Turmeric Extract Reduces Weight Gain

BOSTONNew research from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USDA HNRCA) suggests dietary curcumin may have a potential benefit in preventing obesity. Researcher found curcumin, a polyphenol found in turmeric, reduces weight gain and suppresses the growth of fat tissue in mice and cell models.

As reported by Newswise, researchers studied mice fed high-fat diets for 12 weeks. The high-fat diet of one group was supplemented with 500 mg of curcumin/kg diet; the other group consumed no curcumin. Both groups ate the same amount of food, indicating curcumin did not affect appetite, but mice fed the curcumin supplemented diet did not gain as much weight as mice that were not fed curcumin.

Curcumin appeared to be responsible for total lower body fat in the group that received supplementation, the researchers wrote. In those mice, we observed a suppression of microvessel density in fat tissue, a sign of less blood vessel growth and thus less expansion of fat. We also found lower blood cholesterol levels and fat in the liver of those mice. In general, angiogenesis and an accumulation of lipids in fat cells contribute to fat tissue growth.