THE DERMATOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF TURMERIC & HOW OUR PRODUCT HELPS!

THE DERMATOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF TURMERIC 

Recent clinical research shows the increased effectiveness of turmeric within a polyherbal blend.

 

Step forward MY Clear Skin!

 

Here’s the science:

 

A Summary of Turmeric, Curcumin, and Curcuminoids:

A Dermatologic Review by Lori Kim and Peter Lio MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Paediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a partner at Medical Dermatology Associates of Chicago

 

“Curcumin, one of the active compounds of turmeric, exhibits anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-nociceptive, and antineoplastic properties.”

 

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a spice from Southern Asia that has a centuries-long history of use in medicine, cooking, and cosmetics.

One of the ancient texts of Ayurveda states that turmeric can improve digestion, reduce obesity, and reduce inflammation of the GI tract and the skin.

Specifically, curcumin has been shown to potentially play a role in type 2 diabetes mellitus, in metabolic syndrome, in cardiac diseases, and even in major depressive disorder via its anti-inflammatory effects.

 

Further scientific studies* (see below) make curcumin a suitable candidate for treating skin conditions that are characterized by derangement of the inflammatory response.

 

Additionally, an increasing number of patients are looking for natural and cost-effective skincare alternatives outside of conventional medications.

 

And there is increasing research studying colourless turmeric extract, and clinical studies have shown its ability to significantly reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and hyperpigmented macules.

 

Current research looks promising for the use of turmeric and curcuminoids for skin health.

 

COMMON SKIN DISEASES STUDIED

ACNE: With its known anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects, curcumin is a natural contender for consideration to treat acne. In a study testing both ingested and topical turmeric, 53 subjects were divided into four groups: 1.) active oral tablet plus active topical gel; 2.) active oral tablet plus active topical cream; 3.) active oral tablet plus placebo topical; and 4.) placebo oral tablet plus placebo topical formula.

Of these four groups, Group 2 showed the greatest improvement in treating acne.

 

Atopic Dermatitis (AD): In a four-week trial, 150 subjects with AD were given a combination herbal extract cream containing turmeric. All symptoms associated with AD, such as erythema, scaling, thickening, and itching significantly improved. The limitation was that there was no control group, making it impossible to know what was attributable to the turmeric.

  

Pruritus: When 100 dialysis patients with uremic pruritus were given either three turmeric capsules daily or placebo starch capsules for eight weeks, there was statistically significant decrease in pruritus in the curcumin group compared to placebo. Moreover, curcumin was also shown to decrease inflammation by lowering high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), further supporting the data.

 

Psoriasis: In one study of 40 men, a topical alcohol gel formulation with 1% curcumin improved psoriasis by significantly decreasing phosphorolase kinase activity, similar to the effects of topical vitamin D3 analogue.

 

Other skin-related studies point toward a favourable profile for the use of curcumin on the skin, as well.

• In an in-vitro model of psoriasis, curcumin was shown to significantly improve the skin barrier function by upregulating involucrin and filaggrin, which are known regulators of the skin barrier. This is promising for several diseases that are associated with deficient skin barrier function, including atopic dermatitis.

 

• In another study, researchers found that an extract of curcumin inhibits UVB-induced inflammation and also increases the water content of the facial skin.

 

• This suggests that curcumin might also be useful in moisturising the skin.

 

More research is also being conducted on oral turmeric-containing polyherbal combinations. Remarkably, two studies have shown the turmeric-containing polyherbal combination to have greater effects on the skin, compared to turmeric tablets alone and to placebo.

Another study measured facial redness reduction after taking the tablets by mouth twice daily for four weeks and found that only the herbal combination tablets showed statistically significant changes.

Conclusion: Numerous studies suggest benefits to using curcuminoids to treat skin diseases or as preventative measures. Future studies should include increased sample sizes of subjects being tested and always have a placebo control.

This is a very promising area of research, due to curcumin’s low cost, high tolerability, and the general public’s interest in natural treatments instead of prescriptions.

• * Curcumin is thought to downregulate inflammatory targets, such as lipoxygenase, cycloxygenase-2, and inducible nitric oxide synthase. It has also been shown to inhibit many inflammatory cytokines, including TNF, IL-1, 2, 6, 8, and 12. Moreover, curcumin has been hypothesized to suppress NF-KB, which is a transcription factor that controls cycloxygenase-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase and regulates cellular proliferation.

  

(For further reading on the studies in this article, see www.practicaldermatology.com)