Turmeric: A Possibility Of Curing Cancer
Proud Limnarong
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To many of us turmeric may very well just be a spice to our everyday curries and recognised by all by its distinctive yellow colour, but has anyone ever considered its benefits as a medicine? It may very well be a solution to many of our health problems and the most deadly of all, cancer. Although it has been used for thousands of years in India, it wasn’t until lately that scientists have started to investigate and provide backup claims on its promising benefits to our health.
Every year in the UK, approximately 165,000 deaths are recorded to have been caused by cancer and according to the cancer research UK, in the year 2020 cancer had caused more than 1 in 4 deaths. These high numbers have been a concern for doctors for many years now. Extensive research is being conducted in many laboratories across the globe on turmeric’s anticancer properties and has found curcumin to be the major component in turmeric in treating cancer.
To investigate this further, a recent cancer trial was performed, evaluating the effects of curcumin on the formation of tumours in the forestomach, duodenum and colon in mice: 0.5%-2.0% of curcumin were given to a group of mice two weeks before their carcinogen treatment, during their treatment and 1 week after their treatment. The study found that feeding 0.5-2.0% of curcumin into their everyday diet had decreased the number of forestomach tumours by 51-53% per mouse, decreased the duodenal tumour by 47-77% and had decreased the number of colon tumours per mouse by 51-62%. Furthermore, issuing commercial grade curcumin and curcumin in the diet of AOM treated mice resulted in a shrinking of the tumour size compared to the controlled group of AOM treated mice. This remarkable research indicates that not only does it inhibit the number of tumours in mice but also reduces the tumour size itself!
Research into curcumin’s antioxidant properties have also been proven to decrease swelling and inflammation which appears to be playing a significant role in the formation of cancer. Its strong antioxidant effects were observed to be helping to neutralise free radicals in our bodies and have been proven to decrease swelling and inflammation which appears to be playing a significant role in the cause of cancer. Large numbers of researches suggest that the curcumin in turmeric may reduce the spread of cancer, slow its growth and contribute to the death of many cancerous cells. Filter studies have also demonstrated that turmeric is able to fight cancer through more than 8 different methods through all stages of its progression.
Many benefits of it are also shown to increase tumour cells sensitivity to chemotherapy, but the use of curcumin has been an ongoing debate for many. Some believe that using this supplement with chemotherapy may be a disadvantage and result in a poorer long term outcome.
However, the use of curcumin in the treatment of cancer is still under development and is in the 1st phase of clinical trials and although curcumin hasn’t properly been tested for cancer, the results show some promising traits. To Bharat Aggarwal, MD, a well-known and highly respected advocate for the use and benefits of curcumin in cancer he states "curcumin seems to be an ideal safe and highly effective compound that can be used."
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