Turmeric

[Guest guest]

For those that are into alternative ideas here is something based on the

spice turmeric which is often found in curries.

The fallowing article caught my interest.

Common Cooking Spice Found In Curry Shows Promise In Combating Diabetes

And Obesity

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080620195436.htm

The news release, which has been posted on a number sites, does not

mention achalasia. It does mention other disorders that have something

to do with inflammation, which is what got me interested. Doing a search

related to turmeric one can find sites with pages like these from

Medical News Today:

See:

Google Site Search: medicalnewstoday.com+turmeric

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en & q=site%3Awww.medicalnewstoday.com+turmeric & bt\

nG=Search

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en & q=site%3Awww.medicalnewstoday.com+turmeric & b\

tnG=Search>

One quickly discovers that the main substance of interest in turmeric is

curcumin. For A PubMed search for curcumin see:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Curcumin

Way too much info, but one quickly finds that curcumin has been studied

at some very impressive institutions with some impressive results. It

seems it not only is an anti-inflammatory (including eosinophilic and

macrophagic), it is also an antiviral, anticarcinogenic (with one

caveat), neuroprotective, counters effects from stress and prevents or

reduces scarring, or at least that is what some research suggests.

Sounds like something just made for achalasia, although there are no

studies with it and achalasia or any that suggest its actions would work

in that context even if it has the needed actions in other contexts. It

also sounds too good to be true, but look at what the University of

Texas M. D. Cancer Center says about its other uses:

http://www.mdanderson.org/departments/cimer/display.cfm?id=b3aa8dbd-66c3-4a6e-a3\

7c86ad3dce3ec9 & method=displayfull & pn=915cd45e-7c37-4305-8e778e10de640e0c

<http://www.mdanderson.org/departments/cimer/display.cfm?id=b3aa8dbd-66c3-4a6e-a\

37c86ad3dce3ec9 & method=displayfull & pn=915cd45e-7c37-4305-8e778e10de640e0c>

They don't dismiss the claims and plan on doing more trials of it.

I doubt this is a cure. We have people in this group from India but

perhaps they don't like Curry or use one without turmeric. Or, maybe you

can't get enough curcumin from diet even in India. It would be

interesting to see if they have the same incidence rate as other

countries but I see nothing to suggest it is lower than other countries.

I would guess that at best this stuff is only going to be of limited

help. Maybe slow down the progression. But I like curry so I can just

smile and hope it is doing something good. Those that have avoided the

surgery and like to self experiment this may be for you.

Also see:

Wikipedia - Curcumin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curcumin

notan