Turmeric, again

[Guest guest]

Curry, anyone?

The lay press article:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/health/3260478

And an online abstract in advance of publication:

http://tinyurl.com/e3qsl

In cancer fight, a spice brings hope to the table

By TODD ACKERMAN

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

RESOURCES

IS CURCUMIN

THE SPICE OF LIFE?

• Ground from the root of the Curcuma longa plant, curcumin is a

member of the ginger family.

• It has long had multiple uses in India and other Asian nations:

food preservative, folk medicine, coloring agent, body cleanser and

food flavorer (2 to 5 percent of turmeric is curcumin, for instance).

The University of Texas M.D. Cancer Center, the epitome of

the conventional cancer establishment, is reporting promising test

results on an unconventional weapon: a common spice used in Indian

cooking.

In a host of studies, M.D. researchers are showing that

curcumin, the pungent yellow spice in both turmeric and curry

powders, has potent anti-cancer properties. They say it may prove

effective for both prevention and treatment.

" Curcumin's promise is enormous, " said Bharat B. Aggarwal, a

professor of cancer medicine in M.D. 's department of

experimental therapeutics.

" It appears to inhibit multiple pathways by which cancer grows, and

we know it's nontoxic. "

Aggarwal added that " in a day when Vioxx and Bextra are off the

table, curcumin may be one of the best new hopes on the table " — a

reference to popular painkillers (-2 inhibitors) taken off the

market after reports they increased the risk of heart disease. -2

inhibitors were considered potential cancer prevention agents

because they'd been shown to inhibit tumor growth.

The latest study on curcumin is available today on the journal

Cancer's Web site.

In it, M.D. researchers demonstrate in the laboratory how

curcumin stops melanoma cells from proliferating along two key

pathways and induces them to essentially commit suicide. The cells

were taken from patients.

A month ago, the same researchers reported that in mice, curcumin

helped stop the spread of breast cancer to the lungs. It

outperformed the cancer drug Taxol in the study, though the best

results came with a combination of curcumin and Taxol.

Putting it to the test

The results of those studies have led to ongoing Phase I human

trials at M.D. testing curcumin's ability to stop the

growth of pancreatic cancer and multiple myeloma.

Still to come are a human trial for breast cancer and an animal

trial for melanoma.

Elsewhere, researchers are studying curcumin with lung, colon, head

and neck, oral and prostate cancers.

Aggarwal said the thing distinguishing curcumin from other natural

products touted for their medicinal properties is the science behind

it.

Herbs such as garlic, saw palmetto and gingko may receive more ink,

but there have been about 2,000 studies on curcumin, says Aggarwal,

easily more than any other natural product.

It is rich in antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic

properties.

Most intriguing, the rate of colon, breast, prostate and lung cancer

is 10 times lower in India than in the United States.

Financial obstacles

In the melanoma study, the M.D. team found curcumin shut

down nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB), a powerful protein known to

promote an abnormal inflammatory response that leads to a variety of

disorders, including arthritis and cancer; the protein known as IKK

that switches NF-kB " on; " and STAT3, another pathway involved in the

spread of tumors.

Aggarwal noted that the greatest obstacle to further study of

curcumin is financial. No pharmaceutical company is likely to

develop a natural product that can't be patented so the only sources

of funding are government agencies.

Curcumin is available in capsule form at health food stores, though

the purity of some brands may be in question because herbs aren't

regulated. Aggarwal's team worked with a 96 percent pure product.

" Curcumin's efficacy for treating cancer is still to be proven, "

Aggarwal said. " But I would recommend it for prevention right now,

based on animal studies. People have been eating it for thousands of

years so we know it's safe. "

Mike