Recent advances in obesity: the role of turmeric tuber and its metabolites in the prophylaxis and therapeutical strategies.

This contribution reviews current literature on the application of turmeric tuber - a commonly used spice - as an anti-obesity agent. Following an introduction about the biochemical significance of obesity and characteristics of various groups of natural products applied in the therapy of overweight patients, the authors focus on Curcuma secondary metabolites, their pharmacological applications and present a detailed study on the regulatory properties of turmeric towards various biochemical mechanisms of obesity. These important findings help to fight the 21st century plague, which is an excessive weight gain, connected with the development of the metabolic syndrome and implying cardiovascular problems and diabetes, which, in consequence, lead to a significant shortening of the life span. Obesity in the 21st century society became an important health problem, alarming both the scientists and medicine doctors around the world. Nowadays, multiple combinations of plant derived compounds may result in a synergistic pharmacological action, that promotes their impact on multiple molecular targets within the adipose tissue, offering advantages over pharmacological treatment. As herein proven, the extracts of turmeric play an important role in the regulation of inflammatory reactions and oxidative stress occurring in the overweight patients, helping them reduce the excess body weight.