Curcumin, a Molecule with Multiple Forces and Biological Modulators

Curcumin as the biologic active of turmeric has many biological properties such as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic and anti-cancer activities. Although poor solubility of curcumin leads to limitation of its medical and biological properties, but many high quality studies show that it has major benefits for digestive and defensive systems of both humans and animals, and displays activities against a variety of diseases. Curcumin’s effective ability of inhibition protein fibrillation and inhibition of ROS production studied by this group confirms these claims. It reacts to more than 30 proteins, and modulates their function by direct or indirect reactions. Extensive research has been done on increasing its activity, solubility and curative effects on human health. But it is imperative that well-designed clinical trials, supported by better formulations of curcumin or novel routes of administration be conducted to improve its bioavailability. In this review, we describe some of the biological and physicochemical properties, the mode of actions, and the therapeutic usages of curcumin.