Omeprazole is a medication widely used to avoid excess stomach acid and prevent heartburn, but a new study has proven that turmeric, a spice highly appreciated in the kitchen and to which healthy properties are attributed, can be as effective as this. drug to treat indigestion symptoms, as suggested by the results of the work published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.
This effect would be due, specifically, to a naturally active compound that turmeric contains and is known as curcumin, which is believed to have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties and has therefore been used for a long time in Southeast Asia as a medicinal remedy. , even for the treatment of indigestion.
Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor (PPI). PPIs are used to treat functional dyspepsia, whose symptoms include feeling too full after eating (postprandial fullness), feeling full after eating too little (early satiety), and pain or burning sensation in the stomach (epigastric pain). But long-term PPI use has been linked to an increased risk of fractures and infections and micronutrient deficiencies, the researchers note.
Curcumin useful for the treatment of dyspepsia
These scientists decided to compare curcumin with traditional drugs. To do this, they used hospitals in Thailand to select 206 patients between 18 and 70 years old with recurrent stomach upset (functional dyspepsia) between 2019 and 2021, and randomly assigned them to one of three treatment groups over a period of 28 days. .
“The new findings from our study may justify the consideration of curcumin in clinical practice”
These were: turmeric (two large 250 mg curcumin capsules four times a day) and one small dummy capsule (69 patients); omeprazole (one small 20 mg capsule daily and two large dummy capsules four times daily (68 patients); and turmeric plus omeprazole (69 patients). Of the 206 patients enrolled, 151 completed the study, 20 in the curcumin group ; 19 in the omeprazole group; and 16 in the combined treatment group, who dropped out.
Patients in all three groups had similar clinical characteristics and indigestion scores, as assessed by the Severity of Dyspepsia Assessment, or SODA, score, at the start of the trial. Patients were reevaluated 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 combination groups, curcumin alone and omeprazole alone, respectively. These improvements were most significant after 56 days for pain (-7.19, -8.07 and -8.85, respectively) and other symptoms (-4.09, -4.12 and -3.71, respectively) .
The authors recognize that this is a study with few participants and a short period of time, along with a lack of follow-up data, which is why they point out that it is necessary to carry out larger, longer-term studies. However, they conclude: “This multicenter randomized controlled trial provides highly reliable evidence for the treatment of functional dyspepsia,” and add that “the new findings from our study may justify the consideration of curcumin in clinical practice.”
Source: British Medical Journal
