Curcumin the active compound in turmeric may repair exercise intolerance
faced by patients with heart failure, suggests a new research. People
with heart failure have a reduced function of the left ventricle the
chamber of the heart that pumps blood out to the rest of the body called
reduced ejection fraction. This is linked to decreased ability to
exercise. The findings showed that curcumin treatment improved muscle
function, exercise capacity in mice with heart failure and healthy
controls.
Curcumin, a chemical that comes from the turmeric plant, has been used
as a traditional Asian medicine for centuries, primarily to treat
gastrointestinal ailments and skin wounds.
Researchers from the University of Nebraska in the US, theorised that a
reduction in the normal signalling of a protein Nrf2 may play a role in
the impaired expression of antioxidant enzymes.
The antioxidant enzymes both prevent and repair damage from oxidative stress as well as improve exercise performance.
For the study, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, the team
gave one group of mice with heart failure daily doses of curcumin --
which is known to promote activation of Nrf2 -- for 12 weeks, while
another group did not receive treatment.
The results showed that the expression of Nrf2 increased and levels of
antioxidant enzymes improved in the animals with heart failure that were
given curcumin.
In addition, both groups that received curcumin -- even the animals
without heart failure -- had improved exercise capacity when compared
with the untreated groups, suggesting the effects of curcumin on
skeletal muscle is not exclusive to heart failure.
"These data suggest that activation of Nrf2 in skeletal muscle may
represent a novel therapeutic strategy to improve ... quality of life"
in people with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, the
researchers noted.
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