Curcumin: Delicious Spice & Cancer Warrior

You may be more familiar with the term Tumeric, a spice often used in Indian foods. Curcumin is a natural phenol which gives Tumeric its yellow color. If you enjoy Indian food for the flavor, I'm going to give you another reason to like it: it fights cancer - on many levels.

Tumeric has been used in Ayurvedic medicine since 1900 BC, treating the skin, heart, liver and lungs. It also was used to purify the mind-body, and helps the lungs expel Kapha. What is Kapha? In Ayurvedic medicine Kapha Dosha consists of Water and Earth elements; when these are combined you get mud. This is useful in some parts of the body that need stability and structure, but not the lungs. Tumeric was also used to treat anemia, diabetes, digestion, food poisoning, gallstones, parasites, poor circulation, and wounds. They found many applications for Tumeric in Ayurvedic medicine.

Researchers are catching up with this ancient remedy, and finding direct interactions with various diseases. In 1997, initial studies began to look at its affects on Alzheimer's which showed great promise. Now we are discovering that curcumin has amazing cancer fighting properties that go beyond an 'antioxidant', in fact, it fights cancer in more ways than our expensive modern drugs.

We often hear of foods that help prevent cancer, especially antioxidants that protect against free radicals in the body. These reduce your cancer risk.

We rarely hear of a food that directly fights cancer. A food that helps prevent cancer, helps fight cancer, and helps prevent metastasis - the spread of cancer. What exactly does it do? Here's a brief overview:

1. Cancer prevention: Curcumin's anti-inflammatory and chemopreventative activity targets several causative factors in cancer development, giving us greater protection against cancer and reducing DNA damage.
   
   
2. Fighting cancer cells: Curcumin helps stop the uncontrolled proliferation of new tissue in tumors, and promotes apoptosis (cancer cell death) without harming heathy tissue. It also makes cancer cells more vulnerable to conventional treatments, increasing the effectiveness of chemotherapy. It also starves tumors of their blood supply.
   
   
3. Fighting Metastasis: Curcumin interferes with tumor invasion, blocking molecules that would open pathways to cancer spread into surrounding tissue.

Attacking cancer from many angles means that Curcumin can attack multiple forms of cancer before they manifest. This is significant when you consider that cancer often recurs in other parts of the body. Breast cancer, for example, often recurs in the bones. It's not enough to just treat the existing cancer, you have to prevent future cancers, in any form.

Don't expect your doctor to prescribe Curcumin to you any time soon. In spite of hundreds of studies showing it's anti-cancer properties, most established cancer organizations do not recommend it, even as something to add to your diet.

"At this time, there isn't enough evidence to recommend curcumin for preventing or treating cancer, but research is ongoing." ~ Mayo Clinic website

I suppose this is because any drug needs to go through 'clinical trials' on humans before they will recommend it for cancer. There is a protocol. Clinical trials are currently being run, but there is more funding for research on toxic chemotherapy drugs than Curcumin - a spice that can not be patented.

Speaking of toxic, the FDA has listed Curcumin as GRAS, or Generally Recognized As Safe. Clinical studies in humans showed even relatively high therapeutic doses have few side effects (a few subjects reporting mild nausea or diarrhea), and NO damage to healthy tissue in the body. Considering the extreme side effects of chemotherapy (extreme nausea, fatigue, hair loss, anemia, memory loss, damage to the immune system), this as a complement to therapy is a no-brainer even if we are waiting endlessly for our clinical trials.

Since Curcumin is not a drug, and since it prevents cancer on many fronts, it makes sense that everyone would benefit from including it in their diet. Studies have shown a cumulative effect, meaning you don't have to eat large amounts all the time (like the body needing us to constantly take in Vitamin C). Small amounts of Curcumin over time show a cancer preventative effect.

If you haven't tried Indian food before, start simple, it's a unique flavor that may take some getting used to. Go to some restaurants and try different dishes, ask for recommendations, then you can try cooking it at home.

A number of treatments have been developed to fight cancers with certain markers. For example, some breast cancers depend on estrogen. Many aggressive breast cancers do not have receptors for estrogen and can't be treated with drugs like Tamoxifen. Curcumin on the other hand, can induce cancer-cell death even in hormone-negative cancers, without harming healthy breast tissue.

Curcumin is not a replacement for treatments recommended by your doctor, but it certainly shows promise as one more line of attack. And Tumeric is a delicious addition to a healthy diet, and fitness program which helps prevent cancer.

Prevention is always better than treatment.