By Dr Conor Kerley, PhD, nutrition researcher, and someone who lives with an autoimmune condition himself.
If you have Behçet's disease, you are used to being the condition nobody has heard of. It is rare enough that most GPs will see a handful of cases in a career, and rare enough that supplement research mostly passes it by. So when a proper trial of a supplement is run in people with Behçet's, it is worth writing up carefully. There is exactly one for nanocurcumin. This article is about that trial: what it found, and, just as importantly, what it does not prove yet.
Quick answer
- One randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial has tested nanocurcumin in people with Behçet's disease: 36 people, published in 2021.
- The trial found improved numbers and function of regulatory T cells, the immune cells whose job is to calm the immune system down. That is the change you want in Behçet's.
- It measured immune markers, not symptoms. Whether nanocurcumin means fewer ulcers or flares has not been shown.
- Laboratory work points the same way: curcumin lowered inflammatory signals in immune cells taken from people with Behçet's.
- Nothing here replaces your medication or your rheumatologist.
What Behçet's disease is
Behçet's is an autoimmune condition in which blood vessels become inflamed. Its signature is recurring mouth ulcers, often with genital ulcers, and it can also involve the eyes, skin and joints. It flares and settles, which makes it hard to live with and hard to study. Like other autoimmune diseases, the underlying problem is an immune system that has lost its sense of proportion.
The one trial, in plain terms
A team in Iran ran a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of nanocurcumin in 36 people with Behçet's disease [1]. Randomised and placebo-controlled means half took nanocurcumin and half took an identical dummy capsule, and neither the participants nor the researchers knew who had which until the end. For a rare condition, getting 36 people into a trial of that design is genuinely difficult, which is part of why this study stands alone.
The trial measured regulatory T cells. A regulatory T cell is the immune system's brake: its job is to stop the rest of the immune system attacking things it shouldn't. In Behçet's, and in autoimmune disease generally, those brakes are underpowered. After supplementation, the nanocurcumin group had improved regulatory T cell numbers and function compared with placebo [1].
That is the immune change you want in this condition. It is also, and I want to be straight about this, a blood result rather than a symptom result. The trial was not designed to show fewer mouth ulcers, fewer flares or better days. More brakes on the immune system is encouraging. It is not yet proof that people felt better.
The supporting laboratory work
A separate study took immune cells from people with Behçet's and treated them with curcumin in the laboratory [2]. Curcumin reduced the cells' production of the inflammatory signals interleukin-1, interleukin-6 and TNF, three of the messengers that keep autoimmune inflammation going. Cells in a dish are not people, but the finding points in the same direction as the trial: curcumin calms the machinery that drives this disease.
Why nanocurcumin rather than plain curcumin
Plain curcumin is very poorly absorbed; most of a dose passes straight through. Nanocurcumin shrinks the particles so far more reaches the bloodstream, which is why trials in autoimmune conditions, this one included, keep choosing nano forms at small doses over plain curcumin at huge ones. The full story is in our curcumin overview.
What this does not show
- One trial, 36 people. That is a starting point, not a settled answer.
- Immune markers improved. Symptoms were not the focus, so symptom benefit is unproven.
- The trial comes from one research group. Nobody has repeated it elsewhere yet.
If you weigh all that and still want to try nanocurcumin, that is a reasonable, low-risk decision, but make it with your rheumatologist, especially if you take blood thinners or immune-modifying drugs. In the trial, side effects were similar to placebo.
Frequently asked questions
Will nanocurcumin stop my ulcers?
Nobody knows yet. The one trial measured immune cells, not ulcers. The immune change it found is the kind that should help, but that is inference, not evidence.
What dose was used?
The trial used a nanocurcumin supplement in capsule form. Nano doses in autoimmune trials are typically 80 mg once to three times a day, far below plain-curcumin doses, because far more is absorbed.
Is it safe with my Behçet's medication?
In the trial it was taken alongside usual care with no more side effects than placebo. Curcumin can interact with blood thinners and some other medicines, so check with your team first.
Is turmeric in food enough?
No. A teaspoon of turmeric holds under 100 mg of poorly absorbed curcumin. No Behçet's study has used culinary turmeric.
Where nanocurcumin fits in
Gold Standard Curcumin provides 80 mg of nanocurcumin per capsule. If you are thinking about it, bring this article, and the two references below, to your next appointment. For the wider evidence across autoimmune conditions, start with our autoimmune disease article.
Related reading: Curcumin and autoimmune disease · Curcumin, the overview
References
- Abbasian S, Soltani-Zangbar MS, Khabbazi A, Farzaneh R, Malek Mahdavi A, Motavalli R, Hajialilo M, Yousefi M. Nanocurcumin supplementation ameliorates Behcet's disease by modulating regulatory T cells: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Int Immunopharmacol. 2021;101(Pt B):108237. PMID 34653732.
- Palizgir MT, Akhtari M, Mahmoudi M, Mostafaei S, Rezaiemanesh A, Shahram F. Curcumin reduces the expression of interleukin 1beta and the production of interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha by M1 macrophages from patients with Behcet's disease. Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol. 2018;40(4):297-302. PMID 29806793.
---
Comments