nutrients Review Potential Health Benefits of Curcumin on Female Reproductive Disorders: A Review Datu Agasi Mohd Kamal 1,2 , Norizam Salamt 1 , Allia Najmie Muhammad Yusuf 2 , Mohd Izhar Ariff Mohd Kashim 3,4 and Mohd Helmy Mokhtar 1, *   Citation: Kamal, D.A.M.; Salamt, N.; Yusuf, A.N.M.; Kashim, M.I.A.M.; Mokhtar, M.H. Potential Health Benefits of Curcumin on Female Reproductive Disorders: A Review. Nutrients 2021, 13, 3126. https:// doi.org/10.3390/nu13093126 Received: 24 August 2021 Accepted: 4 September 2021 Published: 7 September 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia; agasi.mk@ums.edu.my (D.A.M.K.); norizam_salamt@ukm.edu.my (N.S.) 2 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Malaysia; allia.najmie@ums.edu.my 3 Centre of Shariah, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia; izhar.ukm@gmail.com 4 Insitute of Islam Hadhari, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia * Correspondence: helmy@ukm.edu.my; Tel.: +60-391458619 Abstract: Curcumin is one of the main polyphenolic compounds in the turmeric rhizome. It possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-arthritis, anti-asthmatic, anti-microbial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. This review aims to provide an overview of the potential health benefits of curcumin to treat female reproductive disorders, including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), ovarian failure and endometriosis. Comprehensive information on curcumin was retrieved from electronic databases, which were MEDLINE via EBSCOhost, Scopus and Google Scholar. The available evidence showed that curcumin reduced the high level of androgen in PCOS. Studies in rodents suggest that curcumin resulted in the disappearance of cysts and the appearance of healthy follicles and corpora lutea. Furthermore, animal studies showed curcumin improved the overall function of the ovary in ovarian diseases and reversed the disturbance in oxidative stress parameters. Meanwhile, in vitro and in vivo studies reported the positive effects of curcumin in alleviating endometriosis through anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, anti-angiogenic and pro- apoptotic mechanisms. Thus, curcumin possesses various effects on PCOS, ovarian diseases and endometriosis. Some studies found considerable therapeutic effects, whereas others found no effect. However, none of the investigations found curcumin to be harmful. Curcumin clinical trials in endometriosis and ovarian illness are still scarce; thus, future studies need to be conducted to confirm the safety and efficacy of curcumin before it could be offered as a complementary therapy agent. Keywords: Curcuma longa; therapeutic potential; polycystic ovary syndrome; endometriosis; ovarian diseases 1. Introduction Turmeric or Curcuma longa is a rhizomatous herbal plant from the Zingiberaceae family. This plant is easily found throughout tropical Asia, including India and South China, Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia [1]. In Asian countries, turmeric is widely used in food and medicine as a natural colouring and flavouring agent at a concentration range of 5–500 mg/kg [2]. Traditionally, turmeric has been used to treat digestive disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, conjunctivitis, liver ailment, urinary tract infection, smallpox, chickenpox, wounds and regulation of menstruation [3]. Turmeric has more than 300 biologically active components, such as polyphenols, sterols, diter- penes, sesquiterpenes, triterpenoids and alkaloids [3]. Turmeric rhizome contains a high number of polyphenols (bioflavonoids) called curcuminoids, which comprise curcumin (60–70%), demethoxycurcumin (20–30%) and bisdemethoxycurcumin (10–15%) [4]. The yellow colour of turmeric is due to the content of curcuminoids [5]. Considering its high Nutrients 2021, 13, 3126. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13093126 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients