Beating TB with Turmeric Compounds

• How Does TB Spread?
• How Can Turmeric Help?
• Clinical Evidence of Benefit

According to clinical research, turmeric compounds could offer a natural solution to tuberculosis (TB). Combined with conventional therapy and other herbs, turmeric can also help reduce the risk of drug side effects in the liver. ^(v.177)

Approximately a third of people worldwide are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Most people who are infected have a latent form of infection, with inactive bacteria. ^(v.21)

Symptoms and Risk Factors for TB

A weak immune system makes it more likely for the bacteria to become active and develop into full-blown disease. Symptoms of active TB may include: ^(v.21)

• Coughing up blood.
• Feeling weak and tired.
• Unexplained weight loss.
• Fever and chills.
• Night sweats.

Once active, infection usually affects the lungs. ^(v.21)

Immune-Weakening Conditions

While TB is on the decline in the United States, travel overseas could be a risk factor when combined with weakened immunity — especially to developing countries. Who's prone to a stressed immune system? The answer might surprise you. Beyond babies, the elderly, and people with HIV, there are quite a few conditions that can weaken the immune system, including: ^{(v.21, 178-179)}

• Diabetes
• Head and neck cancer
• Leukemia
• Kidney disease
• Malnutrition
• Organ transplant
• Steroid treatment
• Substance abuse

Millions of new TB cases are identified each year, and there's a growing number that are resistant to drug treatment. In addition to strains that are resistant to conventional first line drugs, there are now cases that fail to respond to even second line drugs. ^(v.178-179)

How Can Turmeric Help?

Lab experiments with curcumin and other turmeric compounds show promising antibacterial activity against TB. Interestingly, animal studies on some of the same isolated compounds in turmeric show much greater success against TB than demonstrated in lab tests. ^(v.180)

• Combining copper and curcumin compounds is highly effective against TB. ^(v.181)
• Demethoxycurcumin, one of the curcuminoid compounds in turmeric, shows antitubercular activity. Derivatives from this curcumin compound, however, worked substantially better at much lower concentrations than curcumin. ^(v.182)

In animal studies, geraniol, terpineol, and eugenol all demonstrated significant reduction of TB bacteria in the lymph nodes and organs after only 10 weeks of oral treatment. ^{(v.75, 77, 180)}

Turmeric Reduces TB Drug Risks and Improves Outcomes

Lab experiments using simple extracts of whole turmeric from water or ethanol had no activity against regular and drug resistant strains of TB. However, similar to the differences in effectiveness for other plant compounds outside the lab, animal research and a large clinical trial indicate otherwise. Results of these suggest turmeric can: ^{(v.177, 179, 183)}

• Reduce the toxic side effects of conventional TB treatment.
• Improve the efficacy of the most commonly used drugs.

Conventional treatment drugs for TB are known to be particularly toxic to the liver. These medications include: ^{(v.177, 179, 183)}

• Isoniazid
• Rifampin
• Pyrazinamide

Studies have shown all these drugs can increase the risk of drug-induced liver damage and related death. The risks may even be much higher and worse with the combination of isoniazid and rifampin, which is a standard treatment protocol. ^{(v.177, 183)}

Research show that feeding dried turmeric to guinea pigs helped prevent the negative side effects of these three drugs: ^(v.183)

• Significantly prevented the abnormally high liver enzyme levels caused by the drugs.
• Substantially reduced signs of drug damage in liver cells.
• Helped restore restore immune system functioning that was suppressed by treatment drugs.

Three other herbs (including holy basil) were also tested and showed potential protective effects against liver damage. Of the four, however, turmeric and Tinospora cordifolia demonstrated the strongest beneficial effects. ^(v.183)

Clinical Evidence of Benefit

Based on the animal study results, a large clinical trial was carried out in 6 different clinics involving over 500 male and female patients with active TB infection. The patients were randomly assigned to take only the conventional TB drugs or the TB drugs along with curcumin-enhanced turmeric and Tinospora cordifolia herbal supplements. For the TB drugs, patients were given ethambutol, isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide for 2 months followed by 4 months of all but pyrazinamide. ^(v.177)

Results showed the following: ^(v.177)

Table V.24: Turmeric Treatment for Tuberculosis - Clinical Trial Results

	TB DRUGS ONLY 192 patients	TB DRUGS, TURMERIC, AND T. CORDIFOLIA 316 patients
TOXIC EFFECTS IN LIVER	14% (27 patients)	2% (2 patients)
DEVELOPED SYMPTOMATIC HEPATITIS	9% (17 of the 27 patients with abnormal liver enzyme levels)	None
% OF PATIENTS STILL (+) FOR TB BACTERIA IN SPUTUM AFTER 1 MONTH	15%	2%
% OF PATIENTS WITH UNRESOLVED LUNG LESIONS	6%	less than 1%
FAILURE TO IMPROVE	10%	2%

Not only did turmeric help prevent the toxic side effects of TB drugs, it improved their effectiveness. Turmeric also showed other benefits that are significant for TB patients: ^(v.177)

• Increased treatment compliance. Stopping drug treatment prior to completion contributes to the growing resistance to drugs in the bacteria that cause TB. In this study, patients taking turmeric and T. cordifolia were less likely to stop treatment.
• Reduced malnourishment. Dietary deficiency is considered a risk factor for tuberculosis — both before and after infection. Patients were considered malnourished at the start of the clinical trial. Those who took the herbal supplements gained significantly more weight than the patients treated with TB drugs only.