Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could set loose inside your body a microscopic cleaning crew that would hunt down and remove harmful microorganisms and waste products?

Actually, that crew already exists, working hard every hour to keep you healthy. It's a force made up of cells called macrophages that have the capacity to attach to connective tissue or travel throughout the blood stream where they overwhelm microorganisms that can do you harm. And while macrophages are very effective at what they do, sometimes they need a little help.

Researchers at UCLA have produced evidence that a common spice might be just the help that microphages need to protect the brain from Alzheimer's disease.

Crossing the barrier

Studies have shown that the active chemical in marijuana (THC) may help control the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain that contribute to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Of course, THC has yet to be legalized for medicinal purposes, but there's growing evidence that curcumin may also be an effective amyloid plaque inhibitor.

Curcumin is a yellow pigment in the root of turmeric. Curry gets its distinctive color and flavor from curcumin. But in addition to its culinary appeal, curcumin is a natural antioxidant and inflammatory that has been used by Indian Ayurvedic healers for thousands of years to treat indigestion, arthritis, and urinary tract disorders.

In a UCLA study, aging mice with advanced amyloid accumulation in the brain were injected with curcumin. Results showed that curcumin was able to cross the blood-brain barrier and bind to beta amyloid, which helped block amyloid plaque aggregation.

Clean up crew

In the September 2006 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, another UCLA team reported on a study that tested the effects of curcumin on AD.

STUDY ABSTRACT

• Researchers took macrophage samples from six AD patients and three healthy control subjects
• When macrophage samples were tested for their ability to bind with amyloid, uptake efficiency was found to be significantly lower in the AD samples, compared to the control samples
• Macrophage samples were then exposed to curcumin for 24 hours
• Amyloid uptake efficiency was significantly increased in half of the AD macrophage samples treated with curcumin
• Curcumin was more effective in macrophage samples taken from patients with early-stage AD
• Curcumin had no effect on macrophage samples from healthy subjects

UCLA researchers Laura Zhang told NutraIngredients-USA that the next step in their research will be it identify the factors that helped the immune cells respond. Meanwhile, the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center has begun a clinical trial with human subjects to study the effect of curcumin supplements in AD patients.

Precautions

Alzheimer's rates in India (where curcumin is widely consumed in curry dishes) are among the lowest in the world. But for most of us here in the west it's not really practical to sharply increase our dietary intake of curry.

Curcumin supplements can be found in health food stores and through many Internet sources. But curcumin users should be aware of these precautions:

• Indigestion is one of the conditions curcumin is used to address, but large doses my cause ulcers in some patients
• Curcumin has been shown to lower cholesterol by prompting the liver to discharge bile, but this can be a problem for anyone with an obstruction of the biliary tract
• Curcumin thins the blood, so it should not be taken with anti-coagulants or anti-inflammatory drugs.

Talk to your doctor or a health care professional before taking curcumin supplements.

Sources:
"Curcuminoids Enhance Amyloid-B by Macrophages of Alzheimer's Disease Patients" Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Vol. 10, No. 1, September 2006, j-alz.com
"Curcumin Could Cut Plaque Build-Up Linked to Alzheimer's" NutraIngredients-USA, 10/4/06, nutraingredients-usa.com

Thursday 20 March, 2004 - Washington, Mar 20 (ANI): A new study has found that a Curcumin, an essential ingredient of curry, prevents alcohol-related liver damage.

The study on rats has found that the substance that gives the spice turmeric its distinctive yellow colour, stopped the changes caused by excessive alcohol consumption that lead to liver disease.

The research, published in American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, adds to the repertoire of benefits already shown by curcumin, which include anti-oxidant properties and anti-cancer activity. However, it does not mean that people eating curries can safely drink more alcohol, warns Kalle Jokelainen, one of the team of Finnish and American researchers.

"Curcumin is not harmful, and it may protect your liver from liver disease if you have very high amounts - but this has only been seen in rats," he says.

For the study, the team gave rats fish oil with either ethanol or dextrose added for four weeks. The rats that also received doses of Curcumin did not develop the fatty livers, necrosis and inflammation seen in those not given the spice extract.

Furthermore, the doses used in the experiments were much greater than would ever be used in cooking with turmeric, he says. Alcoholic liver disease is a serious problem, he says, but the answer is to drink less.

Jokelainen, at Helsinki University Central Hospital, said that Curcumin somehow blocks the activation of a key molecule called nuclear factor kappa B (NFkB). This molecule directs the chain of events that leads to inflammation and death of tissue. It is activated by many stimuli including radiation, heat shock and endotoxins - the toxins associated with bacteria.

"If you drink too much, that leads to leaky gut syndrome," Jokelainen told New Scientist. "Somehow endotoxins from the gut reach the blood and are carried to the liver. The liver is a filter and inactivates the endotoxin, but the price paid is that NFkB is activated." (ANI)

October 4, 2006- Curcumin, found extensively in curries, could boost the body’s ability to clear the build up of plaques in the brain that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease, suggest results from a small laboratory study from the US.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and currently affects over 13 million people worldwide. The direct and indirect cost of Alzheimer care is over $100bn (€81bn) in the US alone. The direct cost of Alzheimer care in the UK was estimated at £15bn (€22bn).

