Curry Cures Cancer?

According to the authoritative website from the National Health Service of UK (NHS), there seems to be evidence that the yellow spice turmeric, one of the spices that makes curry, kills cancer cells. It was based on a new research from the Cork Cancer Research Centre that has shown that the extract can destroy oesophagus cancer cells in a lab.Oesophageal cancer cells are often resistant to cell death (the aim of chemotherapy),so it is promising news as obviously more research has to be done to find out what other cancer cells can be killed by this spice. It will hopefully lead to more research on plant based substances to fight against cancer, as opposed to chemical that has been used by the mainstream research efforts so far. This will give fresh impetus to cancer research, particularly on those cancers which chemotherapy has little or no effect. There is hope

The research was properly conducted but it is too premature to conclude this is the cure we are searching for but there is hope for cancer sufferers. This is the conclusion by the NHS:

• This was a well-conducted study, and it has furthered the understanding of the complex processes associated with cell death that has resulted from exposure to cytotoxic substances.
• Given the preliminary nature of this study, it is premature to herald the spice as a potential cure for cancer.
• In advance of research in humans, further study is needed to uncover the precise mechanisms behind this activity.
• The process for developing drugs for humans is a long and involved one, and chemicals that show promise in the laboratory (in vitro) do not always have the same effect when testing moves on to animals and eventually humans. There is some way to go before we fully understand the potential of this compound in the treatment of oesophageal cancer for humans.

This is the science behind the report.

According to Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said to the BBC, "Rates of oesophageal cancer have gone up by more than a half since the 70s and this is thought to be linked to rising rates of obesity, alcohol intake and reflux disease so finding ways to prevent this disease is important too"Apparently curry is also being used to cure dementia and help to relieve arthritis.Curry in Our Diet

Curry has long been found in the diets of the people of India and South East Asia. It is a powered form of ground up spices mixture. Curry is a generic term, and although there is no one specific attribute that marks a dish as "curry", some distinctive spices used in many, though certainly not all, curry dishes include turmeric, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, and red pepper.

Curry is usually used as flavors to marinate and sauces. Poor people will consume large portions of rice and wheat based flat bread such as roti, chapatis and naan with curry as a gravy.

Curry is so versatile that vegetables or meat of any kind can be cooked with it, hence the popularity of it as a flavour.

Obviously studies must be made whether cancers are prevalent in those countries where curry is the main diet of the people.

Some Favorite Curry Dishes

Curry is now no longer confine to South and South East Asia. According to Wikipedia:

Curry's popularity in recent decades has spread outward from the Indian subcontinent to figure prominently in international cuisine. Consequently, each culture has adopted spices in their indigenous cooking, to suit their own unique tastes and cultural sensibilities. Curry can therefore be called a pan-Asian or global phenomenon, with immense popularity in Thai, British and Japanese cuisines.

Some of my personal Malaysian favorites are curried beef called rendang, curry fish head, satay with ground peanut curry sauce, curry noodles called laksa, Thai Tomyam noodle and of course the ever versatile curry chicken.Because of the variety of races found here in Malaysia, each community has some delectable curries to offer. There is a news worthy story on how McDonald tried to stop a Curry Restaurant in Malaysia from calling itself as McCurry. But that is another story.