This Spice May Stop Breast Cancer Cold
Eat curry. The yellow spice turmeric that is commonly used in Indian cooking and found in yellow mustard, may help stop the spread of breast cancer cells to the lungs, reports Reuters of a new research from the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
The magic ingredient is curcumin, the active compound found in turmeric. While the experiments reported here were conducted on mice, tests in human beings have already begun. Turmeric is a natural and safe substance. "The only thing we have to worry about is efficacy [or effectiveness]. Curcumin, as you know, is very much an essential part of the Indian diet," study leader Bharat Aggarwal told Reuters in an interview. "What's exciting about this agent is that it seems to have both chemopreventive and therapeutic properties. If we can demonstrate that it is efficacious in humans, it could be of tremendous value, but we're a long way from being able to make any recommendations yet."
This isn't the first study to reach the same conclusion. Previous research has shown that curcumin can stop tumors from forming, at least in the laboratory. In addition, other studies have shown that people whose diets are rich in turmeric have lower rates of breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer.
The study: The researchers injected mice with human breast cancer cells from a patient whose cancer had spread to her lungs. The tumors were allowed to grow in the mice and then surgically removed to simulate a mastectomy, reports Reuters. The mice were then given one of four treatments: curcumin alone, the cancer drug paclitaxel, which is sold under the brand name Taxol; curcumin plus Taxol; or no additional treatment.
The results: Three-fourths of the mice that received Taxol alone and 95 percent who got no additional treatment developed lung tumors. Compare this to the mice who received curcumin: Half of the mice that got only curcumin and 22 percent of those who were given curcumin plus Taxol had evidence of breast cancer that spread to the lungs. The one big problem: Curcumin is a natural substance. And since no drug company will create a product that cannot be patented, there are no drug companies interested in pursing the research. Fortunately, the National Institutes of Health offers funding for such research.
