curcumin

Curcumin
Pinyin name
English name
Molecular formula
Molecular weight
Specifications
Plant source
Zingiberaceae plant Curcuma longa root Curcuma longa Rhizome Curcuma rhizome Rhizome Aracenia Rhizome of calamus.
Curcumin is a chemical component extracted from the rhizomes of some plants in the Zingiberaceae family, Araceae. Among them, turmeric contains about ~, which is a very rare diketone pigment in the plant kingdom. It is a diketone compound. . Curcumin is an orange-yellow crystalline powder with a slightly bitter taste. Insoluble in water. In food production, it is mainly used for coloring canned sausage products, sauces, braised products and other products. Medical research shows that curcumin has the effects of lowering blood lipids, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, choleretic, and antioxidant.
Physical properties
Curcumin is an orange-yellow crystalline powder
with a slightly bitter taste. It is reddish brown when alkaline and yellow when neutral and acidic. It has strong stability to reducing agents and strong colorability. It does not mean that once the protein is colored, it is not easy to fade, but it is sensitive to photothermal iron ions, and its light resistance, heat resistance, and iron ion resistance are poor.
Since there are two hydroxyl groups at both ends of the curcumin molecule, the conjugation effect occurs when the electron cloud deviates under alkaline conditions. Therefore, when the concentration is greater than 1, curcumin will turn from yellow to red. Modern chemistry utilizes this property as an acid-base indicator.
Uses of Curcumin
Lowering blood lipids, antioxidant, anti-inflammation, anti-atherosclerosis, etc.
In 2000, it was discovered that curcumin can inhibit integrase activity and was used in clinical trials of AIDS.
Anti-cancer is one of the main pharmacological activities of curcumin. Its tumor-inhibiting effect has been repeatedly confirmed in many animal experiments, and its specific anti-cancer mechanism has become a recent research focus.
In 2016, researchers from the National University of Singapore discovered that curcumin in curry contains antioxidant properties that can inhibit the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, thereby reducing the chance of Alzheimer's disease. This may explain why Indians have lower rates of Alzheimer's than those in the West.
In March 2019, researchers at George Mason University in the United States discovered that curcumin is a broad-spectrum inhibitor that prevents a range of viruses from infecting healthy cells. Narayanan is applying this knowledge to the fight against bunyaviruses, Venezuelan equine encephalitis viruses and retroviruses including the virus.
It is used for coloring canned sausage products, sauce-braised products and other products. The usage amount is determined according to normal production needs.
Curcumin can break down the firewall of cancer cells and help chemical drugs drive straight into the cancer cells and attack them head-on.
Curcumin plus chemical drugs were used to treat prostate cancer cancer cell lines. It was found that if chemical drugs were used alone, the effect of cancer cell death was limited, but if curcumin was supplemented, there was "a The multiplier effect of "plus one is greater than two". Pu Yongxiao said that curcumin is a strong antioxidant, and its biochemical and physiological properties are very clever, which can prevent the escape of cancer cells. He explained that when chemical drugs want to kill cancer cells, the cancer cells will build a defensive wall so that the drug cannot work. However, curcumin can destroy this firewall and greatly increase the efficacy of the drug.
The drug for treating Alzheimer’s disease, which contains curcumin as the main ingredient, achieves better efficacy than eating curry.
Turmeric, one of the parent bodies of curcumin, is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. "Chinese Materia Medica" is bitter in taste, pungent and warm in nature, and returns to the spleen and liver meridian. Promotes blood circulation, promotes qi, stimulates menstruation and relieves pain. "Chinese Pharmacopoeia" is used for chest and hypochondriac pain, amenorrhea, abdominal cramps, rheumatism, shoulder and arm pain, fluttering and swelling