Although the mechanism of Alzheimer’s is not clear, significant data exists supporting the build-up of plaque from beta-amyloid deposits. The new research appears to indicate that curcumin, the natural pigment that gives the spice turmeric its yellow colour, could help the body’s immune system clear away these deposits and reduce the risk of developing the disease.

“Curcumin improved ingestion of amyloid beta by immune cells in 50 percent of patients with Alzheimer's disease. These initial findings demonstrate that curcumin may help boost the immune system of specific Alzheimer's disease patients,” said Dr Milan Fiala from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Curcumin has increasingly come under the scientific spotlight in recent years, with studies investigating its potential benefits for reducing cholesterol levels, improving cardiovascular health and cancer-fighting abilities.

The research, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (Vol. 10, pp. 1-7), adds to this by reporting on a small laboratory study using blood from six Alzheimer's disease patients (aged 65 to 84) and three healthy controls. The focus was on macrophages, the ‘foot soldiers’ of the immune system that clean up harmful waste products in the body, including beta-amyloid deposits.

The isolated macrophages were exposed to a curcumin-derived compound (provided by phytonutrient manufacturer Sabinsa Corporation) for 24 hours and then introduced beta-amyloid. It was found that macrophages from three out of six Alzheimer's disease patients showed improved uptake or ingestion of the waste product compared to the patients' macrophages not treated with curcumin.

The age of the patient and the stage of the Alzheimer’s disease appeared to be key factors in the effectiveness of the curcumin compound, report the researchers, with younger patients and patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s apparently more receptive to the benefits.

No effects were reported for the macrophages from the healthy controls when exposed the curcumin-derived compound.

"We are hopeful that these positive results in a test tube may translate to clinical use, but more studies need to be done before curcumin can be recommended,” said Fiala.

The mechanism behind these apparent effects is not clear and significant further study is needed to further examine the potential effects. Some caution is also warranted due to curcumin levels in some patients already being relatively high due to participation in another UCLA study.

"Our next step will be to identify the factors that helped these immune cells respond," said co-researcher Laura Zhang from UCLA.

“Immunomodulation of the innate immune system by curcuminoids might be a safe approach to immune clearance of amyloidosis in Alzheimer’s Disease brain,” concluded the researchers.

The new study extends previous findings examining the neuroprotective effects of curcumin. Experts recommend however that consumers wishing to make use of curcumin's properties consume it in supplement form rather than eating more curries, which tend to be rather high in fat in their Western form.

The study was funded by the Alzheimer's Disease Association and private donors.

By Clarisse Douaud

September 20, 2006- Curcumin has been found to block activity of a hormone implicated in the development of colorectal cancer – results which contribute to a growing body of evidence pointing to the spice's cancer-fighting potential.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) worked with curcumin, the yellow pigment found in the curry spice turmeric, and cell cultures to link a gastrointestinal hormone to the production of an inflammatory protein that accelerates the growth of a variety of cancer cells. The study, entitled “Curcumin inhibits neurotensin-mediated interleukin-8 production and migration of HCT116 human colon cancer cells”, is published in this month’s issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

The anti-cancer effects of spices from curcumin to red chili pepper capsaicin have been consistently researched, but this new study hopes to open the possibility of gastrointentestinal cancer prevention and therapy involving the blocking of hormones.

Colorectal cancer accounts for nine per cent of new cancer cases every year worldwide. The highest incidence rates are in the developed world; Asia and Africa have the lowest rates, which calls into question diet-related factors.

"Our findings suggest that curcumin may be useful for colon cancer treatment, as well as potential colon cancer suppression, in cells that respond to this gastrointestinal hormone, neurotensin," said senior author and director of UTMB's Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology, Mark Evers. "About a third of all colorectal cancer cells have the receptor for neurotensin.”

The UTMB researchers found the gastrointestinal hormone neurotensin, which is generated in response to fat consumption, reduced production of IL-8, a potent inflammatory protein that accelerates the growth and spread of a variety of human cancer cells, including colorectal and pancreatic tumor cells.

"We found that in colon cancer cells, neurotensin increases not just the rate of growth but also other critical things, including cell migration and metastasis," said Evers. "The fact that all that can be turned off by this natural product, curcumin, was really remarkable."

According to the scientists involved, neurotensin's influence depends on biochemical signaling pathways inside the cell. They claim their experiments showed curcumin diminished those signals and thereby decreased the production of IL-8. Experiments also showed neurotensin increased the migration of colorectal cancer cells, and that curcumin could suppress this migration -- possibly reducing the ability of colorectal cancer to spread to other locations in the body.

Reference:

Xiaofu Wang et al. "Curcumin inhibits neurotensin-mediated interleukin-8 production and migration of HCT116 human colon cancer cells." Clinical Cancer Research. Sep 15, 2006; 12 (18).

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January 10, 2005 - The modest ginger root, curcumin, is demonstrating in the lab exactly why traditional healers have used it for thousands of years.

Curcumin, an ancient spice in the ginger family, also known as turmeric root, is gaining plenty of attention for its positive impact on a number of ailments. It is shining as an antioxidant, for example, as well as for its beneficial effects in prohibiting tumors, for its anti-inflammatory properties, and even for its ability to retard some of the progress of the virus that causes AIDS.

