AEGiS-GMHC: Curcumin Trial Finds No Activity

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Curcumin Trial Finds No Activity

GMHC Treatment Issues, Vol. 10, No. 2; February 1996
Dave Gilden and Theo Smart

Curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric and popular herbal medicine, has no anti-HIV activity in people according to a study presented by the Community Research Initiative of New England (CRINE) at the Retrovirus Conference (abstract 140). The report stands in contrast to an earlier, smaller study by the Search Alliance (now the AIDS ReSearch Alliance) of Los Angeles which observed a reduction in viral load. Interest in curcumin increased when Search Alliance announced that 2,500 mg per day of curcumin produced a "modest" reduction in viral load over twenty weeks.

Researchers at CRINE attempted to reproduce these results by enrolling 40 people in an eight-week trial. Two doses were used, 2,700 mg/day and 4,800 mg/day, and enrollees were allowed to take concurrent antiviral drugs.

The results were nil for both doses. Viral load (an average of 61,000 copies/ml at baseline) did not change significantly over the eight weeks, nor did CD4 count (baseline average of 236).

It is not clear why the two community-based research organizations came to such different conclusions. Ten of the eighteen Search volunteers received flu shots during the trial, which probably distorted the viral load data. The accuracy of the Search trial's viral load testing also has been questioned. (See AIDS Treatment News, May 6, 1994, pages 1-7.)

The reason for curcumin's lack of activity may be that it is very poorly absorbed by the digestive tract, according to animal studies. Levels of curcumin in the blood were not measured in either study. CRINE plans to do this shortly.

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