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Curcumin for Allergic Rhinitis and Common Cold


     Allergic rhinitis is an inflammation of the nasal membranes, causing symptoms like sneezing, itching, congestion, and more. The common cold also has symptoms such as sneezing and nasal congestion. Curcumin in turmeric has various health benefits, including anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral properties. Therefore, curcumin may effectively treat inflammation-caused nasal congestions in allergic rhinitis and the common cold.


    One study examined how taking 150 mg/day of two bioavailable forms of curcumin for 12 weeks affected common cold symptoms, immune function, and inflammation in 99 healthy Japanese adults. The participants were split into three groups: one took Theracurmin Super (TS-P1), another took Theracurmin (CR-033P), and the third took a placebo. The results showed that the TS-P1 and CR-033P groups had significantly fewer days with common cold symptoms than the placebo group. In the intervention period, the placebo group averaged 56.8 ± 32.0 days with symptoms, while the TS-P1 group had 38.6 ± 33.8 days (difference of −18.2 days), and the CR-033P group had 39.4 ± 34.7 days (difference of −17.4 days). This suggests that taking bioavailable curcumin reduced the duration of common cold symptoms in the studied population (1).


    One animal study looked at how curcumin affected allergic rhinitis in rats. Rats were divided into groups: control, induced allergic rhinitis without treatment, induced allergic rhinitis treated with azelastine (an antihistamine nasal spray), and induced allergic rhinitis treated with curcumin (200 mg/ml solution; 20 mcL per nostril). Azelastine nasal spray is used to help relieve symptoms (e.g., stuffy or runny nose, itching, sneezing) of seasonal or perennial allergic rhinitis (hay fever), vasomotor rhinitis, or other upper respiratory allergies (2).


    Both azelastine and curcumin groups significantly reduced allergy symptoms such as sneezing and nasal congestion than the allergic rhinitis without treatment group. There was no difference in the severity of the symptoms between the azelastine and curcumin treatment groups. Compared to the untreated allergic rhinitis group, curcumin treatment reduced allergic symptoms of sneezing from 37 to 11 and nose rubbing from 51 to 12 (p < 0.05). The curcumin group also had reduced goblet cell changes, less inflammation, and blood vessel growth. This study showed that curcumin could reduce inflammatory cell infiltration into and goblet cell changes within the nasal mucosa, and effectively treated experimentally induced allergic rhinitis in rats (2).


    In a study on BALB/c mice with allergic rhinitis, curcumin at doses of 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg remarkably inhibited rhinitis symptoms, which included the clinical scores, the morphological changes of the nasal mucosa, and the histamine release in the mice compared to those of allergic rhinitis mice without treatment. Curcumin feeding at both doses significantly decreased the number of sneezing, from 21 to 13 and 7, and nasal rubbing, from24 to 15 and 8, for the untreated allergic rhinitis group, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg curcumin-treated groups, respectively. A similar dose-response pattern was also observed in another C57BL/6 mice model using the same curcumin doses. These results suggested that curcumin could have an anti-allergic effect by influencing allergic responses in the nose (3).


    In a two-month experiment with 241 patients, some received curcumin (500 mg/day) while others got a placebo. The results showed that curcumin reduced nasal symptoms and congestion by improving nasal airflow. Patients receiving curcumin had a significant reduction in nasal symptom scores (from 8.03 to 2.76, p < 0.05) while there was no difference in the placebo group (8.11 to 8.22). In the curcumin group, nasal symptoms were significantly reduced, including sneezing from 1.94 to 0.63, itching from 1.63 to 0.54, rhinorrhea from 2.13 to 0.47, and obstruction from 2.33 to 1.12 (all p <0.01) compared to those of the placebo group. It also had positive effects on the immune system, decreasing inflammatory markers. This study showed that curcumin had a therapeutic effect in improving nasal function and immune response in people with allergic rhinitis (4).


    Allergic rhinitis is a common disorder that can significantly affect patients' quality of life. Rhinitis is broadly defined as inflammation of the nasal mucosa that accounts for nasal symptoms. The cold has nasal congestion and a running nose as common symptoms. As shown by the studies mentioned in this blog, curcumin, a substance with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, could help treat allergic rhinitis and reduce symptoms of the common cold.


References:

  1. Kuwabara Y, Hirose A, Lee H, Kakinuma T, Baba A, Takara T. Effects of Highly Bioavailable Curcumin Supplementation on Common Cold Symptoms and Immune and Inflammatory Functions in Healthy Japanese Subjects: A Randomized Controlled Study. J Diet Suppl. 2024;21(1):71-98. doi: 10.1080/19390211.2023.2185723. Epub 2023 Mar 16. PMID: 36927282.

  2. Acar M, Muluk NB, Yigitaslan S, Cengiz BP, Shojaolsadati P, Karimkhani H, Ada S, Berkoz M, Cingi C. Can curcumin modulate allergic rhinitis in rats? J Laryngol Otol. 2016 Dec;130(12):1103-1109. doi: 10.1017/S0022215116008999. Epub 2016 Oct 6. PMID: 27707425.

  3. Zhang N, Li H, Jia J, He M. Anti-inflammatory effect of curcumin on mast cell-mediated allergic responses in ovalbumin-induced allergic rhinitis mouse. Cell Immunol. 2015 Nov-Dec;298(1-2):88-95. doi: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2015.09.010. Epub 2015 Sep 28. PMID: 26507910.

  4. Wu S, Xiao D. Effect of curcumin on nasal symptoms and airflow in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2016 Dec;117(6):697-702.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.anai.2016.09.427. Epub 2016 Oct 24. PMID: 27789120.

 

Photo by Marco Verch Professional Photographer on Flickr

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