This sounds like a lot of claims for a seemingly unpretentious kitchen spice. But, in fact, curcumin's use dates back to the time of Egyptian pharaohs and Indian rajas more than 6,000 years ago. A tall, stemless, perennial plant cultivated throughout the tropics, especially in India, China and Indonesia, turmeric is what gives curry its unique flavor and color.

But in addition to its kitchen uses, curcumin has been used by traditional medicine for liver disease (particularly jaundice), indigestion, urinary tract diseases, blood purification, inflamed joints (rheumatoid arthritis), insect bites, dermatological disorders and as an atherosclerosis preventative. Although the chemical structure of curcumin was determined in 1910, it was only during the mid 1970s and 1980s that the potential uses of curcuminoids in medicine began to be extensively studied.

For example, curcumin has demonstrated, in vivo, the ability to decrease total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels in serum, and to increase the beneficial HDL cholesterol. It inhibits platelet aggregation induced by arachidonic acid, adrenaline and collagen. Where lipid peroxidation was induced by carbon tetrachloride, curcumin significantly decreased the level of lipid peroxidation.

In one study, bile acid output was increased by nearly 100 percent. In another study of mice and hamsters that were fed a special diet to induce cholesterol gallstones, the incidence of cholesterol gallstones was reduced by curcumin.

(Since curcumin lowers cholesterol levels by increasing the flow of bile out of the liver, those with biliary tract obstruction should not use curcumin. Always take curcumin with food.)

Other studies have demonstrated curcumin's positive impact against ulcers, hardening of the arteries, and in warding off harmful stomach bacteria. Let's examine the science behind the claims.

Free Radicals do their damage with a sequence of changes resulting from an injury (burn, thermal shock, etc.), and ultimately oxidative stress from the depletion of antioxidant defense mechanisms. Curcuminoids, and other antioxidants, have the ability to merge with potential radical molecules, preventing free-radical formation.

An interesting benefit of turmeric and curcumin appears to be its significant antioxidant activity. To fully understand the antioxidant properties of curcuminoids, let's begin with the role of oxygen in our body. The trade-offs for oxygen utilization (metabolism) in the body are oxygen by-products. They become waste that pollutes the body and causes damage to our DNA (genetic material which is the blueprint for the cells' command center), proteins, lipids and other molecules in the cell.

Snaring Free Radicals

Even the defense of the body against foreign invasion, like microbial infection, involves a trade-off. These defense mechanisms naturally produce oxidants which can kill the invading bacteria, but may also cause injury to the body cells.

Other oxidants produced by the body are cytochrome enzymes, which are abundant in the lungs and liver. These organs protect the body against toxins entering from air, water and food. Outside influences, such as an excess of metals like iron and copper (and their salts), and oxidized fats, may generate oxidants in the body.

As a defense reaction, normal body functions generate oxidants such as superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radicals and lipid peroxides. Such oxidants are referred to as free radicals-"radical" (as opposed to the stable molecules), and "free" (to start a chain reaction in the body that will destabilize surrounding cells).

This process leads to tissue and organ degeneration that will eventually result in chronic inflammation, heart disease, accelerated aging and disorganized cell growth that may result in cancer. Antioxidants can stop free radical damage by either minimizing or preventing the oxidants' initial formation, or by neutralizing the existing free radicals in the body.

The aging process exemplifies the cumulative result of free-radical damage to cells, tissues and organs. The body has built-in mechanisms for counteracting free radicals but, unfortunately, the aging process and disease gradually overwhelm the antioxidant defense reaction. Fortunately, some vitamins, minerals, herbs and their compounds such as phonemics, flavanoids and carotenoids, have the ability to scavenge or neutralize free radicals. Curcuminoids, for example, merge with these potential radical molecules and thus prevent free-radical formation.

Inflammation is known to be associated with increased levels of lipid peroxides and free radicals, which are generated by the liver as well as by inflamed tissues in the body. Animals fed curcumin showed decreased levels of lipid peroxides and subsequent reduction in the processes of inflammation. One study showed curcumin to be eight times more powerful that vitamin E in preventing lipid peroxidation. Taken in group arrangements such as C-complex, curcuminoids are three times as potent in neutralizing free-radical molecules.

In summary, the antioxidant mechanisms of curcuminoids may include one or more of the following interactions: They may intervene in oxidative attacks to restrict or prevent them from happening; scavenge or neutralize free radicals; and break the oxidative chain reaction caused by free radicals.

Anti-Inflammatory Effects

Curcuminoids inhibit enzymes which participate in the synthesis of inflammatory substances in the body. The natural anti-inflammatory activity of curcuminoids is comparable in strength to steroidal drugs, and such nonsteroidal drugs as indomethacin and phenylbutazone, which have dangerous side effects.

Inflammation results from a complex series of actions and/or reactions triggered by the body's immunological response to tissue damage. This damage may be caused by physical traumas including various diseases and surgery. Moderate inflammation is necessary for the healing process; however, continuous inflammation leads to chronic conditions like arthritis and its associated pain. In a double-blind, controlled study, three groups of patients received either curcumin (400 mg), the anti-inflammatory prescription drug phenylbutazone (100 mg), or a placebo (250 mg of lactose powder) three times daily for five consecutive days after surgery. They had been admitted for either a hernia condition or an accumulation of fluid in the scrotum. The results: curcumin was just as effective as phenylbutazone in reducing post-operative inflammation.

