Turmeric Spice Kills Throat Cancer Cells

On Tuesday, the British Journal of Cancer published a propitious study from Cork Cancer Research Centre ("CCRC") at the University College Cork in Ireland that found that curcumin-a compound in the curry spice turmeric-begins killing esophageal cancer cells within 24 hours. According to the CCRC study, curcumin ostensibly acts as a free radical scavenger that triggers a lethal cell death signal that causes cancerous cells in the throat to digest and kill themselves.

CCRC states that currently less than 20 percent of people survive throat cancer beyond five years. But now, Dr. Sharon McKenna, the lead study author at CCRC says: "These exciting results suggest that scientists could develop curcumin as a potential anti-cancer drug to treat [throat] cancer." Dr. McKenna further explains: "Scientists have known for a long time that natural compounds have the potential to treat faulty cells that have become cancerous and we suspected that curcumin might have therapeutic value. Dr. Geraldine O'Sullivan-Coyne, a medical researcher in our lab had been looking for new ways of killing resistant [throat] cancer cells. She tested curcumin on resistant cells and found that they started to die using an unexpected system of cell messages." Professor Gerald O'Sullivan, Director of CCRC, adds: "The incidence of [throat] cancer has gone up by more than a half since the 70s, particularly in the Western world and this is thought to be linked to rising rates of obesity, alcohol intake and reflux disease, so finding ways to both treat and prevent this disease is extremely important."

For thousands of years, the turmeric spice has been used by Indian Ayurvedic medicine to treat various diseases and conditions of the liver, pulmonary and gastrointestinal systems along with more common ailments such as aches, pains, wounds, and sprains.

There are numerous clinical trials in humans which are currently pending that study the effect of turmeric's curcumin compound on diseases including multiple myeloma, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, psoriasis, and Alzheimer's disease.

In vitro and animal studies suggest that the curcumin found in turmeric has anti-tumor, antioxidant, anti-arthritic, and anti-inflammatory properties. Other studies suggest that curcumin may also be effective in treating malaria, preventing cervical cancer, and interfering with the replication of Herpes 1 and 2 and the HIV virus.

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Cork Cancer Research Centre--University College Cork (2009). "Curry compound kills cancer cells." www.ccrc.ie.

Hatcher, Planalp, Cho, Torti, Torti (June 2008). "Curcumin: from ancient medicine to current clinical trials." Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 65 (11): 1631-52

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