Article: Curcumin Treats Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

[Elisa]

Hi All,

Thought I'd post this - it's interesting...


Curcumin Treats Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Reduced Inflammatory Cytokines, Oxidative Stress in Mouse CFS Model

Art Ayers

Jan 26, 2009

Curcumin, found in the spice turmeric, is a potent anti-inflammatory agent that reduces physical exhaustion in mice with experimental CFS.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a variable disorder, often with severe mental and physical exhaustion, and frequently associated with muscle and joint pain. The cause of the syndrome is not understood, but CFS is often preceded by some type of infection or assault on the immune system. Treatment with various forms of psychological therapy, graded exercise, pain killers, diet, etc. have produced variable results.

CFS Shows Inflammatory Cytokines and Oxidative Stress
Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized as an inflammatory disease, partly because its central symptom, physical fatigue, is associated with inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress. TNF is one of the three common inflammatory hormones produced by cells of the immune system, and its original name, cachexin, reflects its role in the wasting symptoms, cachexia, and exhaustion of terminal illness or abuse of methamphetamines. Increased levels of TNF are also typical for CFS and partially explain some of the symptoms of the disease.

Animal Models of CFS Used to Search for Therapeutic Drugs
Treatments that provide chronic elevation of TNF are used as mouse models of CFS. Some bacteria and bacterial components, such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from bacterial cell walls, can reliably elevate TNF in mice. Treated mice also exhibit reduced stamina in swimming tests, and thus show the mouse equivalent of fatigue. These mice also show a heightened sensitivity to pain.

Another symptom of CFS, oxidation stress, results in several types of molecular damage. For example, membrane lipids are oxidized by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidation products can be measured. Nitric oxide is another typical product of inflammation and it can be detected by measuring its breakdown product, nitrate. Glutathione is the primary cellular protection against ROS, and therefore glutathione is typically monitored to detect oxidative stress. Mice treated with LPS display inflammatory responses by all of these measures of oxidation stress.

A New Study Shows Immunologically-Induced Fatigue Is Treated with Curcumin

Turmeric is a common spice and a traditional herbal treatment for many inflammatory diseases. The major active component of turmeric is curcumin. Curcumin has recently been recognized as one of the most potent anti-inflammatory molecules, because it is both an anti-oxidant that neutralizes ROS and a blocker of the central inflammatory transcription factor, NFkB, that controls the expression of all of the inflammatory genes. It seemed obvious to determine if curcumin could be used to treat CFS and the first step was testing in the mouse CFS model system.

A recent report in the biomedical research journal Immunobiology (January, 2009) showed that curcumin was a powerful treatment in the mouse CFS model. Mice treated with LPS and subsequently administered curcumin displayed renewed stamina. Relief from fatigue was also shown in the cellular and physiological measurements. Curcumin reduced oxidative stress and normalized many of the parameters measured. These results were very encouraging for similar trials in humans and provide promise for a natural CFS treatment.

Reference:
Gupta A, Vij G, Sharma S, Tirkey N, Rishi P, Chopra K. 2009. Curcumin, a polyphenolic antioxidant, attenuates chronic fatigue syndrome in murine water immersion stress model. Immunobiology.;214(1):33-9



Read more: http://chronic-fatigue-syndrome.suite101.com/article.cfm/curcumin_treats_chronic_fatigue_syndrome#ixzz0J2KSuXTV&C

 

[bigmama2]

i will have to try this sometime!!!! i do have chronic systemic inflammation in my body as per various blood tests.

have you tried it? has anyone tried it? what happened? good, bad, nothing, side effects? please tell us. thanks.

it sounds like its wortha try!

bigmama2

 

[greatgran]

Thanks, for the info but how much and how do you use it , do you use the regular spice you buy ... Will try to find more info sounds good won't hurt to try..


gg

 

[frickly]

I have also heard this. For an added bonus someone told me that if you sprinkle it in your pantry, it keeps those pesky little bugs away.

 

[Aberlaine]

I was visiting my daughter a few weeks ago and she took me to her chiropractor for a few adjustments. He suggested I start taking turmeric and bromelain as an anti-inflammatory. I went to a health food store and bought a bottle of the turmeric and bromelain in one pill. The chiropractor wanted me to take 400 mg three times a day for pain. The company that made the pills I was taking was natural Factors. I was told to take the pills on an empty stomach or the bromelain would simply help digest the food.

