Nearly six million people in the United States have been diagnosed with heart failure. Photo by Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Curry spices could help people with heart failure exercise more easily, a study says.

A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that curcumin, a curry spice that comes from the turmeric plant, may slow down or stop muscle wasting in people with various health ailments.


Nearly six million people in the U.S. have heart failure, which often causes damage to the left ventricle chamber that pumps blood through the body. Heart failure can reduce the normal signaling of Nrf2, a protein that manages antioxidant enzymes, which stop and mend damage from oxidative stress.

That, scientists say, leads to exercise intolerance.

Researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center gave curcumin to mice with heart failure and low Nrf2 production. The team measured tested the exercise capacity in those mice and observed an increase in Nrf2.

The curcumin even had a positive effect on the exercise capacity of mice that didn't have heart failure.

"These data suggest that activation of Nrf2 in skeletal muscle may represent a novel therapeutic strategy to improve ... quality of life" in people with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, the researchers wrote in the study.