| Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common genetic disorders in children. CF
patients are susceptible to chronic lung infections and malabsorption. Although patient longevity is
increased by multidisciplinary care, patients still suffer from respiratory failure and low quality of life.
In this situation, CF patients tend to use complementary treatments. To the best of our knowledge
there is no research about curcumin supplementation in CF patients; thus, we decided to investigate
the effects of curcumin supplementation on anthropometric indices, and quality of life in children with
cystic fibrosis.
Materials and Methods
This randomized control-controlled clinical study was conducted in Tabriz University of Medical
Sciences, Iran. Forty CF patients were randomly sorted into intervention (n=20), and control (n=20)
groups. Patients received 3 curcumin nanoparticles (80 mg; total dose 240 mg/d) for six consecutive
months. Before and after intervention, height and weight were measured and quality of life of patients
was evaluated by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) 4.0 (CITE).
Results: After intervention, the percentage of weight changes showed a significant increase in the
curcumin group compared to the control group (7.48±4.68 vs. 4.15±4.68 kg, p=0.03). Following the
intervention, only the percentage of change in emotional functioning scores was significant (p=0.01).
Subjects in the curcumin group showed a trend towards more improvement in terms of percentage
change in physical functioning (19.28±31.65 vs. 15.24±47.14), and school functioning scores
(40.96±42.93 vs 23.90±14.82) compared with the control group.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that curcumin may be a useful, inexpensive, and safe supplement in combination
with conventional therapy to improve body weight in CF children. |