NOTE: for more recent posts, please scroll down. I have been taking eight grams of curcumin for almost 4 years (=in January 2010), and can report no harmful side effects. Quite the opposite. However, I have read or been told of a few side effects that are worth reporting. First, my experience.
In what I call the pre-curcumin era, I could barely climb the stairs in my house and was frequently tired for no apparent reason. I had fever-like aches in my legs, especially at night, recurrent night sweats and constant night-time PN (peripheral neuropathy). All of those symptoms have now almost or entirely disappeared. Another positive and unexpected side effect is that my (high!) cholesterol decreased by more than 50 mg/dL between January and September 2006. In the same period, my triglycerides went from 99 to 73 mg/dL.
Another thing that I had in the pre-curcumin era were chronic infections (yeast infections). I haven’t had ONE since I began taking curcumin. Such a relief!
Curcumin has also had a beneficial effect on my asthma. I have had asthma for years, and have never left my house without my Ventolin inhaler. At night, I had to take a couple of puffs on a cortisone inhaler, and sometimes a couple in the morning as well. I have now almost forgotten what my Ventolin inhaler looks like, and I take only one puff of cortisone (only as a precaution) before going to bed. This has been a huge change, clearly for the better, for me.