Curcuminoids prevent the synthesis of several inflammatory prostaglandins and leukotrienes. When the anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin were tested in a double-blind clinical trial in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, curcumin produced significant improvement in all patients, and again the therapeutic effects were comparable to those obtained with phenylbutazone.

Further, oral administration of curcumin to rats, at a dose of 3 mg per kilogram of body weight, and sodium curcumin at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg, inhibited formalin-induced arthritis in the animals. In fact, curcumin once again was comparatively as effective as phenylbutazone in this application. In a double-blind trial in 49 patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, when curcumin was given at a dose of 1,200 mg per day for five to six weeks, there was an overall improvement in morning stiffness and physical endurance; this yielded comparable effects to those obtained with phenylbutazone.

Other inflammation-related illnesses? Patients with chronic respiratory disorders experience significant relief in symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath. Eye drops of a turmeric mixture were administered in 25 cases of bacterial conjunctivitis, an inflammatory condition of the eye. Symptoms such as eye redness or a burning sensation began subsiding after the third day of treatment. During the six-day treatment period, it was determined that 23 of the 25 patients were relieved of all symptoms.

Curcumin has a similar action to aspirin. However, unlike aspirin curcumin inhibits synthesis of inflammatory prostaglandins, but does not affect the synthesis of prostacyclin, an important factor in preventing vascular thrombosis. Any drug that affects its synthesis (especially when used in large doses) may increase the risk of this dangerous condition. Curcumin may therefore be preferable for patients who are prone to vascular thrombosis and require anti-inflammatory and/or anti-arthritic therapy.

In a recent study, cats exposed to myocardial ischemia-reduced blood flow in the heart tissues, a condition resulting from the consequences of a heart attack, were evaluated using curcumin and quinidine, a standard antiarrhythmic drug. Both of the substances protected the animals against a decrease in heart rate and blood pressure following restricted blood flow to the heart.

Curcumin and AIDS

Therapy for an immune system disease such as HIV infection, which causes AIDS, is currently being approached in two different ways:

Curcumin inhibits the HIV-1 integrase protein. Therefore, this integrase inhibition may contribute to the anti-HIV activity of curcumin, which currently is in clinical trials for AIDS patients. Here is some AIDS background as to why curcumin may have this benefit:
CD-4 and CD-8 cells are acronyms for the immune cells called T-lymphocytes, which are responsible for some of the most sophisticated activity of the immune system. The T-lymphocytes function to regulate the entire immune response. With regard to this regulatory function, the T-lymphocytes can be divided into T-helpers and T-suppressors. The T-helpers stimulate the immune response to provide protection against invading microorganisms.

The function of T-suppressors is to stop this action when appropriate-for example, at the point at which infection has been overcome-in order to avoid excessive immune system activity being turned against the body itself. Balanced interaction between T-helper and T-suppressor cells represents self-regulation of the immune response. Self-regulation is regarded as the most crucial aspect of this response.

In HIV infection and AIDS, T-helpers cells become a primary target of the infection, becoming increasingly incapacitated and destroyed by the virus. The current definition of AIDS includes HIV infection with T-helper (CD-4) cell counts lower than 200 per ml of blood. This immune system is usually unable to defend the body against various viral, bacterial and parasitic infections. The microorganisms take advantage of the weakened defense system and invade the body; hence those infections are referred to as opportunistic infections.

HIV cannot live without being fully integrated in the live body cell. The enzyme integrase facilitates integration of the virus genetic material with the genetic material in the cell. The genetic material of the cell begins to serve the virus, not the cell.

Now, here is the potential payoff: curcumin was found to inhibit the activity of integrase, potentially preventing HIV from finding a home in CD-4 and CD-8 cells.

In a study, the administration of 2,000 mg of curcumin given to 18 HIV-infected patients for approximately 20 weeks resulted in a significant increase in the CD-4 and CD-8 cell counts, as compared with the placebo-receiving patients. The CD-4 cell count before the treatment ranged from 5 to 615 cells per ml of blood, and the respective range after treatment was 283 to 1,467 cells/ml of blood.

Other Protective Properties

Diets supplemented with curcuminoids protect the integrity of biomolecules in the body. Preventing the deterioration of food, and keeping nutrients in tissues from degenerating, appear to be closely related. For example, the properties in turmeric which prevent meat from becoming rancid help to provide edible animal protein that contains less oxidized fat or free radicals. When this type of food is ingested, it supplies clean nutrients rather than free radical-damaged nutrients.

The same attributes of turmeric that preserve the freshness of food may also protect living tissue from degenerative disease. Feeding curcuminoids to laboratory animals resulted in elevated levels of the enzyme glutathione S-transferase, an important index of the efficiency of detoxification.

For centuries, turmeric has been used as a food additive, a medicinal agent and a dye for cosmetics and fabrics without manifesting side effects. This record of safety has been one of the deciding factors that allowed the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization expert committee on food additives to approve curcuminoids as natural food coloring agents.

January 4, 2005 - Curcumin, the yellow pigment in curry spice, is to be investigated for its potential in prevention of Alzheimer’s disease after tests on mice found it to be more effective than drugs currently being investigated for treatment.

A dietary staple of India, where Alzheimer's disease rates are reportedly among the world's lowest, curcumin appears to block and break up brain plaques that cause the disease.

