Curcumin, a Compound from Natural Sources, a True Scientific Challenge - A Review

Overview

Journal Plant Foods Hum Nutr

Specialties Biology
Nutritional Sciences

Date 2016 Dec 21

PMID 27995378

Citations 62

Authors

Zorka Stanic

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Curcumin, a plant-derived polyphenolic compound, naturally present in turmeric (Curcuma longa), has been the subject of intensive investigations on account of its various activities. The implementation of safe, beneficial and highly functional compounds from natural sources in human nutrition/prevention/therapy requires some modifications in order to achieve their multi-functionality, improve their bioavailability and delivery strategies, with the main aim to enhance their effectiveness. The low aqueous solubility of curcumin, its rapid metabolism and elimination from the body, and consequently, poor bioavailability, constitute major obstacles to its application. The main objectives of this review are related to reported strategies to overcome these limitations and, thereby, improve the solubility, stability and bioavailability of curcumin. The effectiveness of curcumin could be greatly improved by using nanoparticle-based carriers. The significance of the quality of a substance delivery system is reflected in the fact that carrying curcumin as a food additive/nutrition also means carrying the active biological product/drug. This review summarizes the state of the art, and highlights some examples and the most significant advances in the field of curcumin research.

Citing Articles

Prilling as an Effective Tool for Manufacturing Submicrometric and Nanometric PLGA Particles for Controlled Drug Delivery to Wounds: Stability and Curcumin Release.

De Soricellis C, Amante C, Russo P, Aquino R, Del Gaudio P Pharmaceutics. 2025; 17(1).

PMID: 39861775 PMC: 11768656. DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics17010129.

Re-Sensitization of Resistant Ovarian Cancer SKOV3/CDDP Cells to Cisplatin by Curcumin Pre-Treatment.

Hasan A, Kalinina E, Zhdanov D, Volodina Y, Tatarskiy V Int J Mol Sci. 2025; 26(2).

PMID: 39859517 PMC: 11765683. DOI: 10.3390/ijms26020799.

Non-Thermal Treatment Mediated by Curcumin for Enhancing Food Product Quality.

Wang Z, Yang H, Li Z, Liu J Foods. 2024; 13(23).

PMID: 39683052 PMC: 11641054. DOI: 10.3390/foods13233980.

On the health effects of curcumin and its derivatives.

Ayub H, Islam M, Saeed M, Ahmad H, Al-Asmari F, Ramadan M Food Sci Nutr. 2024; 12(11):8623-8650.

PMID: 39620006 PMC: 11606848. DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.4469.

Glucose Metabolism-Modifying Natural Materials for Potential Feed Additive Development.

Lin W, Hoe B, Li X, Lian D, Zeng X Pharmaceutics. 2024; 16(9).

PMID: 39339244 PMC: 11435105. DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16091208.

References

Sharma R, Gescher A, Steward W . Curcumin: the story so far. Eur J Cancer. 2005; 41(13):1955-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejca.2005.05.009. View

Vajragupta O, Boonchoong P, Watanabe H, Tohda M, Kummasud N, Sumanont Y . Manganese complexes of curcumin and its derivatives: evaluation for the radical scavenging ability and neuroprotective activity. Free Radic Biol Med. 2003; 35(12):1632-44. DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2003.09.011. View

Serpi C, Stanic Z, Girousi S . Electroanalytical study of the interaction between dsDNA and curcumin in the presence of copper(II). Talanta. 2010; 81(4-5):1731-4. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2010.03.031. View

Nabavi S, Daglia M, Moghaddam A, Habtemariam S, Nabavi S . Curcumin and Liver Disease: from Chemistry to Medicine. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2021; 13(1):62-77. DOI: 10.1111/1541-4337.12047. View

Wang Y, Pan M, Cheng A, Lin L, Ho Y, Hsieh C . Stability of curcumin in buffer solutions and characterization of its degradation products. J Pharm Biomed Anal. 1997; 15(12):1867-76. DOI: 10.1016/s0731-7085(96)02024-9. View

