Herbal Turmeric Protects the Bone Cells Integrity Against Osteoporosis

By Kyle J. Norton

Osteoporosis is a medical condition characterized by the loss of bone density.

In other words, the bone disease is a result of overexpression of bone loss due to bone resorption compared to bone made by the body, leading to risk bone fracture and breaking.

In a severe case, bones of patients with osteoporosis may become so weak, they can break from a fall or even from sneezing or minor bumps.

Microscopy, healthy bone processed a high density (fewer spaces and small holes in the honeycomb) compared to low density ( large spaces and holes in a honeycomb) in the patients with osteoporosis.

In the US, due to the widespread osteoporosis in the elderly, the disease has become a concern of the scientist community. Believe it or not, according to the statistics, osteoporosis is responsible for two million broken bones and $19 billion in related costs every year. 

As the condition continues to worsen, by 2025, osteoporosis will be responsible for approximately three million fractures and $25.3 billion in costs annually.

According to the statistics, in Canada, osteoporosis affects approximately 1.4 million Canadians, mainly in the postmenopausal women and the elderly. 

Additionally, 1 in 4 women and more than 1 in 8 men over the age of 50 years, with 1 in 4 men and women are having evidence of a vertebral fracture.

Out of many risk factors associated with the onset of osteoporosis, some researchers suggested that the disease may be correlated to the promotion of Western diet over the past few decades. 

Dr. Seon-Joo Park, the lead scientist wrote, "(In the comparison of ) "Three major dietary patterns,... using factor analysis based on baseline intake data: traditional (high intake of rice, kimchi, and vegetables), dairy (high intake of milk, dairy products, and green tea), and western (high intake of sugar, fat, and bread).".

And, "..., western dietary pattern (p-trend = 0.043 in radius) demonstrated a higher risk of osteoporosis incidence than those in the lowest quintile".

Turmeric is a perennial plant in the genus Curcuma, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to tropical South Asia.

The herb has been used in traditional medicine as anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, colorant, antiseptic, wound healing agent, and to treat flatulence, bloating, and appetite loss, ulcers, eczema, inflammations, etc.

On finding a natural compound for the treatment of osteoporosis, researchers evaluated the efficacy, in term of changes in bone density, and safety of an oral formulation based on turmeric phytosome (Meriva®), in subjects suffering from low bone density.

The study included a total of 57 otherwise healthy subjects with low bone density who freely decided to follow either standard management (SM) to control low bone density (control group=28) or SM associated with a curcumin-based oral supplementation (supplement group=29).

Meriva®-supplemented group remarkably improved in the bone density of the heel measured by the Sahara densitometer accompanied by a significant decrease of ultrasounds transmission values at week 12 (-18.4%) and at week 24 (-21.0%), compared with baseline.

Furthermore, Meriva®-supplemented group also improved the bone densities of small finger and upper jaw with no adverse effects.

Based on the results researchers said, "This preliminary study suggests that a curcumin-based supplementation in combination with an appropriate lifestyle could be beneficial in the prevention and management of osteopenia".

In order to know more information about turmeric anti-osteoporosis activity, researchers examined the effects of curcumin on oxidative stress-induced osteoblast apoptosis. 

The study included an osteoblastic cell line (Saos-2) exposed to various concentrations of H2O2 with or without curcumin treatment.

Injection of curcumin protected the viability of Saos-2 cells against the exposure to H2O2 and attenuated H2O2-induced apoptosis.

Furthermore, curcumin also improved the cellular function by preserving the mitochondrial redox potential, decreasing the mitochondrial oxidative status, through its antioxidants activity.

Moreover, curcumin treatment markedly increased levels of phosphorylated protein kinase B (Akt) and phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) that have been found to induced bone loss in low levels.

Taken altogether, turmeric processed a high amount of bioactive compound curcumin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of curcumin in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Effects of a curcumin-based supplementation in asymptomatic subjects with low bone density: a preliminary 24-week supplement study by Riva A1, Togni S, Giacomelli L, Franceschi F, Eggenhoffner R, Feragalli B, Belcaro G, Cacchio M, Shu H, Dugall M. (PubMed)
(2) Attenuation of Oxidative Stress-Induced Osteoblast Apoptosis by Curcumin is Associated with Preservation of Mitochondrial Functions and Increased Akt-GSK3β Signaling by Dai P, Mao Y, Sun X, Li X, Muhammad I, Gu W, Zhang D, Zhou Y, Ni Z, Ma J, Huang S. (PubMed)
(3) Dietary Patterns and Osteoporosis Risk in Postmenopausal Korean Women by Seon-Joo Park, Seong-Eun Joo, Haesook Min, Jae Kyung Park, Yeonjung Kim, Sung Soo Kim, and Younjhin Ahn. (PMC)