Significant improvements seen in symptoms on days 28 and 56; no synergistic effect seen for combination treatment.
Curcumin and omeprazole have similar efficacy for functional dyspepsia, according to a study published online Sept. 11 in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.
Pradermchai Kongkam, M.D., from the Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Medicine in Bangkok, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to compare the efficacy of curcumin versus omeprazole for patient-reported outcomes among participants with a diagnosis of functional dyspepsia. Two hundred six patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: curcumin alone (C), omeprazole alone (O), and curcumin plus omeprazole (C+O). The Severity of Dyspepsia Assessment (SODA) score was used to assess symptoms of functional dyspepsia on days 28 and 56.
The researchers found that on day 28, there were significant improvements in SODA scores in the pain, nonpain, and satisfaction categories for the C+O, C, and O groups. On day 56, these improvements were enhanced in the pain, nonpain, and satisfaction categories in all groups. There were no significant differences seen among the groups and no reports of serious adverse events.
“To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first head-to-head comparison demonstrating the efficacy of curcumin in treating functional dyspepsia compared with omeprazole,” the authors write. “Curcumin and omeprazole were both effective for functional dyspepsia and did not appear to have a synergistic effect.”