Patra D, Malaeb N . Fluorescence modulation of 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione by silver nanoparticles and its possible analytical application. Luminescence. 2011; 27(1):11-5. DOI: 10.1002/bio.1313. View

Mokrani A, Krisa S, Cluzet S, Da Costa G, Temsamani H, Renouf E . Phenolic contents and bioactive potential of peach fruit extracts. Food Chem. 2016; 202:212-20. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.12.026. View

Laokuldilok N, Thakeow P, Kopermsub P, Utama-Ang N . Optimisation of microencapsulation of turmeric extract for masking flavour. Food Chem. 2015; 194:695-704. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.07.150. View

Pourreza N, Golmohammadi H . Application of curcumin nanoparticles in a lab-on-paper device as a simple and green pH probe. Talanta. 2014; 131:136-41. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2014.07.063. View

10.

Mehanny M, Hathout R, Geneidi A, Mansour S . Exploring the use of nanocarrier systems to deliver the magical molecule; Curcumin and its derivatives. J Control Release. 2016; 225:1-30. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2016.01.018. View

11.

Derochette S, Serteyn D, Mouithys-Mickalad A, Ceusters J, Deby-Dupont G, Neven P . EquiNox2: A new method to measure NADPH oxidase activity and to study effect of inhibitors and their interactions with the enzyme. Talanta. 2015; 144:1252-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2015.08.007. View

12.

Perrone D, Ardito F, Giannatempo G, Dioguardi M, Troiano G, Russo L . Biological and therapeutic activities, and anticancer properties of curcumin. Exp Ther Med. 2015; 10(5):1615-1623. PMC: 4665301. DOI: 10.3892/etm.2015.2749. View

13.

Al Faraj A, Shaik A, Ratemi E, Halwani R . Combination of drug-conjugated SWCNT nanocarriers for efficient therapy of cancer stem cells in a breast cancer animal model. J Control Release. 2016; 225:240-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2016.01.053. View

14.

Pourreza N, Golmohammadi H . Green colorimetric recognition of trace sulfide ions in water samples using curcumin nanoparticle in micelle mediated system. Talanta. 2014; 119:181-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2013.11.005. View

15.

Margar S, Rhyman L, Ramasami P, Sekar N . Fluorescent difluoroboron-curcumin analogs: An investigation of the electronic structures and photophysical properties. Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2015; 152:241-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2015.07.064. View

16.

Gupta S, Patchva S, Aggarwal B . Therapeutic roles of curcumin: lessons learned from clinical trials. AAPS J. 2012; 15(1):195-218. PMC: 3535097. DOI: 10.1208/s12248-012-9432-8. View

17.

Kao H, Wu C, Won S, Shin J, Liu H, Su C . Kinase gene expression and subcellular protein expression pattern of protein kinase C isoforms in curcumin-treated human hepatocellular carcinoma Hep 3B cells. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2011; 66(2):136-42. DOI: 10.1007/s11130-011-0228-2. View

18.

Kumar A, Kaur G, Kansal S, Chaudhary G, Mehta S . Enhanced solubilization of curcumin in mixed surfactant vesicles. Food Chem. 2016; 199:660-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.12.077. View

19.

Salahuddin P, Fatima M, Abdelhameed A, Nusrat S, Khan R . Structure of amyloid oligomers and their mechanisms of toxicities: Targeting amyloid oligomers using novel therapeutic approaches. Eur J Med Chem. 2016; 114:41-58. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2016.02.065. View

20.

Osorio-Tobon J, Carvalho P, Fernandez Barbero G, Nogueira G, Rostagno M, de Almeida Meireles M . Fast analysis of curcuminoids from turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) by high-performance liquid chromatography using a fused-core column. Food Chem. 2016; 200:167-74. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.01.021. View