PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Turmeric may be as good for treating indigestion as drug to curb excess stomach acid

Findings may justify considering its use in clinical practice, suggest researchers

2023-09-12
(Press-News.org) A natural compound found in the culinary spice turmeric may be as effective as omeprazole—a drug used to curb excess stomach acid—for treating indigestion symptoms, suggests the first study of its kind, published online in the journal BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

Turmeric is derived from the root of the Curcuma longa plant. It contains a naturally active compound called curcumin thought to have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, and has long been used as a medicinal remedy, including for the treatment of indigestion, in South East Asia. 

But it’s not clear how well it compares with conventional drugs for this indication, largely because there have been no head to head studies.

The researchers therefore randomly assigned 206 patients aged 18-70 with recurrent upset stomach (functional dyspepsia) of unknown cause, recruited from hospitals in Thailand between 2019 and 2021, to one of three treatment groups for a period of 28 days.

These were: turmeric (two large 250 mg capsules of curcumin 4 times a day) and one small dummy capsule (69 patients); omeprazole (one small 20 mg capsule daily and two large dummy capsules 4 times a day (68 patients); and turmeric plus omeprazole (69 patients).

Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor, or PPI for short. PPIs are used to treat functional dyspepsia, the symptoms of which include feeling excessively full after food (postprandial fullness), feeling full up after only a little food (early satiety), and pain and/or burning sensation in the stomach and/or food pipe (epigastric pain).

But long term use of PPIs has been linked to increased fracture risk, micronutrient deficiencies, and a heightened risk of infections, note the researchers.

Of the 206 patients enrolled, 151 completed the study, with 20 in the curcumin group;19 in the omeprazole group; and 16 in the combined treatment group, dropping out. 

Patients in all three groups had similar clinical characteristics and indigestion scores, as assessed by the Severity of Dyspepsia Assessment score or SODA, at the start of the trial. Patients were reassessed after 28 days and then again after 56 days.

SODA scores indicated significant reductions in symptom severity by day 28 for pain (−4.83, –5.46 and −6.22) and other symptoms (−2.22, –2.32, and −2.31) for those in the combined, curcumin alone, and omeprazole alone groups, respectively. 

These improvements were even stronger after 56 days for pain (−7.19, –8.07 and −8.85, respectively) and other symptoms (−4.09, –4.12 and −3.71, respectively). 

SODA also captures satisfaction scores: these scarcely changed over time among the curcumin users, which might possibly be related to its taste and/or smell, suggest the researchers.

No serious side effects were reported, although liver function tests indicated some level of deterioration among curcumin users carrying excess weight, note the researchers.

They acknowledge the small size of the study, as well as several other limitations, including the short intervention period and lack of long-term monitoring data. Further larger, long term studies are needed, they say.

Nevertheless, they conclude: “This multicentre randomised controlled trial provides highly reliable evidence for the treatment of functional dyspepsia,” adding that “the new findings from our study may justify considering curcumin in clinical practice.”

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Shorter white blood cell telomeres linked to higher dementia risk

2023-09-12
Shorter telomeres on the ends of white blood cell chromosomes may signal a heightened dementia risk, suggest the results of a large long term study, published online in the journal General Psychiatry. They are associated with smaller total and white matter brain volume, which helps the body process information, and may be a predictor of future brain health, say the researchers. A telomere–the equivalent of a shoelace cap—is intended to prevent the loss of coded DNA by a chromosome fraying or unravelling when it replicates. Each time a cell divides, chromosomes replicate, and telomeres shorten slightly, ...

Around 1 in 3 UK medical students plans to leave NHS within 2 years of graduation

2023-09-12
Around 1 in 3 UK medical students plans to leave the NHS within 2 years of graduating—either to practise abroad or to abandon medicine altogether—suggest the results of the largest survey of its kind, published in the open access journal BMJ Open. Pay, work-life balance, and working conditions are the key drivers behind the decisions to leave, the responses indicate. The UK has 3.2 doctors for every 1000 people, ranking 25th among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. This figure also represents the lowest number of doctors per head among European ...

Work stress, workload, understaffing driving out health professionals from NHS

2023-09-12
Work stress, high workload, and understaffing are the primary factors driving health professionals out of the NHS, suggest the results of a survey published in the open access journal BMJ Open. The findings prompt the researchers to suggest that pay increases alone may not be sufficient to fix NHS staff retention. There are well over 100,000 staff vacancies in the NHS. And worsening retention of NHS health professionals has been attributed to the fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic.  To explore this further, the researchers wanted to assess the relative ...

Hot summer air turns into drinking water with new gel device

Hot summer air turns into drinking water with new gel device
2023-09-12
For significant portions of the globe faced with water shortage problems, a beacon of hope may be on the way: the ability to easily turn hot air into drinking water. For the past few years, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have focused on the moisture present in the air as a potential source of drinking water for drought-stressed populations. In new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they reached a significant breakthrough in their efforts to ...

Young people who vape more likely to report chronic stress

Young people who vape more likely to report chronic stress
2023-09-12
Milan, Italy: Young people who have used e-cigarettes are more than twice as likely to report experiencing chronic stress, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy [1].   The study was presented by Dr Teresa To, a senior scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada. She said: “Research is starting to show how vaping affects young people’s physical and mental health. For example, our previous research has shown that those who vape are more likely to suffer an asthma attack. In this study we were particularly interested in the relationship between vaping, ...

