Curry spice 'kills cancer cells'

[Lady Macbeth]

An extract found in the bright yellow curry spice turmeric can kill off cancer cells, scientists have shown.


The chemical - curcumin - has long been thought to have healing powers and is already being tested as a treatment for arthritis and even dementia.
Now tests by a team at the Cork Cancer Research Centre show it can destroy gullet cancer cells in the lab.
Cancer experts said the findings in the British Journal of Cancer could help doctors find new treatments.
Dr Sharon McKenna and her team found that curcumin started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.
'Natural' remedy
The cells also began to digest themselves, after the curcumin triggered lethal cell death signals.
Dr McKenna said: "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 Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said: "This is interesting research which opens up the possibility that natural chemicals found in turmeric could be developed into new treatments for oesophageal cancer.
"Rates of oesophageal cancer rates 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."
Each year around 7,800 people are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in the UK. It is the sixth most common cause of cancer death and accounts for around five percent of all UK cancer deaths.

[Lady Macbeth]

Extract of a spice used in curry could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis, US research suggests.
Turmeric has been used for centuries in Asian medicine to treat inflammatory disorders and its extract can be found in western dietary supplements.



Now lab work by University of Arizona researchers, in Arthritis & Rheumatism, shows just how the spice's curcuminoid extracts have a therapeutic effect.

Experts say new drugs may be found, but eating more spices is unlikely to work.

The researchers said clinical trials were needed before turmeric supplements could be recommended for medicinal use.

Turmeric extract

Earlier work by the University of Arizona team showed turmeric could prevent joint inflammation in rats.

In their latest study, they set out to find exactly what ingredient in turmeric was having the anti-inflammatory effect.They prepared extracts from the rhizome, or root of the turmeric plant, and compared them against the commercially available products that contain turmeric extracts.A version of turmeric extract that was free of essential oils was found to most closely match the composition of the commercial supplements.

And it was this extract, containing curcumin, that was most effective at blocking the onset of rheumatoid arthritis in the rats.

The extract appears to work by preventing a protein that controls when genes are switched on or off from being activated in the joint.

Once the protein known as NF-KB is activated, it binds to genes and increases the production of inflammatory proteins, which attack the joints.

Dr Janet Funk and her colleagues believe their findings also suggest turmeric extract could treat other inflammatory disorders, including asthma, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease.

The extract also blocked a pathway in the body linked to bone loss, suggesting it could treat osteoporosis as well.

Future work

Professor Robert Moots, professor of rheumatology at Liverpool University and spokesman for the Arthritis Research Campaign, said people with arthritis will have to wait to see if the study results in new treatments.

"It will come as no surprise if naturally occurring compounds have a drug-like effect," he said.

"I do not think there is any evidence that countries that eat a lot of turmeric have a lower frequency of rheumatoid arthritis. So simply eating more spices is not likely to be effective clinically.

"What is more likely is these results will lead to the targeted development of new compounds."

Dr Anne Barton, senior lecturer and honorary consultant rheumatologist at the University of Manchester said: "The findings are interesting but should be interpreted with some caution at this stage.

"Results of tests in animal models of arthritis are not always reproduced in human rheumatoid arthritis.

"As the authors point out though, there are a number of successful drug therapies that have been developed from plants."

[Lady Macbeth]

Spice 'may fight cystic fibrosis'

A spice used in curry and mustard may benefit people with cystic fibrosis, a study suggests.
Scientists in the United States have found that an ingredient in turmeric can reduce symptoms in mice with the disease and help them to live longer.

Writing in Science, they said research is now needed to see if curcumin has the same effect in humans.

Experts have welcomed the study saying it could lead to new treatments for people with the disease.

Fatal disease

Cystic fibrosis is a fatal disease in which thick mucous clogs the lungs and pancreas, trapping bacteria and harming digestion.

It is usually caused by a genetic mutation that leads the body's cells to make abnormal versions of a protein called deltaF508.
The protein is then prevented by the body's "quality control" machinery from travelling to the cell surface and performing its normal function, balancing cellular salt content.

Curcumin appears to help the deltaF508 molecules escape the cell machinery and travel safely to the surface.

The researchers, led by Marie Egan of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, fed the compound to mice with a version of CF.

Reporting their findings today in the journal Science, they described how deltaF508 was seen to be working properly in the mice.

Major symptoms of the disease disappeared, and only 10% of the treated mice died within 10 weeks compared with 60% of the untreated animals.

Dr Peter Mogayzel, director of the Cystic Fibrosis Centre at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, welcomed the study.

"This is research that really has the potential, I think, to benefit patients down the road."

[Jihad]

Well I do know what curry spice does to my stomach..lol.

[Alifarooq]

There was an article in GQ magazine about curry powder and its healing powers, it is proven that asians countries have less cancer patients then westerns, due to the use of curry powder.