Curcumin for Skin Diseases
Curcumin, which is used as a coloring, flavoring agent and has been traditionally used in medicine and cuisine in India, may help treat skin diseases, a new study suggests.
Researchers from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, explained that in recent years, considerable interest has been focused on curcumin a compound isolated from turmeric.
The varied biological properties of curcumin and lack of toxicity even when administered at higher doses makes it attractive to explore its use in various disorders like tumors of skin, colon, duodenum, pancreas, breast and other skin diseases.
The researchers reviewed the data on the use of curcumin for the chemoprevention and treatment of various skin diseases like scleroderma, psoriasis and skin cancer. They explained that curcumin protects the skin by quenching free radicals and reducing inflammation through nuclear factor-KB inhibition.
They observed that curcumin treatment also reduced wound-healing time, improved collagen deposition and increased fibroblast and vascular density in wounds thereby enhancing both normal and impaired wound-healing.
The review noted that curcumin has also been shown to have beneficial effect as a proangiogenic agent in wound-healing by inducing transforming growth factor-beta, which induces both angiogenesis and accumulation of extracellular matrix, which continues through the remodeling phase of wound repair.
The authors concluded that curcumin may have beneficial effects as a potent nontoxic agent for treating skin diseases.
References
1.Thangapazham RL, Sharma A, Maheshwari RK. Beneficial role of curcumin in skin diseases. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2007;595:343-57. View Abstract.
2.Natural Standard Research Collaboration: The Authority on Integrative Medicine. www.naturalstandard.com. Copyright © 2008
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