Novel study reveals the accumulation mechanisms of purine alkaloids and catechins in theobromine-rich tea

Novel study reveals the accumulation mechanisms of purine alkaloids and catechins in theobromine-rich tea
2023-09-12
Camellia ptilophylla, a low-caffeine or decaffeinated tea, is increasingly being recognized for its potential health benefits. However, there is intraspecific diversity in purine alkaloid and catechins components in C. ptilophylla populations. Analyzing the mechanisms behind the accumulation of these metabolites is important for improving tea quality. Beverage Plant Research published online a paper by Associate Professor Binmei Sun and Shaoqun Liu’s team at South China Agricultural University entitled “Differential accumulation mechanisms of purine alkaloids and catechins in Camellia ptilophylla, a natural theobromine-rich ...

Transplanting patients’ own lung cells offers hope of ‘cure’ for COPD

2023-09-12
Milan, Italy: For the first time, researchers have shown it is possible to repair damaged lung tissue in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using the patients’ own lung cells.   The European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy [1], heard that 17 patients who took part in a phase I clinical trial were able to breath better, walk further and had better quality of life after receiving the experimental treatment.   COPD kills approximately three million people worldwide every year. It is a severe respiratory disease that involves progressive damage to lung tissue. The affected tissue cannot be repaired ...

Genetic evidence shows that smoking can cause us to age faster

Genetic evidence shows that smoking can cause us to age faster
2023-09-12
Milan, Italy: A study of nearly 500,000 people has shown that smoking shortens the end fragments of chromosomes in the white blood cells of our immune systems. The length of these end fragments, called telomeres, is an indicator of how quickly we age and our cells’ ability to repair and regenerate.   In her presentation to the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy [1], Dr Siyu Dai, who is an assistant professor in the School of Clinical Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, and also an honorary postdoctoral researcher in the department of paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: “Our study shows that smoking status and ...

Alive without a pulse: Evolution of durable left ventricular assist devices

2023-09-11
https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/CVIA.2023.0056 Announcing a new article publication for Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications journal.  Durable left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) offer a viable option for patients with advanced heart failure and have been demonstrated to be superior to optimal medical therapy in terms of both mortality and quality of life, in selected patients. However, durable LVADs can be associated with severe morbidity. Because the rates of cardiac ...

Doctoral student’s "fear of positivity" research could assist with effective depression treatments

Doctoral student’s fear of positivity research could assist with effective depression treatments
2023-09-11
STARKVILLE, Miss.—How can positive experiences seem like the opposite for some? A doctoral student in Mississippi State University’s Clinical Psychology program believes this phenomenon is true, and his recent research is featured in an upcoming issue of The Journal of Behavioral Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. Michael R. Gallagher’s article “A network analytic investigation of avoidance, dampening, and devaluation of positivity” focuses on how behaviors related to processing positive experiences may play a role ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

AI model offers accurate and explainable insights to support autism assessment

Process for dealing with sexual misconduct by doctors requires major reform

Severe pregnancy sickness raises risk of mental health conditions by over 50%

Early humans may have walked from Türkiye to mainland Europe, new groundbreaking research suggests

New study shows biochar’s electrical properties can influence rice field methane emissions

Guangdong faces largest chikungunya outbreak on record

Tirzepatide improves blood sugar control in children aged 10-17 years with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on existing therapies (SURPASS-PEDS trial)

An old drug, in a low dose, shown to be safe and effective in preventing progression of type 1 diabetes in children and young people (MELD-ATG trial)

Study reports potential effects of verapamil in slowing progression of type 1 diabetes

Fresh hope for type 1 diabetes as daily pill that slows onset confirms promise at 2-year follow-up

New estimates predict over 4 million missing people who would be alive in 2025 if not for inadequate type 1 diabetes care

So what should we call this – a grue jay?

Chicago Quantum Exchange-led coalition advances to final round in NSF Engine competition

Study identifies candidates for therapeutic targets in pediatric germ cell tumors

Media alert: The global burden of CVD

Study illuminates contributing factors to blood vessel leakage

What nations around the world can learn from Ukraine

Mixing tree species does not always make forests more drought-resilient

Public confidence in U.S. health agencies slides, fueled by declines among Democrats

“Quantum squeezing” a nanoscale particle for the first time

El Niño spurs extreme daily rain events despite drier monsoons in India

Two studies explore the genomic diversity of deadly mosquito vectors

Zebra finches categorize their vocal calls by meaning

Analysis challenges conventional wisdom about partisan support for US science funding

New model can accurately predict a forest’s future

‘Like talking on the telephone’: Quantum computing engineers get atoms chatting long distance

Genomic evolution of major malaria-transmitting mosquito species uncovered

Overcoming the barriers of hydrogen storage with a low-temperature hydrogen battery

Tuberculosis vulnerability of people with HIV: a viral protein implicated

Partnership with Kenya's Turkana community helps scientists discover genes involved in adaptation to desert living

[Press-News.org] Turmeric may be as good for treating indigestion as drug to curb excess stomach acid
Findings may justify considering its use in clinical practice, suggest researchers