The spice has also been found to correct the cystic fibrosis defect in mice, prevent the onset of alcoholic liver disease and may slow down the blood cancer multiple myeloma as well as multiple sclerosis.

Reporting in the 7 December online edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers from the University of California Los Angeles also revealed that curcumin is more effective in inhibiting formation of the protein fragments than many other drugs being tested as Alzheimer's treatments.

The researchers found the low molecular weight and polar structure of curcumin allow it to penetrate the blood-brain barrier effectively and bind to beta amyloid (which form the disease-causing plaques).

In earlier studies published during 2001, the same research team found curcumin has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which scientists believe help ease Alzheimer's symptoms caused by oxidation and inflammation.

The body of research has prompted the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) to begin human clinical trials to further evaluate its protective and therapeutic effects.

"The prospect of finding a safe and effective new approach to both prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease is tremendously exciting," said principal investigator Gregory Cole, professor of medicine and neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and associate director of the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

"Curcumin has been used for thousands of years as a safe anti-inflammatory in a variety of ailments as part of Indian traditional medicine," Cole added.

"Recent successful studies in animal models support a growing interest in its possible use for diseases of ageing involving oxidative damage and inflammation like Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease. What we really need, however, are clinical trials to establish safe and effective doses in aging patients."

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementing illness among middle and older adults, affecting more than 4 million Americans and many millions worldwide. The prevalence of Alzheimer's among adults aged 70-79 in India, however, is 4.4 times less than the rate in the United States.

Curcumin is apparently more than your typical kitchen spice. It's the substance that gives ginger its yellowish colour, and it has been implicated in the treatment of certain eye diseases and conditions. One of those is known as chronic anterior uveitis (CAU), an inflammatory condition of the vascular layer of the eye, particularly the area comprising the iris. In one small study, Curcumin was given orally to 32 chronic anterior uveitis patients who were divided into two groups. The first group received Curcumin alone, whereas the second group received a combination of Curcumin and antitubercular treatment. Amazingly, all of the patients treated with Curcumin alone improved, compared to a response rate of 86% among those receiving the combination therapy. The researchers concluded that Curcumin was just as effective as corticosteroid therapy, the only available standard treatment for chronic anterior uveitis at present, adding that "the lack of side effects with Curcumin is its greatest advantage compared with corticosteroids."

Similar research using rats and rabbits found that Curcumin effectively inhibited chemically induced cataract formation, even at very low dietary levels. The same study also found, for the first time, that this type of induced cataract may be accompanied by apoptosis of epithelial cells in the eye and that Curcumin may lessen the apoptotic effect. In one of the earliest studies examining Curcumin as a potential cataract therapy, researchers fed two groups of rats, diets that included corn oil, or a combination of Curcumin and corn oil for 14 days. Afterward, their lenses were removed and examined for the presence of lipid peroxidation. The scientists discovered that "the lenses from Curcumin-treated rats were much more resistant to. induced opacification than were lenses from control animals."

Awasthi S et al. Curcumin protects against 4-hydroxy-2-trans-nonenal-induced cataract formation in rat lenses. Am J Clin Nutr 1996 Nov;64 (5):761-6.

Lal B et al. Efficacy of curcumin in the management of chronic anterior uveitis. Phytother Res 1999 Jun;13(4):318-22.

Pandya U et al. Dietary curcumin prevents ocular toxicity of naphthalene in rats. Toxicol Lett 2000 Jun 5;115(3):195-204.

NEW ORLEANS

(Reuters Health) - Preliminary studies in rats suggest that Curcumin, a compound found in the curry spice turmeric, may block the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS).

According to researcher Dr. Chandramohan Natarajan of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, rats with an MS-like illness showed little or no signs of disease symptoms after being injected with curcumin, while animals without the treatment went on to severe paralysis.

"We got a very good inhibition of the disease by treating with curcumin," Natarajan told Reuters Health. He presented the findings here Tuesday at the annual Experimental Biology 2002 conference.

No one knows what causes multiple sclerosis, in which the body's immune system attacks the protective myelin sheath surrounding nerve fibers in the brain and spine. Symptoms of multiple sclerosis include muscle weakness and stiffness, balance and coordination problems, numbness and vision disturbances.

Interest in the potential neuroprotective properties of curcumin rose after studies found very low levels of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's in elderly Indian population
s. Added to this were studies confirming curcumin as a potent anti-inflammatory agent, effective in wound healing. And just last fall, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles reported that curcumin appeared to slow the progression of Alzheimer's in mice.

In their 30-day study, Natarajan and co-researcher Dr. John Bright gave injections of 50- and 100-microgram doses of curcumin, three times per week, to a group of mice bred to develop a disease called experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE)--an autoimmune condition used by researchers as a model for multiple sclerosis because it also results in the slow erosion of myelin. They then watched the rats for signs of MS-like neurological impairment.

By day 15, rats who had not received curcumin developed EAE to such an extent that they displayed complete paralysis of both hind limbs, according to Natarajan.

In contrast, rats given the 50-microgram dose of the curry compound showed only minor symptoms, such as a temporarily stiff tail. And rats given the 100-microgram dose appeared completely unimpaired throughout the 30 days of the study.

The results didn't really surprise Natarajan. "In Asian countries, such as India, China, who are eating more spicy foods, more yellow compounds like curcumin...there are only very, very rare reports of MS," he pointed out. He said the doses the rats received were roughly equivalent in human terms to those found in a typical Indian diet.

