this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 day ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/publichealth@mander.xyz
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A 57-year-old woman spent six days in the hospital for severe liver damage after taking daily megadoses of the popular herbal supplement, turmeric, which she had seen touted on social media, according to NBC News.

The woman, Katie Mohan, told the outlet that she had seen a doctor on Instagram suggesting it was useful against inflammation and joint pain. So, she began taking turmeric capsules at a dose of 2,250 mg per day. According to the World Health Organization, an acceptable daily dose is up to 3 mg per kilogram of weight per day—for a 150-pound (68 kg) adult, that would be about 204 mg per day. Mohan was taking more than 10 times that amount.

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[–] AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 2 points 8 hours ago

Commenters making blanket statements about quackery, and the dangers of the unregulated supplement industry - okay, yes, those are issues. But in this context, c'mon, Pubmed is right there. Turmeric is effective for exactly the things this social media doctor claimed it is, and a little more at that. I take half a teaspoon of the powder in my morning tea, and along with other lifestyle interventions I made a handful of years ago, the fairly significant chronic joint pain I used to experience has been a thing of the past.

This is an overdose story, nothing more.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30970601/

"The current study aimed to provide a comprehensive bibliometric overview of the literature on curcumin, complementing the previous reviews and meta-analyses on its potential health benefits. (...) The literature mainly focused on curcumin's effects against cancer, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Cancer types most frequently investigated were breast, colon, colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancers."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32075287/

"The use of curcumin reduces the subjective perception of the intensity of muscle pain; reduces muscle damage through the decrease of creatine kinase (CK); increases muscle performance; has an anti-inflammatory effect by modulating the pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8; and may have a slight antioxidant effect. In summary, the administration of curcumin at a dose between 150-1500 mg/day before and during exercise, and up until 72 h' post-exercise, improved performance by reducing EIMD and modulating the inflammation caused by physical activity. In addition, humans appear to be able to tolerate high doses of curcumin without significant side-effects."

Not so sure about the above line though, lol.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36898635/

"Curcumin supplementation significantly reduces anthropometric indices, and bioavailability-enhanced formulas are preferred. Augmenting curcumin supplement with lifestyle modification should be an option for weight reduction."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35979355/

"Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract had good clinical efficacy in the treatment of Psoriasis, UC and RA, so Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract could be used in the treatment of the above diseases in the future. The results of Meta-analysis showed that Curcumin and Curcuma longa Extract did not show efficacy in the treatment of oral lichen planus, while Takayasu arteritis, SLE, MS, AS, BD and CD did not report sufficient clinical data for meta-analysis. Therefore, large-sample, multi-center clinical trials are still needed for revision or validation."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36804260/

"We observed that turmeric/curcumin supplementation significantly reduces levels of inflammatory markers (...) Also, turmeric/curcumin supplementation significantly improved anti-oxidant activity (...) It seems that turmeric/curcumin supplementation might be used as a viable intervention for improving inflammatory/oxidative status of individuals."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37325651/

"Curcumin is beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis treatment. Inflammation levels and clinical symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis can be improved by curcumin supplementation. Large sample randomized controlled trials on the effects of curcumin on patients with rheumatoid arthritis are needed in the future."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34012421/

"The results showed that curcumin's anti-diabetic activity might be due to its capacity to suppress oxidative stress and inflammatory process. Also, it significantly reduces fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and body mass index. Nanocurcumin is also associated with a significant reduction in triglycerides, VLDL-c, total cholesterol, LDL-c, HDL-c, serum C reactive protein, and plasma malonaldehyde. Therefore, it can be considered in the therapeutic approach of patients with DM."