Short-term effects of highly-bioavailable curcumin for treating knee osteoarthritis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled prospective study

Nakagawa Y, Mukai S, Yamada S, Matsuoka M, Tarumi E, Hashimoto T, Tamura C, Imaizumi A, Nishihira J, Nakamura T · Journal of Orthopaedic Science

Across all 41 analysed (18 Theracurmin, 23 placebo) the improvement in knee-pain VAS at 8 weeks did not differ between arms (P=0.10); after excluding the three patients per arm whose starting VAS was 0.15 or below it did (P=0.023). JKOM and JOA scores did not differ at any point. Fewer Theracurmin patients needed celecoxib at week 8 only (P=0.025). The authors describe the potential as modest.

Population

Adults over 40 with Kellgren-Lawrence grade II-III knee osteoarthritis, Japan

Intervention

Theracurmin (submicron-dispersed curcumin) delivering 180 mg curcumin/day for 8 weeks

Comparator

Placebo

Limitations

50 randomised and 41 analysed over 8 weeks, with 7 dropouts in the Theracurmin arm (three for intra-articular hyaluronic acid) against 2 on placebo; one-sided t-tests; the Theracurmin group was older (71.9 against 66.1 years). The positive VAS result follows a post-hoc exclusion, and rescue-medication use is a soft endpoint. Financially supported by Theravalues, the Theracurmin maker, with three company authors.