Curcumin-piperine co-supplementation significantly reduces weakness in COVID-19 patients
Iran: Curcumin-piperine supplementation given to outpatients with COVID-19 could significantly reduce weakness, a recent study in the BMC journal Trials has claimed. However, it did not affect the other indices, including clinical and biochemical indices.
COVID-19 pandemic gas become a major global problem and poses a significant burden on economic, health, and social status. To date, there are no approved and effective medications for this disease. Curcumin is an anti-inflammatory agent and so can have a positive effect on the control of COVID-19 complications.
Against the above background, Mohammad Bagherniya, Anesthesia and Critical Care Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, and colleagues conducted the study with the objective to assess the efficacy of curcumin-piperine supplementation on clinical symptoms, duration, severity, and inflammatory factors in patients with COVID-19.
For this purpose, the researchers included forty-six outpatients with COVID-19 disease. They were randomly allocated to receive two capsules of curcumin-piperine; each capsule contained 500 mg curcumin plus 5 mg piperine or a placebo for 14 days.
Salient findings of the study include:
· Mean changes in complete blood count, liver enzymes, blood glucose levels, lipid parameters, kidney function, and c-reactive protein (CRP) were not significantly different between the two groups.
· There was a significant improvement in health status, including dry cough, sputum cough, ague, sore throat, weakness, muscular pain, headache, and dyspnea at week 2 in both curcumin-piperine and placebo groups; however, the improvement in weakness was more in the curcumin-piperine group than with placebo group.
"In outpatients with COVID-19, curcumin-piperine co-supplementation can significantly reduce weakness," wrote the authors. "However, in this study, it did not significantly affect the other indices, including biochemical and clinical indices."
"In the future, more clinical trials with larger sample size and higher dose and duration will be required to ascertain curcumin use as an adjunct therapy in COVID-19 patients," they concluded.
Reference:
Askari, G., Sahebkar, A., Soleimani, D. et al. The efficacy of curcumin-piperine co-supplementation on clinical symptoms, duration, severity, and inflammatory factors in COVID-19 outpatients: a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Trials 23, 472 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-022-06375-w
