Cancer Cure Now

Curcumin History Curcumin is the bright yellow pigment in turmeric, ground from the turmeric root (Curcuma longa L.) which is a member of the ginger family.

Turmeric is found wild in the Himalayas and grown across South Asia. It is used in curries and yellow mustard. People whose diets are rich in turmeric have reduced rates of breast cancer as well as prostate, lung and colon cancers.

Elderly villagers in India who consume turmeric with almost every meal also have the world's lowest rate of Alzheimer's disease, and animal studies have shown that curcumin blocks the formation and accumulation of the plaque that characterizes Alzheimer's.

Studies Curcumin acts as a free radical scavenger and antioxidant, inhibiting lipid peroxidation and oxidative DNA damage. Its anticancer effects stem from its ability to induce apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells without toxic effects on healthy cells.

Recent research by the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston showed that curcumin prevented the spread of breast cancer to the lungs in mice inoculated with human breast cancer cells.

The mice were divided into four groups: one received no treatment, one got curcumin alone, one was given the cancer drug Taxol and the fourth group was given curcumin plus Taxol.

Cancer spread to the lungs among half the mice in the curcumin-only group and 22 percent of those that received that combination of both curcumin and Taxol. The groups receiving no curcumin fared far worse: among the mice that received Taxol alone 75 percent developed lung tumors; and the cancer spread to the lungs among 95 percent of the mice who were given no treatment.  

The researchers at M. D. Anderson state: "Curcumin can suppress tumor initiation, promotion and metastasis. Pharmacologically, curcumin has been found to be safe.

Human clinical trials indicated no dose-limiting toxicity when administered at doses up to 10 g/day. All of these studies suggest that curcumin has enormous potential in the prevention and therapy of cancer." University of Leicester researchers found that curcumin slows the rate at which prostate cancer cells become unresponsive to hormonal therapy.

A 2005 study from Kumamoto University in Kumamoto, Japan, published in the journal Cancer also found that curcumin prevented cancer and stopped tumors from growing. Their study showed that curcumin inhibited the production of interleukin-8 (IL-8), a protein that attracts white blood cells to a particular site, causing inflammation.

Curcumin also reduced the activity of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kappaB), a molecule that helps regulate the gene controlling production of IL-8.

Tumor cells secrete high levels of IL-8, causing local inflammation which prevents the immune system from finding and destroying tumor cells, and also directly stimulating the growth of more tumor cells.

By curbing IL-8, curcumin slows tumor growth and allows the immune system to attack the tumor. The researchers concluded that "curcumin is capable of working as a potent agent that reduces tumor promotion."

BB Aggarwal published two studies, in 1997 in the Journal Anticancer Drugs 2003 in the Journal Anticancer Research, which concluded that several breast tumor cell lines, "including hormone-dependent and -independent and multidrug-resistant (MDR) lines," respond to antiproliferative effects of curcumin.

When Aggarwal et al examined the cell lines "including the MDR-positive ones," they were all found to be "highly sensitive to curcumin. The growth inhibitory effect of curcumin was time- and dose-dependent.... Overall our results suggest that curcumin is a potent antiproliferative agent for breast tumor cells and may have potential as an anticancer agent."

The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties of turmeric and curcumin are undergoing intense research worldwide. Other laboratories offer varying explanations but confirm the activity level of curcumin against breast , prostate and other cancers.

Dosage So far, the main toxic effects observed in humans due to high doses of turmeric are stomach irritation and ulceration, and anti-coagulant activity, which may enhance the effects of anticoagulant medication.

Studies in rats showed reduced cataract formation at moderate doses, but increased cataract formation at high doses, as well as liver damage. However, these last two effects have never been found in humans.

It is not recommended that curcumin be used at the same time as chemotherapy, as one study published by S. Somasundaram in 2002 in the journal Cancer Research found it diminished the effectiveness of the chemotherapy on cancer cells in vitro.

Turmeric powder is sold in bulk in grocery stores for use in food. It is also sold in capsules, some of which contain a standardized extract of curcumin. The capsules range in size from 500 mg to 700 mg. The usual dose is 2 to 3 capsules daily taken with meals. However, these are just the usual doses for health maintenance. Cancer researchers administered up to 10 gm per day to their subjects.