Study
Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Meriva (Curcuminoids) as a Candidate Chemoprevention Agent for Gastric Carcinogenesis.
Meriva lowered gastric mucosal IL1β at 6 months in 50 high-risk patients, but histology and DNA-damage endpoints were unchanged.
Summary Can a curcumin supplement reduce early signs linked to stomach cancer? Show / hide ↓
Researchers randomly gave 50 people in Puerto Rico and Honduras either 1,000 mg of Meriva, a curcumin supplement, or a placebo, a dummy pill, each day for six months. They had no H. pylori infection, a stomach-bacteria infection, and had stomach lining damage or abnormal cells that can raise cancer risk. Forty-eight people finished the study, and doctors used a camera exam and tissue samples to check their stomachs. Meriva lowered IL-1β, an inflammation signal, in one stomach area, but did not improve tissue changes, other inflammation signals, or DNA damage, which means harm to genetic material. It was safe and well tolerated during the study.
What this means for you: This does not show that curcumin prevents stomach cancer or helps healthy people. Six months and 50 participants are too limited to justify buying it for cancer prevention.
early evidenceThis double-blind phase IIa trial enrolled people in Puerto Rico and Honduras with Helicobacter pylori-negative gastric premalignant conditions: multifocal atrophic gastritis or gastric intestinal metaplasia. Fifty of 110 screened participants were randomised 1:1 to 1,000 mg/day of the curcumin formulation Meriva or placebo for 6 months; 48 completed the trial. Endoscopy was performed at baseline and 6 months. The primary endpoint, gastric-body mucosal IL1β, fell significantly from baseline in the Meriva group (p=0.032). That is an inflammatory biomarker rather than cancer incidence. The two groups showed similar changes in IL8, TNFα, inducible protein 10, gastric histology, and DNA damage measured by γ-H2AX phosphorylation. Meriva was reported as safe and well tolerated. The study therefore found a signal in one cytokine but did not show improved tissue pathology or DNA-damage measures over 6 months. It does not establish that curcumin prevents gastric cancer, and it does not address healthy adults. The authors call for further studies, including in H. pylori-positive people.
Meriva was safe and well tolerated and was associated with a potential reduction in gastric inflammation measured by mucosal IL1β.
Only 50 participants were randomised and 48 completed the 6-month trial. The primary positive finding was a mucosal cytokine; histology and DNA-damage secondary endpoints were similar between groups.
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