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Does turmeric have any actual health benefits?#-does-turmeric-have-any-actual-health-benefitsAlice Klein for New Scientist
13 June 2026, Page 17 Volume 270 Issue 3599
AS THE temperature drops in Australia, I've been seeing recipes on social media for “golden milk”, a mix of turmeric, other spices and honey in warm milk. In addition to being delicious, it is meant to have medicinal qualities, thanks to a compound in turmeric called curcumin, which gives it its distinct yellow colour. Curcumin is said to have anti-inflammatory properties that are protective against cancer, arthritis, hay fever, Alzheimer's disease and many other ailments. But is this based on solid evidence?
Turmeric has been used in South Asian cooking and medicine for thousands of years, but has been exalted as a “superfood” in the West over the past couple of decades. This is largely thanks to the research of Bharat Aggarwal, a biochemist formerly at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Starting in the early 2000s, he published over 100 papers showing that curcumin reduces inflammation and kills “almost all types” of tumour cells.
But a large question mark now hangs over the validity of Aggarwal's research findings. In 2012, the Office of Research Integrity at the US Department of Health and Human Services notified the MD Anderson Cancer Center about allegations by academic whistleblowers of potentially fraudulent results in at least 65 of Aggarwal's papers (although that doesn't mean that the results are, in fact, fraudulent). Aggarwal left the cancer centre after an internal investigation, and 30 of his papers have now been retracted from scientific journals based on concerns about the authenticity of the results. Aggarwal's papers, of which there are several hundred, are still regularly cited. New Scientistwas unable to reach him for comment.
Personally, I find it surprising curcumin has managed to attract so much attention because a quick look at its chemistry tells you it is unlikely to be much good as a drug. Years ago, when I did a PhD in cancer drug development, one of my lab colleagues experimented with curcumin, but found it almost impossible to work with because of its poor solubility and tendency to degrade.
Because very little curcumin dissolves in water, it isn't easily absorbed into the blood following ingestion. Instead, most of it stays in the gut and is excreted in faeces. A study published by Dutch researchers last year found that curcumin was barely detectable in the bloodstreams of men who took curcumin supplements, even high doses of “enhanced” formulations meant to boost absorption with piperidine from black pepper or nanoparticle delivery systems. The concentrations detected in the volunteers' blood were more than 100 times lower than those that have shown activity against cancer cells in a dish.
This probably explains why curcumin has failed to show convincing benefits in any rigorous clinical trials of people with cancer, arthritis or other conditions.
Another concern is that turmeric products are sometimes adulterated with harmful substances. In the US, for instance, more than a dozen brands of ground turmeric spice were voluntarily recalled between 2011 and 2016 after they were found to contain lead chromate, which was added to enhance the spice's yellow colour.
I had a go at brewing up some golden milk, hoping the turmeric in my cupboard was lead-free, and can confirm it is deeply comforting to the soul, if nothing else. I think I will make it a winter staple, but with the recognition that its magic lies in turmeric's unique flavour, rather than in any miracle health benefits. Aggarwal and his colleagues once wrote in the journal of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists that curcumin's efficacy may seem “too good to be true”. He was certainly right about that.
13 June 2026, Page 17 Volume 270 Issue 3599
AS THE temperature drops in Australia, I've been seeing recipes on social media for “golden milk”, a mix of turmeric, other spices and honey in warm milk. In addition to being delicious, it is meant to have medicinal qualities, thanks to a compound in turmeric called curcumin, which gives it its distinct yellow colour. Curcumin is said to have anti-inflammatory properties that are protective against cancer, arthritis, hay fever, Alzheimer's disease and many other ailments. But is this based on solid evidence?
Turmeric has been used in South Asian cooking and medicine for thousands of years, but has been exalted as a “superfood” in the West over the past couple of decades. This is largely thanks to the research of Bharat Aggarwal, a biochemist formerly at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Starting in the early 2000s, he published over 100 papers showing that curcumin reduces inflammation and kills “almost all types” of tumour cells.
But a large question mark now hangs over the validity of Aggarwal's research findings. In 2012, the Office of Research Integrity at the US Department of Health and Human Services notified the MD Anderson Cancer Center about allegations by academic whistleblowers of potentially fraudulent results in at least 65 of Aggarwal's papers (although that doesn't mean that the results are, in fact, fraudulent). Aggarwal left the cancer centre after an internal investigation, and 30 of his papers have now been retracted from scientific journals based on concerns about the authenticity of the results. Aggarwal's papers, of which there are several hundred, are still regularly cited. New Scientistwas unable to reach him for comment.
Personally, I find it surprising curcumin has managed to attract so much attention because a quick look at its chemistry tells you it is unlikely to be much good as a drug. Years ago, when I did a PhD in cancer drug development, one of my lab colleagues experimented with curcumin, but found it almost impossible to work with because of its poor solubility and tendency to degrade.
Because very little curcumin dissolves in water, it isn't easily absorbed into the blood following ingestion. Instead, most of it stays in the gut and is excreted in faeces. A study published by Dutch researchers last year found that curcumin was barely detectable in the bloodstreams of men who took curcumin supplements, even high doses of “enhanced” formulations meant to boost absorption with piperidine from black pepper or nanoparticle delivery systems. The concentrations detected in the volunteers' blood were more than 100 times lower than those that have shown activity against cancer cells in a dish.
This probably explains why curcumin has failed to show convincing benefits in any rigorous clinical trials of people with cancer, arthritis or other conditions.
Another concern is that turmeric products are sometimes adulterated with harmful substances. In the US, for instance, more than a dozen brands of ground turmeric spice were voluntarily recalled between 2011 and 2016 after they were found to contain lead chromate, which was added to enhance the spice's yellow colour.
I had a go at brewing up some golden milk, hoping the turmeric in my cupboard was lead-free, and can confirm it is deeply comforting to the soul, if nothing else. I think I will make it a winter staple, but with the recognition that its magic lies in turmeric's unique flavour, rather than in any miracle health benefits. Aggarwal and his colleagues once wrote in the journal of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists that curcumin's efficacy may seem “too good to be true”. He was certainly right about that.
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