Turmeric which is believed to have natural anti-bacterial properties and used commonly in making everyday broth in Asian kitchens is recently found as having healing properties. The Turmeric spice is known for its other medicinal and health benefits from centuries and under recent researches now. Curcuma, a chemical in Turmeric, is found to have properties which could help in preventing and treating liver damages.

This is showed at Saint Louis University, Anping Chen, PhD, director of research in the pathology department, has conducted studies which suggest that “curcumin may be an effective therapy to treat and prevent liver fibrosis, which is associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).” Fatty liver disease according to the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), is a group of conditions in which excess fat accumulates in liver of the people who drink little or no alcohol, the more serious condition is however known as on-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

NASH can cause experience liver cell inflammation and liver scarring. Obesity and weight gain is believed to be the most common factor of causing NASH.  It can lead to a more serious type of liver damage called liver fibrosis and possibly cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death.

The chemical curcumin contained in turmeric has properties which can help in treatment for fatty liver diseases, according to the study. Curcumin has effects on leptin, a hormone play a key role in fat metabolism, according to Chen’s researches. He discovered that high levels of leptin activate the hepatic stellate cells that cause the production of too much collagen protein, which is actually a main feature of liver fibrosis.

Chen and his team found that curcumin eliminated the impact of leptin on hepatic stellate cells, which in turn interfered with the development of liver damage.

However, these are still are among preliminary researches and the results are uncertain.