Curcumin as a Multifunctional Spice Ingredient against Mental Disorders in Humans: Current Clinical Studies and...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Pharmacology
• Natural Product Chemistry

Background:

• Mental disorders like depression, anxiety, and stress represent a significant global health burden.
• Plant-derived compounds are increasingly explored for mental health treatment, but bioavailability challenges often limit efficacy.
• Curcumin, a natural compound, has garnered interest for its potential therapeutic effects on mental health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review novel approaches for treating mental disorders using curcumin.
• To critically analyze curcumin's bioavailability and strategies to enhance it.
• To summarize the current evidence on curcumin's efficacy and limitations in mental health treatment.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive narrative review of scientific literature.
• Focused search on curcumin's efficacy and bioavailability for mental disorders.
• Critical analysis of existing studies and formulation technologies.

Main Results:

• Curcumin demonstrates significant potential against various mental disorders, including anti-anxiety, anti-depressive, and anti-stress effects.
• Low oral bioavailability is a major limitation for curcumin's therapeutic application.
• Pharmaceutical innovations such as nanoformulation, liposomal delivery, and combination with piperine or galactomannosides effectively enhance curcumin's bioavailability and solubility.

Conclusions:

• Curcumin exhibits promising therapeutic properties for mental health, but human studies are limited and heterogeneous.
• Further clinical research is essential to establish optimal curcumin formulations, dosages, and treatment durations for human use.
• Curcumin nanoformulations and Theracurmin show the most promise as highly bioavailable options for future clinical investigation in mental health.