Cure for Cancer: Curry Makes Its Case

A news report released by Reuters has found that a molecule that is found in curry can kill esophageal cancer cells in a laboratory, suggesting that it might be an anti-cancer treatment in the near future. This common spice has long been suspected as a treatment for various types of cancers.

Researchers in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin, a chemical found in the natural spice turmeric, and were amazed that it killed the cancer cells within 24 hours of being implemented.

For more than 5,000 years turmeric has been used extensively in the diets of south Asian countries such as India and has been an important part of Eastern cultural traditions, and has been included in the medicine in China, according to Mercola. It has several uses as a medicine that includes anti-inflammatory, detoxing of the liver, and improves digestion. The active ingredient curcumin has also been linked to possible future treatments of Alzheimer's & arthritis.

In India, where turmeric is a staple of the diet, when compared to the United States in the categories of colon, breast, prostate, and lung cancer, India has a 10% lower occurrence rate. And, prostate cancer, which is one of the most common in the United States, is almost unheard of in India.

Turmeric studies have proven that it can slow down or stop the spread of tumor cells, can slow down the transformation of normal cells to cancerous, help the body kill mutated cells, stop the synthesis of a protein that has been proven to be an important part of tumor formation, and prevent blood supply from feeding the the growth of cancer cells.

A preliminary study performed in 2006 showed that curry (and onions) could prevent the occurrence of polyps in the colons for persons at very high risk of colon cancer. Participants in the study ingested 480 milligrams of curcumin and in all five of the participants the size and number of polyps decreased, according to Sampan.

Turmeric is a plant from the ginger family and is native to tropical South Asian countries. It needs a lot of rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered once per year for the rhizomes and then re-seeded. The rhizomes are then put to a boil for hours and dried in big ovens, once they go through this process they get ground into the familiar orange-yellow powder that we are familiar with. In ancient times turmeric was referred to as Indian Saffron. Erode a city in Southern India is the world's largest producer of turmeric and is often called the "Yellow City" because of this, according to Wikipedia.

Scientists are continuing to study the benefits of this spice and hope that in the future there will be a use for it as a successful anti-cancer fighting medicine. It is currently being looked at and experiments performed concerning Alzheimer's, Arthritis, Cancer, and other biological diseases.

Sources:

Kate Kelland, "Scientists say Curry Compound Kills Cancer Cells", Reuters
Dr. Mercola, "Can this Miracle Spice Stop Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Arthritis?", Mercola
M. Thang, "Can Curry Stop Colon Cancer" Sampan
Various Authors, "Turmeric" Wikipedia