By Dr Conor Kerley, PhD, nutrition researcher, and someone who lives with a chronic neurological condition himself.
If you or someone you love has motor neuron disease, you already know what it is. You do not need me to define it, and you have probably already met plenty of confident claims about supplements. So let me be careful with you. There is not much research on nutrition and MND. What exists is small and early. I am going to tell you exactly what it shows, no more and no less, because I think people facing this disease deserve straight answers.
Quick answer
- One randomised, placebo-controlled trial has tested nanocurcumin in people with ALS, added to standard treatment for 12 months. It was safe, and fewer people on nanocurcumin died or needed breathing support. It was a pilot of 54 people, and that result needs confirming in larger studies before anyone can rely on it.
- The same trial found no difference between the groups on any of its other measures.
- A separate six-month study of alpha lipoic acid with vitamins B1, B2 and B12 reported that quality of life, fatigue and depression scores improved rather than declined.
- Nothing here is a cure, and nothing here replaces riluzole, edaravone or your neurology team.
Why researchers looked at curcumin in MND
MND is not an autoimmune disease. The immune system is not attacking the motor neurons the way it attacks the joints in rheumatoid arthritis. But inflammation and oxidative stress are part of how the disease progresses, and curcumin dampens both in laboratory studies. That, plus a good safety record, is why a neurology team decided it was worth a proper trial.
The nanocurcumin trial
The study was run at a neurological referral centre in Iran and published in the journal Neurotherapeutics in 2018 [1]. It was done properly: randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled, which for a supplement trial in MND is rare.
Fifty-four people with a definite or probable ALS diagnosis took part. Half received 80 mg of nanocurcumin a day, half received a placebo, and everyone stayed on their standard treatment, including riluzole. The trial ran for a full 12 months, and the main question was survival: how many people died or became dependent on mechanical ventilation.
After 12 months, that had happened to 1 person in the nanocurcumin group and 6 in the placebo group. The difference in survival curves was statistically significant. There were no serious side effects, and nobody stopped taking the capsules because of them. The researchers' own conclusion was measured: nanocurcumin is safe and "might improve the probability of survival" as an add-on treatment, and larger, longer studies are needed to confirm it.
I want to be equally measured. On every other measure the trial looked at, there was no significant difference between the groups. A pilot of 54 people can produce a survival difference by chance, and a single trial from a single centre is a reason for more research, not a promise. But it is also true that this is a real signal, from a real randomised trial, with a treatment that caused no harm. In a disease with very few options, that is worth knowing about.
The lipoic acid and B-vitamin study
A smaller six-month study looked at a food supplement combining alpha lipoic acid with vitamins B1, B2 and B12 in people with ALS, most of whom were taking riluzole or edaravone [2]. Quality of life, fatigue and depression scores did not decline over the six months. They improved. In a progressive disease, holding steady is itself notable, and improvement more so, though without a placebo comparison it is hard to say how much was the supplement.
What this means, plainly
Nothing on this page is a treatment for MND. If you are thinking about nanocurcumin or any supplement, talk to your neurology team first, both because they know your situation and because anything you take should be recorded alongside your treatment. Bring the reference below; the trial is real and your neurologist can read it in full.
And if you take one thing from this page, let it be the honest version: one careful trial found nanocurcumin safe, with a survival signal that deserves the bigger studies it has not yet had.
Related reading: Curcumin and autoimmune disease · Curcumin supplements, the overview
References
- Ahmadi M, et al. Safety and efficacy of nanocurcumin as add-on therapy to riluzole in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a pilot randomized clinical trial. Neurotherapeutics. 2018;15(2):430-438. PMID 29352425.
- Alpha lipoic acid with vitamins B1, B2 and B12 in ALS, six-month study. [full citation from Dr Kerley's files]
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