Objectives：To examine the effects of curcumin on body weight，blood glucose，blood lipid，glucose tolerance and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1（MCP-1） and tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α） expression and secretion. Methods：Male SD rats were fed with either high fat diet（HFD） or control diet（CD）. HFD-induced obese rats were randomly divided into 4 groups：HFD with saline treatment，HFD plus 10 mg/kg，30 mg/kg，and 100mg/kg of curcumin，respectively，with 10 rats in each group. Curcumin was applied to obese rats for 3 weeks. Body weight in each group was monitored weekly，and glucose tolerance test was performed. Serum lipid and glucose levels were detected using an automated biochemistry analyzer. The transcriptional levels of MCP-1 and TNF-α in epidi-dymis white adipose tissues（WAT） were examined by real-time PCR. Results：Three weeks after the treatment with curcumin，body weight and the expression of MCP-1 and TNF-α mRNA of the obese rats were significantly decreased. The contents of serum lipids and glucose were also improved and high and middle dose groups were better than low dose group in improving HFD induced metabolic dysfunction. Conclusion：Curcumin treatment can improve metabolic dysfunction induced by HFD，possibly through an inhibitory effect on the expression of inflammatory cytokines in WAT in obese rats. In addition，high and middle doses of curcumin exhibit better effect than low dose of curcumin.