{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,29]],"date-time":"2026-03-29T09:24:44Z","timestamp":1774776284556,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,1]],"date-time":"2019-08-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1564617600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The efficacy of the plant-derived polyphenol curcumin, in various aspects of health and wellbeing, is matter of public interest. An internet search of the term \u201cCurcumin\u201d displays about 12 million hits. Among the multitudinous information presented on partly doubtful websites, there are reports attracting the reader with promises ranging from eternal youth to cures for incurable diseases. Unfortunately, many of these reports are not based on scientific evidence, but they feed the desideratum of the reader for a \u201cmiracle cure\u201d. This circumstance makes it very difficult for researchers, who work in a scientifically sound and evidence-based manner on the therapeutic benefits (or side effects) of curcumin, to demarcate their results from sensational reports that circulate in the web and in other media. This is only one of many obstacles making it difficult to pave curcumin\u2019s way into clinical application; others are its nonpatentability and low economic usability. A further impediment comes from scientists who never worked with curcumin or any other natural plant-derived compound in their own labs. They have never tested these compounds in any scientific assay, neither in vitro nor in vivo; however, they claim, in a sometimes polemic manner, that everything that has so far been published on curcumin\u2019s molecular effects is based on artefacts. The here presented Special Issue comprises a collection of five scientifically sound articles and nine reviews reporting on the therapeutic benefits and the molecular mechanisms of curcumin or of chemically modified curcumin in various diseases ranging from malignant tumors to chronic diseases, microbial infection, and even neurodegenerative diseases. The excellent results of the scientific projects that underlie the five original papers give reason to hope that curcumin will be part of novel treatment strategies in the near future\u2014either as monotherapy or in combination with other drugs or therapeutic applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms20153757","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,1]],"date-time":"2019-08-01T11:39:37Z","timestamp":1564659577000},"page":"3757","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Therapeutic Effects of Curcumin\u2014From Traditional Past to Present and Future Clinical Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3592-7354","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beatrice","family":"Bachmeier","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Competence Center for Complementary Medicine and Naturopathy [CoCoNat], Technical University Munich, 80807 Munich, Germany"},{"name":"Institute of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, 80807 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dieter","family":"Melchart","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Competence Center for Complementary Medicine and Naturopathy [CoCoNat], Technical University Munich, 80807 Munich, Germany"},{"name":"Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University Hospital Zurich and University of Zurich, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.1089\/107555303321223035","article-title":"Safety and anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin: A component of tumeric [Curcuma longa]","volume":"9","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. 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