Eat This Spice. It Could Save Your Life
The curry spice turmeric could help prevent and possibly even cure cancer.
Also found in yellow mustard, turmeric contains an ingredient called curcumin
that researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in
Houston say may help suppress and destroy the blood cancer multiple myeloma.
Curcumin is what gives mustard and turmeric their yellow color.
In the laboratory, the researchers added curcumin to human cells infected
with multiple myeloma. The result: The curcumin stopped those cells from
replicating, and the cells that were left died, reports Reuters.
Even though the study did not actually test curcumin in cancer patients, lead
researcher Dr. Bharat B. Aggarwal is so impressed with these early lab
results that he recommends cancer patients eat food seasoned with turmeric. And with
good reason. Previous research has shown that curcumin may fight other types
of cancers besides multiple myeloma. It has also been shown to have
antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can heal wounds and possibly fight
Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. Best of all, curcumin has no known
side effects in human beings--even in large amounts. The study findings were
published in the journal Blood.
A study last year from Kumamoto University in Kumamoto, Japan, that was
published in the journal Cancer also found that curcumin prevented cancer and
stopped tumors from growing. Reuters reports that the Japanese researchers
determined that curcumin inhibited the production of interleukin-8 (IL-8), a protein
that attracts white blood cells to a particular site and leads to inflammation.
The compound also reduced the activity of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kappaB),
a molecule that helps regulate the gene that produces IL-8.
What does that mean? Tumor cells secrete high levels of IL-8, which is a
protein that causes inflammation. The exact role IL-8 plays in cancer growth is
still unclear, but previous research shows it may stimulate tumor cells to
produce at the same time it suppresses the immune system. But the compound in
turmeric--curcumin--curbs IL-8. If the spice actually does what the study findings
suggest, then "curcumin is capable of working as a potent agent that reduces
tumor promotion," the researchers concluded.
In yet another study, researchers from the University of Rochester Medical
Center in Rochester, N.Y., found that curcumin helped protect the skin of cancer
patients who were undergoing radiation therapy. A common and painful side
effect of radiation is burns and blisters. Mice who were given three doses of
curcumin for five to seven days a week along with a dose of radiation had minimal
skin damage caused by the radiation. In addition, curcumin was found to
suppress the development of new cells in tumors, which furthers the effectiveness
of radiation therapy, reports Health Newswire.
There's only one problem with what could be Mother Nature's miracle cure for
cancer, and you won't believe what it is: Greed. To learn more about
turmeric's cancer-fighting properties, including the proper dosage, requires large
medical experiments with a great number of patients. Such ventures are costly and
are typically financed by drug companies eyeing future product development.
However, in this case, the "drug" is a natural compound. Aggarwal explained to
Reuters that no drug company can reap the financial benefits if turmeric proves
to be an effective anti-cancer drug so no drug company is likely to pay the
big bucks needed for the medical studies.
--Cathryn Conroy
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