Turmeric Promotes Liver Function Against Hepatic (Liver) Stress

By Kyle J. Norton
 

The liver is the largest internal organ which not only filters the blood from the digestive system before passing them to other parts of the body but also plays a critical role in the production cholesterol, a waxy substance which aids digestion, builds cell membranes and produces vitamin D and steroid hormones.

Hepatic stress is a condition in which the function of the liver is partly reduced. Hepatic stress can be observed by the levels of liver stress-makers.

Liver function tests (LFTs or LFs) are used to measure the levels of liver transaminases aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) in patients with liver injury, particularly, in a patient with some degree of intact liver function.

Abnormal high levels of transaminases aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) are early indications of liver damage or injury.

Oxidative stress in the liver caused by a toxic substance such as an overdose of the supplement has been found to constitute most cases of acute liver damage.

Lauren Cooper, the author in the examine the toxic effects of an overdose of green-tea extract and bodybuilding pills wrote, "many herbal remedies and dietary supplements can also harm the liver, including some that you can easily buy online or over-the-counter in drug or health food stores".

And, "Researchers looked at cases of liver damage reported to the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network, a program funded by the National Institutes of Health. Roughly 700 cases of liver damage were reported to the program during the period of the study; 130 of those cases were linked to dietary supplements".

The results strongly suggested although green tea extract is considered a functional supplement for the treatment of various diseases, overdose and abusive use of such supplement also have a negative impact on human health, particularly in the liver health.

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.

With an aim to find a potential compound for the improvement of liver functioning, researchers examined the effect of Curcuma longa L. (CLL) rhizome on hepatic dysfunction.

On acute carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver stress rats, researchers compared the activity of CLL extract administered once a day for 3 days at three dose levels (100, 200, and 300 mg/kg/day) and curcumin administered once a day at the 200 mg/kg/day.

Before treatment, CCl4 rats showed a significant induced the increased serum AST and ALT levels by 2.1- and 1.2-fold, respectively, compared with the control.

CLL- and curcumin-treated rats inhibited the levels of AST but not ALT elevation induced by CCl4.

Furthermore, according to the tested assays, the peroxidation of membrane lipids in the liver was significantly prevented by CLL (100, 200, and 300 mg/kg/day) on liver tissues.

Moreover, both CLL extract and curcumin exhibited significant protection against liver injury by improving the levels of hepatic antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione against free radicals expression in the CCl4 treated rats.

More precisely, both CLL extract and curcumin protected the liver cells against the onset of liver cellular stress through reducing the liver damage markers and inhibiting the liver oxidative stress via increased production of liver antioxidant enzymes.

Dr. Lee GH, the lead scientist said, "Our data suggested that CLL extract and curcumin protect the liver from acute CCl4-induced injury in a rodent model by suppressing hepatic oxidative stress. Therefore, CLL extract and curcumin are potential therapeutic antioxidant agents against acute hepatotoxicity".

Taken altogether, turmeric processed abundantly bioactive compound curcumin may be considered supplements for the improvement of liver functioning against liver damage, 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) Curcumin and Curcuma longa L. extract ameliorates lipid accumulation through the regulation of the endoplasmic reticulum redox and ER stress by Lee HY1, Kim SW2, Lee GH1, Choi MK1, Chung HW1, Lee YC3, Kim HR4, Kwon HJ5, Chae HJ. (PubMed)
(2) Protective effect of Curcuma longa L. extracts on CCl4-induced acute hepatic stress by Lee GH1, Lee HY1, Choi MK1, Chung HW1, Kim SW2,3, Chae HJ. (PubMed)
(3) Liver Damage From Supplements Is on the Rise. Green-tea extract and bodybuilding pills pose a particular risk, study finds By Lauren Cooper. (CR)