Oral Curcumin With Piperine as Adjuvant Therapy for the Treatment of COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial

DOI record: { "DOI": "10.3389/fphar.2021.669362", "ISSN": [ "1663-9812" ], "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2021.669362", "abstract": "<jats:p><jats:bold>Background:</jats:bold> Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has a wide range of pathophysiological effects. Curcumin, an active constituent of Curcuma longa (turmeric), has several properties, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, anti-thrombotic, and anti-proliferative effects, which make it a promising candidate for the symptomatic treatment of COVID-19.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Objective:</jats:bold> We aimed to determine the effects of curcumin administered with piperine (to optimize absorption) on symptoms in patients with COVID-19 in a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial at a 30-bed dedicated COVID Health Center (DCHC) in Maharashtra, India.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:</jats:bold> In addition to conventional COVID-19 treatment, patients in the control group received a dose of probiotics twice a day, and patients in the study group received curcumin (525 mg) with piperine (2.5 mg) in tablet form twice a day. The effects of curcumin/piperine treatment on primary and secondary outcomes were assessed for the duration of hospitalization.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:</jats:bold> Patients with mild, moderate, and severe symptoms who received curcumin/piperine treatment showed early symptomatic recovery (fever, cough, sore throat, and breathlessness), less deterioration, fewer red flag signs, better ability to maintain oxygen saturation above 94% on room air, and better clinical outcomes compared to patients of the control group. Furthermore, curcumin/piperine treatment appeared to reduce the duration of hospitalization in patients with moderate to severe symptoms, and fewer deaths were observed in the curcumin/piperine treatment group.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions:</jats:bold> Administration of oral curcumin with piperine as an adjuvant symptomatic therapy in COVID-19 treatment could substantially reduce morbidity and mortality, and ease the logistical and supply-related burdens on the healthcare system. Curcumin could be a safe and natural therapeutic option to prevent Post-Covid thromboembolic events.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Clinicaltrials.gov identifier:</jats:bold><jats:ext-link>CTRI/2020/05/025482</jats:ext-link></jats:p>", "alternative-id": [ "10.3389/fphar.2021.669362" ], "author": [ { "affiliation": [], "family": "Pawar", "given": "Kirti S", "sequence": "first" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Mastud", "given": "Rahul N", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Pawar", "given": "Satheesh K", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Pawar", "given": "Samragni S", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Bhoite", "given": "Rahul R", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Bhoite", "given": "Ramesh R", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Kulkarni", "given": "Meenal V", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Deshpande", "given": "Aditi R", "sequence": "additional" } ], "container-title": "Frontiers in Pharmacology", "container-title-short": "Front. Pharmacol.", "content-domain": { "crossmark-restriction": true, "domain": [ "frontiersin.org" ] }, "created": { "date-parts": [ [ 2021, 5, 28 ] ], "date-time": "2021-05-28T07:58:34Z", "timestamp": 1622188714000 }, "deposited": { "date-parts": [ [ 2021, 5, 28 ] ], "date-time": "2021-05-28T07:58:40Z", "timestamp": 1622188720000 }, "indexed": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 4, 8 ] ], "date-time": "2024-04-08T09:14:36Z", "timestamp": 1712567676758 }, "is-referenced-by-count": 105, "issued": { "date-parts": [ [ 2021, 5, 28 ] ] }, "license": [ { "URL": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "content-version": "vor", "delay-in-days": 0, "start": { "date-parts": [ [ 2021, 5, 28 ] ], "date-time": "2021-05-28T00:00:00Z", "timestamp": 1622160000000 } } ], "link": [ { "URL": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2021.669362/full", "content-type": "unspecified", "content-version": "vor", "intended-application": "similarity-checking" } ], "member": "1965", "original-title": [], "prefix": "10.3389", "published": { "date-parts": [ [ 2021, 5, 28 ] ] }, "published-online": { "date-parts": [ [ 2021, 5, 28 ] ] }, "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA", "reference": [ { "DOI": "10.1016/j.biocel.2008.06.010", "article-title": "Potential Therapeutic Effects of Curcumin, the Anti-inflammatory Agent, against Neurodegenerative, Cardiovascular, Pulmonary, Metabolic, Autoimmune and Neoplastic Diseases", "author": "Aggarwal", "doi-asserted-by": "publisher", "first-page": "40", "journal-title": "Int. 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