Curcumin reduces spleen iron and stainable iron in the bone marrow. (A) Spleen nonheme iron was measured in mice receiving 5 mg/kg dietary iron supplemented with curcumin at 0%, 0.2%, 0.5%, or 2.0%. Shown are means and SD; n = 5. Spleen iron showed a statistically significant change in response to curcumin dose (P = .005 for trend). (B) Bone marrow was obtained from decalcified femurs of representative mice and stained with hematoxylin and eosin and Perl stain. Mice had received either 5 mg/kg iron plus 0 curcumin, 1000 mg/kg iron plus 0 curcumin, and 1000 mg/kg iron plus 0.2% curcumin.