Turmeric, the Kitchen Spice Which Protects Liver Against Toxicity

By Kyle J. Norton

Liver toxicity or hepatotoxicity is a condition that the liver is damaged by chemical substances, including drug-induced liver injury is a cause of acute and chronic liver disease.

The liver is the largest internal organ not only processes the function in filtering the blood coming from the intestine before passing them to other parts of the body but also secretes bile that aids the function of digestive system in digest food, build strong cell membranes, production of vitamin D and steroid hormones.

Symptoms of liver toxicity may include stomach pain, upset stomach, persistent tiredness, dark-colored urine but light-colored bowel movements, particularly in the expression of jaundice found in the skin and eyes.

Other researchers suggested that psychological symptoms such as stress, anxiety and depression are also found in patients with liver toxicity.

Most common causes of liver toxicity are associated with drugs. 

According to critical analysis of the hepatotoxicity of drugs in LiverTox, 53% of drugs had at least one case report of convincing reports of liver injury and 48 drugs had more than 50 case reports.

Believe it or not,  amoxicillin-clavulanate has been found to induce liver toxicity in approximately one out of 2300 users. 

However, according to the study published by the Journal of Phytopharmacology,  live toxicity can also be caused by interruption of the liver function in metabolizing substances.

Dr. Meagan Thompson, the lead scientist wrote, " The human liver metabolizes substances via oxidation, reduction, hydration, hydrolysis, condensation, conjugation, or isomerization. Interruption of these processes can lead to hepatotoxicity, causing liver cancer, cirrhosis, and Hepatitis C, respectively".

And "Such diseases are responsible for higher mortality rates worldwide. The present review focuses on highlighting various plants that are hepatoprotective, hepatotoxic and the challenges faced by phytopharmaceuticals".

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 liver toxicity scientists evaluated the therapeutic potential of Curcuma longa (200mgkg-1, po) and curcumin (80mgkg-1, po) for their hepatoprotective efficacy against mercuric chloride (HgCl2: 12μmolkg-1, ip; once only) hepatotoxicity.

According to the results from the testes assays, therapy of Curcuma longa or curcumin restored the HgCl2 administration that alters various biochemical parameters, including transaminases, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, bilirubin, gamma-glutamyl transferase, triglycerides, and cholesterol contents.

Furthermore, therapy of Curcuma longa extract or curcumin also inhibited a concomitant decline in the serum of protein and albumin concentration an indication of liver injury.

The findings suggested that Curcuma longa extract or curcumin processed the ability to alleviate the hepatotoxic effects caused by HgCl2 in rats.

In order to reveal more information about turmeric detoxed activity, researchers examined the protective effect of turmeric extract against doxorubicin (DOX)-induced liver toxicity in rats. 

According to the tested assays, turmeric extract exerted multiple therapeutic activities that ameliorative effect against DOX-induced the increased serum levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, nitric oxide, albumin in liver tissue

According to the Biochemical and histopathological findings, turmeric extract has multiple therapeutic activities by ameliorating the effect against DOX-induced hepatotoxicity.

Dr. Mohamad RH, the lead scientist said, "The present findings conclude that the turmeric extract has multiple therapeutic activities that block the hepatic....toxicities".

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

Intake of turmeric 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) Curcuma longa Linn. extract and curcumin protect CYP 2E1 enzymatic activity against mercuric chloride-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress: A protective approach by Joshi D1, Mittal DK2, Shukla S2, Srivastav SK3, Dixit VA. (PubMed)

(2)The role of Curcuma longa against doxorubicin (adriamycin)-induced toxicity in rats by Mohamad RH1, El-Bastawesy AM, Zekry ZK, Al-Mehdar HA, Al-Said MG, Aly SS, Sharawy SM, El-Merzabani MM. (PubMed)
(3) Hepatotoxicity by Drugs: The Most Common Implicated Agents by Einar S. Björnsson. (PMC)
(4) Hepatotoxicity: Treatment, causes and applications of medicinal plants as therapeutic agents by Meagan Thompson, Yogini Jaiswal, Ilya Wang, Leonard Williams( the Journal of Phytopharmacology)