Turmeric research by Dr. Janet Funk earns Editor’s Choice honors in Metabolites

Wednesday
David Mogollon, Communications Manager, Department of Medicine

A paper published in April by the Division of Endocrinology’s Janet Funk, MD, and her research team focusing on anti-inflammatory benefits of turmeric components to metabolic and bone health makes a prestigious list picked by the journal.

[Turmeric, pictured in root, powder and tablet form here, has many healthy benefits as a dietary supplement – but check with your physician as it can create problems for the liver if in conflict with other medications.]

Turmeric, pictured in root, powder and tablet form here, has many healthy benefits as a dietary supplement – but check with your physician, Janet Funk, MD, recomments, as it can create problems for the liver if in conflict with other medications.

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A paper based on a study led by Janet L. Funk, MD, professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism and vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, has been named an Editor’s Choice article in the journal Metabolites.

[Cover of April issue of Metabolites, where Janet Funk, MD’s paper appeared on secondary metabolites of turmeric and their effects on metabolic disorders and bone diseases. In September, the article was picked for the journal’s Editor’s Choice honors.]

Cover of April issue of Metabolites, where Janet Funk, MD’s paper appeared on secondary metabolites of turmeric and their effects on metabolic disorders and bone diseases. In September, the article was picked for the journal’s Editor’s Choice honors.

The article, “Comparative Effects of Turmeric Secondary Metabolites Across Resorptive Bone Diseases,” appeared initially in the April 2025 issue of the journal, which is published by the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute or MDPI.

Dr. Funk admitted to being surprised and pleased by the article’s selection for the honor.

[Janet L. Funk, MD]

Janet L. Funk, MD

“I am frequently contacted by reporters interested in writing about turmeric in the lay press,” she said, including a recent reference in Scientific American. “I’m guessing, because turmeric is such a popular supplement, and most people take supplements for musculoskeletal health, the journal thought, by highlighting it, it would be something that would be of interest to a large number of people, too.”

The paper, which summarizes decades of National Institutes of Health-funded work on turmeric and its bioactive components, a group of polyphenols including curcumin, compared the effects of different compounds found in turmeric roots across multiple bone diseases.

“It’s a fun article,” Dr. Funk said, “We did a compare-and-contrast of years of work across different disease models, and put it all in one place, including data we’ve never published before. So, it’s a really nice compendium of what turmeric does and how each of the different components within it contribute to help protect bone and muscle.”

That’s something her research team has long explored, determining which components are anti-inflammatory, and then figuring out how they function. The group examined turmeric’s potential in rheumatoid arthritis, postmenopausal osteoporosis and breast cancer bone metastases. As a result, it’s helped turmeric become the top-selling botanical supplement in the U.S.

“We studied all the different fractions in a model of rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune type of arthritis. It’s really, really severe and joint-destroying, very inflammatory,” Dr. Funk explained.

“The different components each had separate effects, and sometimes, when you combined them together, they had additive benefits in terms of reducing joint inflammation and preventing bone loss.”

[U of A Cancer Center member Janet Funk, MD, moderates a fireside chat with Ginny Clements and keynote speaker and ambassador Nancy Brinker at the 2nd Annual Ginny L. Clements Breast Cancer Research Institute symposium in May 2024. Dr. Funk’s research showed bone health benefits for postmenopausal women and those with breast cancer.]

U of A Cancer Center member Janet Funk, MD, moderates a fireside chat with Ginny Clements and keynote speaker and ambassador Nancy Brinker at the 2nd Annual Ginny L. Clements Breast Cancer Research Institute symposium in May 2024. Dr. Funk’s research showed bone health benefits for postmenopausal women and those with breast cancer.

University of Arizona Cancer Center

Figuring out how they worked led her team to explore turmeric’s impact in osteoporosis and cancer.

“We studied it in a model of postmenopausal osteoporosis, because bone loss is the main problem in that disease,” she said. “We moved on from there to breast cancer, with bone metastases. Most women who die from breast cancer, it’s because it spreads or metastasizes, and, for most women, it shows up first in bone.”

The lab’s latest focus investigates how turmeric remains biologically active despite liver metabolism.

“As soon as you ingest curcumin, it’s inactivated by the liver. So how could it possibly be biologically active?” Dr. Funk asked. “We’ve found this one enzyme that people produce that can actually activate turmeric is inside the bone in high levels. So, the active compound is sort of made to order, on site, within the bone.”

Her team is now studying that enzyme, 𝛽-glucuronidase, in both mice and humans.

“We think people who have more of this enzyme might have more benefits,” she said. “We looked at women with breast cancer who have an acceleration of age-related frailty, and we did find a positive association between the enzyme and muscle mass, with hints about bone mass, too. We have been experimenting with ways to increase the enzyme in bone, and have filed a patent for one approach. Interestingly, Hispanic women tend to have naturally higher enzyme levels. We are working with the U of A’s Dawn Coletta, PhD, Jennifer Bea, PhD, and Sima Ehsani, MD, to try to learn more about that right now, with support from the U of A Cancer Center.”

[Janet Funk, MD’s turmeric and rheumatoid arthritis research team in 2015 (and where they are now): L-R, staffer Susan Whitman (Immunobiology); grad student Laura Hopkins (C-Path Institute); grad student Julia Cheng (PhD at Caris Life Sciences); professor Dean Billheimer, PhD (director, U of A Stat Lab); Dr. Funk; grad student Andrew Kunihiro (PhD with AstraZeneca); assistant professor Allison Hopkins (Texas A&M), professor H.H. “Sherry” Chow, MD (retired), and lab manager Jen Frye (Immunobiology).]

Dr. Funk’s turmeric and rheumatoid arthritis research team in 2015: L-R, staffer Susan Whitman; grad student Laura Hopkins; grad student Julia Cheng; professor Dean Billheimer, PhD; Dr. Funk; grad student Andrew Kunihiro; Nutritional Sciences assistant professor Allison Hopkins, Hematology & Oncology professor H.H. “Sherry” Chow, MD, and lab manager Jen Frye.

BIO5 Institute

Dr. Funk credited two former graduate students, Laura Wright, MD, PhD, now a resident physician at Ohio State University, and Andrew Kunihiro, PhD, RD, now a scientist at AstraZeneca, as well as colleague and pharmacognosist, Barbara Timmermann, PhD, a former U of A Regents Professor and now dean of the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, as key contributors for the metabolite project and paper.

“All our work’s been NIH-funded,” she said. “It’s been many years, but it’s exciting to see it all come together in this way.”

Dr. Funk added a word of caution, though.

“We and others have also published reports about liver failure caused by turmeric supplements. People always need to inform their health care providers about any supplement use.”

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Contacts

David Mogollon
mogollon@arizona.edu
520-626-1137