Just how curcumin might work to thwart the progression of demyelinization remains unclear. But the Nashville researchers believe it may interrupt the production of IL-12, a protein that plays a key role in signaling immune cells to launch their assault on the myelin sheath.

Natarajan stressed that "we have to do a lot of work on this," including examining other potential mechanisms by which curcumin slows EAE and, potentially, MS.

The work remains preliminary, and MS patients should follow their doctor's advice when it comes to treating the disease. Still, Natarajan said adding a little curry to the diet couldn't hurt. "I think using this spice in their food could be of help," he said.

Ono K, Hasegawa K, Naiki H, Yamada M. J Neurosci Res. 2004 Mar 15;75(6):742-50.

Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa, Japan.

Inhibition of the accumulation of amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) and the formation of beta-amyloid fibrils (fAbeta) from Abeta, as well as the destabilization of preformed fAbeta in the central nervous system, would be attractive therapeutic targets for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We reported previously that nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) and wine-related polyphenols inhibit fAbeta formation from Abeta(1-40) and Abeta(1-42) and destabilize preformed fAbeta(1-40) and fAbeta(1-42) dose-dependently in vitro. Using fluorescence spectroscopic analysis with thioflavin T and electron microscopic studies, we examined the effects of curcumin (Cur) and rosmarinic acid (RA) on the formation, extension, and destabilization of fAbeta(1-40) and fAbeta(1-42) at pH 7.5 at 37 degrees C in vitro. We next compared the anti-amyloidogenic activities of Cur and RA with NDGA. Cur and RA dose-dependently inhibited fAbeta formation from Abeta(1-40) and Abeta(1-42), as well as their extension. In addition, they dose-dependently destabilized preformed fAbetas. The overall activities of Curcumin, RA, and NDGA were similar. The effective concentrations (EC(50)) of Curcumin, RA, and NDGA for the formation, extension, and destabilization of fAbetas were in the order of 0.1-1 microM. Although the mechanism by which Curcumin and RA inhibit fAbeta formation from Abeta and destabilize preformed fAbeta in vitro remains unclear, they could be a key molecule for the development of therapeutics for AD.

June 25, 2004 - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Diets rich in Curcumin--a compound found in the curry spice turmeric--may help explain why rates of Alzheimer's disease are much lower among the elderly in India compared with their Western peers.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the buildup of amyloid protein ``plaques'' within the brain. In studies in rats, Curcumin ``not only reduces the amyloid, but also reduces the (brain's) response to the amyloid,'' according to researcher Dr. Sally Frautschy of the University of California, Los Angeles.

She presented her findings Thursday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, California.

Previous studies have noted that elderly individuals living in Indian villages appear to have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer's disease in the world, with just 1% of those aged 65 and older contracting the degenerative brain condition. The reasons for this low incidence remain unclear, however.

Frautschy speculated that Curcumin found in curry could provide a clue to this puzzle since the compound has ``a long history of dietary and herbal medicinal use'' and is also a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. In her study, Frautschy fed middle-aged (9 months old) and aged (22 months old) rats diets rich in Curcumin. All of the rats had received brain injections of amyloid to mimic progressive Alzheimer's disease.

``Curcumin reduced the accumulation of beta-amyloid and the associated loss of proteins'' in the synapses, or gaps, between individual brain cells, Frautschy reported.

``Synapses connect nerve cells and are crucial for memory,'' the California researcher explained. Keeping synapses free of plaque is important because ``their loss correlates well with memory decline in Alzheimer's.'' This type of memory preservation may have been reflected in the fact that rats fed curcumin also performed much better in memory-dependent maze tests compared with rats on normal diets, according to Frautschy. Curcumin also appeared to reduce Alzheimer's-related inflammation in neurologic tissue.

Because ``a combined anti-inflammatory and antioxidant approach will be useful for Alzheimer's prevention or treatment,'' Frautschy speculates that Curcumin could be especially valuable in the fight against the disease, especially in combination with anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen. Her team is hopeful they will soon receive funding for clinical trials to investigate curcumin-ibuprofen combination therapy.

Curcumin may not be the only compound in the kitchen spice rack able to ward off Alzheimer's. In an interview with Reuters Health, Frautschy said that ``chemicals from rosemary (rosmarinic acid) and ginger (vanillin and zingerone, also high in Indian diets) have similar structure and should be tested.''

Summary of Study:

The Curry Spice Curcumin Reduces Oxidative Damage and Amyloid Pathology in an Alzheimer Transgenic Mouse.

Lim GP, Chu T, Yang F, Beech W, Frautschy SA, Cole GM.

Departments of Medicine and Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, and Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Sepulveda, California 91343.

Inflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients is characterized by increased cytokines and activated microglia. Epidemiological studies suggest reduced AD risk associates with long-term use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Whereas chronic ibuprofen suppressed inflammation and plaque-related pathology in an Alzheimer transgenic APPSw mouse model (Tg2576), excessive use of NSAIDs targeting cyclooxygenase I can cause gastrointestinal, liver, and renal toxicity. One alternative NSAID is curcumin, derived from the curry spice turmeric. Curcumin has an extensive history as a food additive and herbal medicine in India and is also a potent polyphenolic antioxidant. To evaluate whether it could affect Alzheimer-like pathology in the APPSw mice, we tested a low (160 ppm) and a high dose of dietary curcumin (5000 ppm) on inflammation, oxidative damage, and plaque pathology. Low and high doses of curcumin significantly lowered oxidized proteins and interleukin-1beta, a proinflammatory cytokine elevated in the brains of these mice. With low-dose but not high-dose curcumin treatment, the astrocytic marker GFAP was reduced, and insoluble beta-amyloid (Abeta), soluble Abeta, and plaque burden were significantly decreased by 43-50%. However, levels of amyloid precursor (APP) in the membrane fraction were not reduced. Microgliosis was also suppressed in neuronal layers but not adjacent to plaques. In view of its efficacy and apparent low toxicity, this Indian spice component shows promise for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

June 12, 2004 - A spicy ingredient of many curries may be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease, say researchers.

A team from the University of California at Los Angeles believes that turmeric may play a role in slowing down the progression of the neurodegenerative disease.

The finding may help to explain why rates of Alzheimer's are much lower among the elderly in India than in their Western peers.

Previous studies have found that Alzheimer's affects just 1% of people over the age of 65 living in some Indian villages.

Vindaloos

Turmeric is found in everything from mild Kormas to the hottest Vindaloos. The crucial chemical is Curcumin, a compound found in the spice. Alzheimer's is linked to the build up of knots in the brain called amyloid plaques. Turmeric reduced the number of these plaques by a half. The researchers also found that turmeric had other health benefits.

It aids digestion, helps fight infection and guards against heart attacks. In the study, middle aged and aged rats were fed a diet rich in Curcumin. All the rats received brain injections of amyloid to mimic progressive Alzheimer's disease. Not only was there less evidence of plaque build up in the curcumin-fed rats, they also outperformed rats on normal diets when carrying out maze-based memory tests. Curcumin also appeared to reduce Alzheimer's-related inflammation in the brain tissue.

Researcher Dr Sally Frautschy said the compound had potential as a treatment for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease - particularly in tandem with anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen.

Dr Richard Harvey, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Curcumin has both anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

"Drugs with similar properties could potentially be used as preventative treatments for Alzheimer's disease."

However, Dr Harvey warned that it could be many years before such drugs were made widely available

SOURCES: AD2000 Collaborative Group, The Lancet, June 26, 2004; vol 363: pp 2105-2115. Richard Gray, PhD, professor of medical statistics; director, University of Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, United Kingdom. Lon S. Schneider, MD, professor of psychiatry, neurology, and gerontology, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

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Helen Knowles is an Essential Oils advisor to the ICM and qualified as a counsellor, aromatherapist and electro-crystal practitioner. She also holds a certificate in the Science of Essential Oils (NORA) and has been trained in the use of Bach Flower Essences with a continuing interest in interrelated vibrational medicine. Here she describes some of the mounting evidence for the potency of turmeric to combat Alzheimer’s and other illnesses including cancer.

Introduction

There is something very exotic and enticing about Curry, a term that derives from kari, meaning ‘sauce’ or, used more loosely, anything that one might eat in an Indian restaurant or curry house, or using similar ingredients concoct as a special taste sensation dish at home. The word conjures up alluring and exciting travel to far-off mysterious places where trips to a colourful bazaar can tantalise our senses of sight, scent and taste.

As a firmly established member of UK cuisine, curry has the added advantage of appealing to both meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. A good Madras curry powder may contain a mass of wonderful, health-giving herbs from hotter climes of Africa, South-East Asia and the East: bay leaf, capsicum (Cayenne pepper), cardamom (Grains of Paradise), cassia (Chinese cinnamon), cinnamon (Sri Lanka cinnamon), clove, coriander, cummin, curry leaf, dill, fennel, fenugreek seeds, galangal (SE Asia, Thailand), garlic, ginger, mustard, nutmeg, onion, peppers, saffron and turmeric¹, many of which ingredients are common to Western and Indian Ayurvedic Medicine – it’s that good!

Among many of the herbs and spices used fresh, there may also be green chillies and kaffir lime leaves (Thailand), or, when dried, red chillies and poppy seeds (India, Netherlands, Australia, Romania and Turkey). Depending on the curry recipe, thickeners range from cream, coconut milk and yoghurt to nuts and onions.² A curry may also contain sour ingredients such as lime, tamarind (India), tomato and vinegar. Accompanying well-known chutneys are mango and lime pickle, but tamarind is something that is worth a try for those with a more savoury tooth, as well as having a future in sunscreens,^2a the Malabar tamarind has been said to aid slimming, too.^2b

A popular view on the use of curry in the West is to burn out ‘the common cold’. Curry, with all its inherent benefits, ranges from an appetizer, such as Watermelon curry (Maitra curry) and soups, the most familiar being Mulligatawny and Ramadan soup (Harira) (although Mushroom curry and British Lentil soups may tempt the taste buds), to the main course.³ Meat, fish and vegetable curries have a good following, but even that old stand-by spaghetti can be reinvented with a curry twist⁴ and Ital-Indian pasta, such as Penne with curry.⁵

The vegetarian or vegetable curries scope is wide, versatile, and open to invention including major ingredients such as aubergines (egg plant), cabbage, carrots, cauliflower and potatoes, green mango, green pepper, garbanzos (chick peas), okra (Ladies fingers), peas, spinach, yam and zucchini.⁶

Curry can take quite a hold on one, it appears: "A number of studies have claimed that the reaction of pain receptors to the hotter ingredients in curries, even a Korma, leads to the body's release of endorphins⁷ and, combined with the complex sensory reaction to the variety of spices and flavours, a natural high is achieved that causes subsequent cravings, often followed by addiction and a desire to move on to hotter curries. Defining this as ‘an addiction’ is contested by other researchers."⁸ Addicted to curry? Well, no addiction is good, but you could do a lot worse.

