There is nothing more heartbreaking than a child in pain. Kids should get to be kids, and pediatric patients suffering from Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) lose much of their childhood to a series of never-ending medical treatments, special diets, and careful management of their symptoms.
This can change. In a revolutionary new study, CurQD®, the specific curcumin-Qing Dai formula engineered by Evinature, has been found to significantly reduce symptoms of mild and moderate UC and IBD-U in pediatric patients. This research throws open the doors in terms of patient care for young UC patients, presents a promising supplemental treatment to other medicines, reducing side effects of both the illnesses and medications, and opens avenues to improve quality-of-life in child patients.
What is Ulcerative Colitis (UC)?
Ulcerative Colitis is a specific sub-type of inflammatory Bowel Disease affecting a range of organs involved in the digestive system, from the large intestine to the ileum. It is often associated with inflammation of the GI tract, and symptoms of blood and/or mucus in bowel movements, urgency, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
Pediatric UC Patients
It can be difficult as an adult to effectively frame the health-care related variables involved with UC or IBD. There are medications to take, kits to carry around, and a psychological stress to bear from the risk of a flare-up occurring at any time. Child patients must deal with all these, as well as the emotional baggage of being different from their peers, all the while undergoing their physical and mental development. UC and IBD impacts quality of life, but especially so in younger patients.
Luckily, research is taking off to provide solutions in the form of new treatments, new methods of diagnosis, and management techniques to cope. However, not only can it take time to approve medications and treatments for use in adults, it can take much longer to ensure these treatments are safe for use in children, meaning there is a lag in potentially life-altering treatments reaching children long after they are accessible to adults.
The research published in this study addresses an important need for the UC patient community wishing for a safe, efficient treatment for pediatric patients to assist in reducing symptoms, freeing them up to focus less on their medical needs and more being a kid.
Promising Results
CurQD® Reduces Symptoms in Pediatric Trial
In this multi-center study, 30 pediatric UC patients, of whom 40% have previously failed or were intolerant to biologic treatments. With the permission of their legal guardians, these children were treated with CurQD® over a period of time in which their response to the treatment was carefully monitored. At the beginning and end of the study, several criteria were measured to classify and quantify the type of UC through their PUCAI score, FC test results, and associated inflammation before and after treatment based on these results. Explanation of the specific scores used in the study are detailed below:
Overall, 72% of patients responded to CurQD® with a reduction in the PUCAI symptoms severity score of 10 points or more. The median level of calprotectin was reduced from 749 µg/gm to 39 µg/gm as an objective measure of reduction in colon inflammation.
In over half of the patients with available calprotectin before and after CurQD® treatment, calprotectin completely normalized, testifying to the deep control of inflammation by CurQD®. Only a few patients had lower endoscopy examinations before and after CurQD®. However, in 50% of those there was marked improvement or normalization of the inflammation seen at endoscopy.
Three adverse events were noted (one during a concurrent COVID-19 infection) but all were mild and resolved without specific treatment and no serious adverse events have occurred.
PUCAI Test:
The PUCAI (Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index) test is a numerical classification of IBD or UC severity based on the appearance and frequency of symptoms. It was developed and consequently approved by the FDA as a clinical monitoring tool for UC disease activity of pediatric UC
Fecal Calprotectin Test (FC test):
The Fecal Calprotectin test uses a stool sample to measure the amount of calprotectin present in the stool. This has been shown to be an effective measure to quantify inflammation present in the GI tract without invasive tests, with a very high rate of accuracy.
CurQD® for Pediatric UC
A Game Changer in Treatment?
This clinical trial provides important evidence to the safety and efficacy of using CurQD® in pediatric UC patients. Treatment options for children suffering with UC have just expanded with the publication of these results, and points to the CurQD® protocol as being formative in healing gut inflammation and restoration. The promising results of this study are in agreement with a previous smaller study of 8 pediatric UC patients treated with CurQD® in Children hospital LA, who also responded well to this nutraceutical natural treatment (Chavannes M, CCFA 2024). 
Providing effective management treatments such as CurQD® may allow children with IBD more freedom in what they can do without worrying about or triggering their ulcerative colitis. The drastic improvement in quality of life with the implementation of this protocol offers new hope for young UC patients to dream of being worry-less kids again.
Much of this article has been informed by the following research study:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2024.1342656/full
Summer Pitocchelli-Schwartzman
