Introduction: Despite significant advances in the study of Ulcerative colitis (UC) management, up to a third of patients may be refractory to conventional therapy, and specialists have considered natural compounds such as curcumin.
Area covered: The meta-analyzes found in the literature compare the effects of curcumin used in different administration routes or compare patients in remission with patients with active disease. Due to the biases in these studies, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that investigated the efficacy of orally administrated curcumin in mild-to-moderate active UC.
Expert opinion: Curcumin produces relevant anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects that are crucial in inducing remission in UC patients. Unfortunately, in the treatment of UC, we have not observed studies with standardization of dose and routes of administration. Existing meta-analyses are biased because they compare studies using different administration routes and patients in different stages of the disease. Our meta-analysis is the only one that tried to make a comparison with a few of biases as possible and show that curcumin can help in the induction of remission in UC subjects.
Keywords: Ulcerative colitis; clinical improvement; clinical remission; curcumin; ulcerative colitis scores.