The Study
Effects of Accentuated Eccentric and Maximal Strength High-Resistance Training Programs with or Without a Curcumin-Based Formulation Supplement on Body Composition, Blood Pressure, and Metabolic Parameters in Older Adults
This study is like a fair test where people were randomly given different combinations of exercise and pills to see what works best. It shows that doing hard exercise with the curcumin pill helped people lose more fat and feel better, but we don’t know if the pill alone would do the same without exercise.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Older adults at risk of metabolic syndrome did 16 weeks of strength training with elastic bands — some also took turmeric pills. Those who did both the hardest training and took turmeric lost the most fat and improved their blood sugar and cholesterol the most.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 574 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — losing 14% fat and lowering blood pressure by 10% is clinically meaningful for reducing heart disease and diabetes risk in older adults.
- 2Fat mass dropped by 14.3% with hardest training + turmeric; muscle went up 1.4–2.3% with all training; blood pressure dropped 6–11%; creatinine (a kidney marker) rose only in the hardest training + turmeric group.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Diseases
Year
2025
Authors
Álvaro Juesas, Ángel Saez-Berlanga, Carlos Babiloni-López, Ezequiel G Martin, Luis Garrigues-Pelufo, A. Ferri-Caruana, Javier Gené-Morales, Fernando Martín-Rivera, Iván Chulvi-Medrano, P. Jiménez-Martínez, Carlos Alix-Fages, Magdalena Cwiklinska, Veronica Gallo, Virginia Zarza, P. Gargallo, Julio J Fernández-Garrido, Óscar Caballero, J. Casaña, E. Moretti, E. Grazioli, G. Navarra, Marianna Bellafiore, D. Janićijević, R. Hammami, J. Colado
Related Content
Claims (6)
Adults aged 90 and older who perform resistance training experience measurable increases in muscular strength and favorable changes in body composition.
In older adults at risk of metabolic syndrome, combining 16 weeks of maximal strength resistance training with elastic bands and 500 mg of daily curcumin supplementation reduces fat mass by 14.3% more than training alone and increases muscle mass by 1.4–2.3%.
In older adults doing high-resistance training, taking 500 mg of curcumin daily improves blood sugar and lipid levels, but when combined with maximal strength training, it is linked to higher serum creatinine levels.
In older adults at risk of metabolic syndrome, 16 weeks of resistance training with elastic bands—whether focused on eccentric or maximal strength—results in the same increase in muscle mass, and the type of muscle contraction does not change the outcome.
Older adults who performed high-resistance training with elastic bands for 16 weeks showed clinically meaningful improvements in seven of ten key health markers related to metabolic syndrome.
In older adults at risk of metabolic syndrome, 16 weeks of high-resistance training using elastic bands lowers systolic blood pressure by 9.8–11.4% and diastolic blood pressure by 6.3–10.4%, whether or not curcumin is taken.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.