Curry, hair dye and smoking influence liver disease risk
Wednesday March 24th, 2010
The curry spice turmeric may help protect patients with liver disease, researchers report today.
Turmeric contains a substance called curcumin which has been widely studied for its medical benefits. A new study by Professor Michael Trauner of the Medical University in Graz, Austria, and colleagues, suggests that curcumin can delay the liver damage that eventually causes cirrhosis.
The study involved feeding curcumin to mice with disorders of the liver's bile ducts. The mice showed reduced liver damage, cholestasis (blockage of bile excretion from the liver), and liver fibrosis. Curcumin also reduced inflammation and prevented uncontrolled growth of cells lining the bile ducts.
"These results show that curcumin may have multiple targets in the liver," say the researchers in the journal Gut.
Further research in the same journal has highlighted a possible liver disease risk from hair dye and smoking.
Professor Martin Prince and his team at Manchester Royal Infirmary, UK, investigated the causes of primary biliary cirrhosis, a chronic autoimmune disease in which bile ducts are destroyed.
Using figures from 2,576 patients and 2,438 similar healthy people, the researchers found a significant link to smoking (risk raised by about 60 per cent) and hair dye use (about 30 per cent).
Risk was also raised by a history of psoriasis, urinary infections, shingles and other autoimmune diseases but, surprisingly, reduced by alcohol consumption.
They write that this study "lends strong support to the concept of primary biliary cirrhosis as an autoimmune disorder in which both genetic and multiple environmental factors are very likely to play roles in pathogenesis and clinical expression".
Baghdasaryan, A. et al. Curcumin improves sclerosing cholangitis in Mdr2 -/- mice by inhibition of cholangiocyte inflammatory response and portal myofibroblast proliferation. Gut, Vol. 59, March 2010, pp. 521-30.
Prince, M. I., Ducker, S. J. and James, O. F. W. Case-control studies of risk factors for primary biliary cirrhosis in two United Kingdom populations. Gut, Vol. 59, March 2010, pp. 508-12.
Tags: Diet & Food | Europe | Internal Medicine | UK News
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