Qin S, et al. - This study appraised turmeric and curcumin with respect to efficacy and safety in lowering blood lipids in patients at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), via a meta-analysis. Findings indicated that by improving serum lipid levels, turmeric and curcumin may protect patients at risk of CVD and, furthermore, curcumin may be used as a well-tolerated dietary adjunct to conventional drugs.

Methods

• Researchers performed a comprehensive literature search on PubMed, Embase, Ovid, Medline and Cochrane Library databases to identify randomized controlled trials (published as of November 2016) that evaluated the impact of turmeric and curcumin on blood lipid levels including total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TG).
• The effect was assessed using pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results

• A total of 7 eligible studies (649 patients) were included in the analysis.
• Researchers found that, compared to the control group, turmeric and curcumin significantly reduced serum LDL-C (SMD = -0.340, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.530 to -0.150, P < 0.0001) and TG (SMD = -0.214, 95% CI: -0.369 to -0.059, P = 0.007) levels.
• Data also suggested that these may be effective in lowering serum TC levels in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS, SMD = -0.934, 95% CI: -1.289 to -0.579,P < 0.0001), and turmeric extract could possibly have a greater effect on reducing serum TC levels (SMD = -0.584, 95% CI: -0.980 to -0.188, P = 0.004); however, the efficacy is yet to be confirmed.
• It was also noted that serum HDL-C levels were not improved.
• In addition, as per observations, turmeric and curcumin appeared safe, and no serious adverse events were reported in any of the included studies.