Bharat B. Aggarwal was until recently the leading expert in the curative effects of curcumin.
Bharat B. Aggarwal is an Indian-American biochemist who worked at MD Anderson Cancer Center from 1989 to 2015. His research focused on potential anti-cancer effects and therapeutic applications of herbs and spices. Aggarwal was particularly drawn to curcumin, a non-toxic compound found in turmeric that has long been staple in Ayurvedic systems of medicine. He authored more than 120 articles about the compound from 1994 to 2020. These articles reported that curcumin had therapeutic potential for a variety of diseases, including various cancers, Alzheimer’s disease and, more recently, COVID-19. In his 2011 book Healing Spices: How to Use 50 Everyday and Exotic Spices to Boost Health and Beat Disease, Aggarwal recommends “taking a daily 500 mg curcumin supplement for general health”.
The above quote is from The King of Curcumin: a case study in the consequences of large-scale research fraud
As the title says, it turned out that Aggarwal committed research fraud
MD Anderson Cancer Center initially appeared to be fully on board with Aggarwal’s work. At one point, their website’s FAQ page recommended visitors buy curcumin wholesale from a company for which Aggarwal was a paid speaker (see “Spice Healer”, Scientific American). However, in 2012 (following observations of image manipulation raised by pseudonymous sleuth Juuichi Jigen), MD Anderson Cancer Center launched a research fraud probe against Aggarwal which eventually led to 30 of Aggarwal’s articles being retracted. Only some of these studies were about curcumin specifically, but most concerned similar natural products.
Retractions rarely number this high for a single author; according to the Retraction Watch leaderboard, only 26 other people have authored this many retracted studies. Aggarwal’s retracted articles feature dozens of instances of spliced Western blots and duplicated images, as well as several instances where mice were implanted with tumors exceeding volumes considered ethical. PubPeer commenters have noted irregularities in many publications beyond the 30 that have already been retracted. Aggarwal retired from M.D. Anderson in 2015, but has continued to author articles and appear at conferences.
I predict that more articles will be retracted in the future – not only because of Aggarwal being the author, but also because the field of study seems to be a magnet for frauds
Despite curcumin’s apparent lack of therapeutic promise, the volume of research produced on curcumin grows each year. More than 2,000 studies involving the compound are published annually. Many of these studies bear signs of fraud and involvement of paper mills. As of 2020, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent more than 150 million USD funding projects related to curcumin. Funding increased drastically in the 2007 fiscal year, shortly after Aggarwal began to publish in earnest about the compound and the same year he declared curcumin “the Indian solid gold”.
A obvious reason for this is the big money connected to this sort of fraudulent research
This proliferation of research on curcumin has fueled its popularity as a dietary supplement. Grand View Research estimated the global market for curcumin as a pharmaceutical to be around 30 million USD in 2020. Manufacturers are routinely scolded by the United States Food and Drug Administration for making false claims about the health effects of these supplements.
This is disappointing, but not surprising. There have been any number of foods or supplements promised to be the amazing cure-all, they are advertised widely and the supposed health benefits are repeated endlessly…and then it turns out not to be true.
In the United States, supplements don’t have to undergo approval or regulation. This is the result of a senator from a state in the clutches of the Mormon church (Utah). The state is a hotbed of get-rich-quick schemes for people looking to get rich selling worthless supplements in the form of magical juices and supplements and oils that are said to cure any illness, disease, or medical condition under the title of “alternative medicine”.
There is a saying that there is no alternative medicine: if it works, it’s medicine. Example: a person who is iron-deficient can take an iron supplement and that supplement will raise the level of iron in their blood. That is medicine. Someone looking to stop a cough might rub oil of peppermint on their wrist, and it does not work (you laugh but this was something an oil seller assured me was true). This is not medicine.