies report it to have anti-oxidant properties that can help with inflammation. 
  • These include arthritis and infections. 
• A research have reported that curcumin used along with the drug Artemisininwas effective in treating malaria when tested on mice. 
• There have also been studies investigating the drug as an adjuvant in chemotherapy based on results in mice and animal studies. 
• However, their effect in human trials have been inconclusive.

Adverse effects of turmeric: 

• The French Agency for Food reported various adverse effects, including reports of hepatitis, potentially related to the consumption of food supplements containing turmeric or curcumin. 
• The ANSES report underlines that turmeric has “choleretic” properties, which means it stimulates the secretion of bile to improve digestion, and therefore, it is advisable that those with bile duct disease should avoidturmeric. 
• Curcumin could also interact with medications such as anticoagulants, cancer drugs and immunosuppressants, reducing their safety and effectiveness.

Why is curcumin being used in supplements?

• One of the challenges of turmeric and by extension curcumin is that very little of it is absorbed, or made ‘bioavailable’, by the body. 
• To improve its bioavailability, a popular approach is to use piperine, the major active component of black pepper, which improves bioavailability by 2000. 
• However, whether increasing the bioavailability of curcumin and packaging them in supplements makes them effective and safe for use in medicines is still being debated with no conclusive evidence emerging from trials.

Safe limit on consumption of turmeric: 

• The European Food Safety Authority has set an acceptable daily intake of 180 mg of curcumin per day for a 60 kg adult as the safe level of consumption. 
• A World Health Organization/Food and Agricultural Organisationadvisoryrecommends 3 mg/kg of body weight. 
• India’s Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has standards that packaged turmeric must comply with but nothing on the recommended dietary allowance.
• Statistically, on an average about 200 to 500mgs is consumed on a daily basis in Indian households.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/explained-are-turmeric-supplements-advisable/article67214093.ece