RESEARKA

The present synthesis contributes to this landscape by applying a structured evidence-weighting framework that explicitly separates clinical outcome evidence from mechanistic and preclinical data, a distinction that has been insufficiently maintained in prior reviews of Curcumin inflammaging. Across 61 curated reference papers, the evidence base reveals a pattern of cross-outcome tensions: positive signals in cardiometabolic and dosing-pharmacokinetic domains coexist with negative or null findings in immune and inflammatory endpoints, creating cross-study disagreements across outcome classes that are tabulated in the accompanying Cross-Domain Synthesis. This structured approach enables readers to evaluate whether apparent inconsistencies reflect true biological heterogeneity, methodological limitations, or publication bias, rather than accepting surface-level aggregations of effect sizes at face value. We also address the gap between clinical and mechanistic evidence by mapping trial-level findings against proposed molecular mechanisms, identifying domains where mechanistic plausibility is strong but clinical translation has been disappointing, and vice versa. The synthesis further highlights areas of population specificity, where Curcumin inflammaging may perform differently in older adults with prediabetes versus younger adults with rheumatoid arthritis, and identifies dose and formulation as critical moderating variables that future trials should systematically investigate. Ultimately, the Curcumin inflammaging case for anti-aging benefit remains incomplete: mechanistic plausibility coexists with mixed or sparse human-RCT evidence, and the boundary conditions—dose, duration, formulation, population, and target outcome—remain to be rigorously established. This synthesis is intended to provide the structured evidence base necessary for rational clinical trial design and regulatory evaluation in this rapidly evolving field.

Citation Support

• source_1 Flensted-Jensen 2025
• source_2 Flensted-Jensen 2025b
• source_3 Xu 2025
• source_4 El-Rakabawy 2025
• source_5 Schonenberger 2025