While I was visiting, I stopped taking my ibuprofen and started the t&b. It helped a tiny bit with the pain. But I stopped taking it when I got home.

Maybe I'll start again tomorrow.

 

[quanked]

Clear Amyloid Plaques

Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet; Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 16 Jul 2009 - 5:00 PDT

UCLA scientists and colleagues from UC Riverside and the Human BioMolecular Research Institute have found that a form of vitamin D, together with a chemical found in turmeric spice called curcumin, may help stimulate the immune system to clear the brain of amyloid beta, which forms the plaques considered the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

The early research findings, which appear in the July issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, may lead to new approaches in preventing and treating Alzheimer's by utilizing the property of vitamin D3 - a form of vitamin D - both alone and together with natural or synthetic curcumin to boost the immune system in protecting the brain against amyloid beta.
Vitamin D3 is an essential nutrient for bone and immune system health; its main source is sunshine, and it is synthesized through the skin. Deficiencies may occur during winter months or in those who spend a lot of time indoors, such as Alzheimer's patients.

"We hope that vitamin D3 and curcumin, both naturally occurring nutrients, may offer new preventive and treatment possibilities for Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Milan Fiala, study author and a researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

Using blood samples from nine Alzheimer's patients, one patient with mild cognitive impairment and three healthy control subjects, scientists isolated monocyte cells, which transform into macrophages that act as the immune system's clean-up crew, traveling through the brain and body and gobbling up waste products, including amyloid beta. Researchers incubated the macrophages with amyloid beta, vitamin D3 and natural or synthetic curcumin.

The synthetic curcuminoid compounds were developed in the laboratory of John Cashman at the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, a nonprofit institute dedicated to research on diseases of the human brain.Researchers found that naturally occurring curcumin was not readily absorbed, that it tended to break down quickly before it could be utilized and that its potency level was low, making it less effective than the new synthetic curcuminoids.

"We think some of the novel synthetic compounds will get around the shortcomings of curcumin and improve the therapeutic efficacy," Cashman said.

The team discovered that curcuminoids enhanced the surface binding of amyloid beta to macrophages and that vitamin D strongly stimulated the uptake and absorption of amyloid beta in macrophages in a majority of patients.

Previous research by the team demonstrated that the immune genes MGAT III and TLR-3 are associated with the immune system's ability to better ingest amyloid beta. In this earlier work, Fiala noted, it was shown that there are two types of Alzheimer's patients: Type 1 patients, who respond positively to curcuminoids, and Type II patients, who do not.

"Since vitamin D and curcumin work differently with the immune system, we may find that a combination of the two or each used alone may be more effective - depending on the individual patient," he said.

Fiala noted that this is early laboratory research and that no dosage of vitamin D or curcumin can be recommended at this point. Larger vitamin D and curcumin studies with more patients are planned.

The study was funded by the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, the Alzheimer's Association and MP Biomedicals LLC, a global life sciences and diagnostics company dedicated to Alzheimer's disease research. Fiala is a consultant for MP Biomedicals and also served in the company's speakers bureau.

Additional study authors include Ava Masoumi, Ben Goldenson, Hripsime Avagyan, Justin Zaghi, Michelle Mahanian, Martin Hewison, Araceli Espinosa-Jeffrey and Phillip T. Liu, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Senait Ghirami, Ken Abel, Xuying Zheng and John Cashman, of the Human BioMolecular Research Institute; and Mathew Mizwicki, of the department of biochemistry at UC Riverside.

Source:
Rachel Champeau
University of California - Los Angeles


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/157764.php

 

[wldhrt]

I have used curcumin in the past per instruction of Dr. DeMeirleir. He had me taking it in combination with VSL-3 and Readisorb (liquid form of l-glutathione). It did reduce my pain levels considerably, and my lab profile did change afterward in regard to lower cytokine levels. My elastase level also returned to normal, as it had been sky high prior to treatment. I'm not sure if he still considers high elastase levels to be a factor in this illness, but for that time I was on the protocol I did get relief.
I stopped taking the curcumin when I went on anti-viral treatment and have not taken it since, but would do so again; it is easy to take(capsules), relatively inexpensive, and little to no side effects.
Mark
[This Message was Edited on 11/25/2009]