Turmeric – active ingredient used in ancient Indian medicine

The herb Turmeric (Curcuma longa) has been used for thousands of years as a safe anti-inflammatory in Indian traditional medicine. Now it is reported that curcumin, a key ingredient of curries, is a potential new weapon in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. This is fantastic news!

Scientists have discovered that curcumin stops the accumulation and build-ups of destructive protein fragments known as ‘beta amyloids’ (amyloid plaques) that build up in the brain of Alzheimer’s sufferers and are responsible of the memory loss that marks the disease. The latest study’s results suggest that curcumin would not only prevent the build-up in patients who already have the degenerative brain disease, but act to block the plaques developing in the first place!⁹

Earlier research already suggested that turmeric, because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects when tested in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease, reduced levels of amyloid and oxidized proteins preventing cognitive effects.⁹ This is not an overnight find, the Californian university in 2001 had found that a low-dose curcumin treatment decreased the plaque burden by 43-50%, which no doubt acted as a spur to further research and their most recent findings.¹⁰

The yellow pigment in turmeric spice has already been shown to exhibit chemo-preventive and growth inhibitory activities against multiple tumour cell lines and found to slow prostate cancer.¹¹

As far back as December 1996, Spanish scientists ascertained that curcumin and turmeric extracts have several pharmacological effects, including anti-tumour, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-infectious activities and concluded that the use of the extract could be useful in the management of cardiovascular disease in which atherosclerosis is important.¹²

Doctors believe the reason why levels of Alzheimer’s are extremely low in India and other curry-eating countries could be due to the protective effects of turmeric’s curcumin. It is hoped that eventually it will be used as a drug or supplement to prevent people developing Alzheimer’s in much the same manner as statins are used to prevent heart attacks.

In modern, western herbalism turmeric is approved by the German Commission E13 for a variety of digestive disorders such as flatulence, upset stomach and abdominal cramps. Curcumin is useful in helping to break down fats. Turmeric root extracts have been found to reduce secretion of acid from the stomach, protecting against gastro-inflammation and ulcers arising from certain medications, stress or alcohol.

In fact, curcumin may prove useful for the treatment of gastric carcinoma and childhood leukemia 14 and in an animal study has been shown to inhibit the number and percentage of colon tumours, as well as reducing tumour size.15 According to another study, it has been demonstrated that it is not toxic to humans up to 8,000mg/day when taken by mouth for three months.15

In India, for thousands of years turmeric has been used both as a spice and clothing dye. It is one of the oldest anti-inflammatory drugs used in Ayurvedic traditional Indian medicine and was already gaining recognition by researchers for its use as an anti-rheumatic in 1980.¹⁶

However, there continues to be among the medical profession much scepticism regarding the employment of herbal remedies. A remedy of extracts of turmeric, in combination with much researched herb ginger (Zingiber officinale), anti-inflammatory frankincense (Boswellia serrata) and a traditionally used treatment for rheumatism, Winter cherry or Ashwagandha (Withania somniferum), has twice been reported at the American College of Rheumatology’s annual scientific meetings in a double-blind study and a randomised, double-blinded study of the same formula; the latter resulted in a reduction in number and severity of swollen joints and a noted, statistically significant improvement in pain, stiffness and function compared with those given a placebo. In both studies, participants had no significant side-effects or interactions with other drugs, even those taken over a four-year period.¹⁷

Other benefits of curry

If turmeric doesn’t turn you ‘on’ and your inflammation ‘off’, just think of some of the other spices in a curry with multiple benefits. For example, ginger is known to improve circulation, reduce flatulence and help with digestion. It can be useful for nausea and early morning sickness18 and has a reputation for aiding rheumatism and arthritis.¹⁹ Fenugreek seeds are also good for flatulence and its anti-viral properties help guard against mouth infections and ulcers.²⁰ Cinnamon, great with apples, is antibacterial and helps as a barrier against the common cold.²¹ Curry leaf (Murraya koenigii) is traditionally consumed by diabetics in Southern India to aid the condition.²²

Don’t get too excited, but cardamom pods are believed to have aphrodisiac qualities, as well as freshen the breath - the latter can have a lot to do with the outcome of ‘close encounters’!

On the other hand, cardamom (Ellettaria cardamomum), which contains at least two androgenic compounds, has for centuries been esteemed as an aphrodisiac by Arab cultures, resulting in the innovation of cardamom spiked ‘Arab coffee’. One of cardamom’s compounds cineole is a central nervous system stimulant. Of course, that’s no guarantee of sexual stimulus, but Arab coffee might be worth trial testing on your after-dinner coffee guests.²³ At least black cardamom will protect you from gastric ulcers!

Of mice to men, nutmeg and clove^24,25 have been proven to have effect on sexual behaviour, as long as it is not negated by excessive alcohol intake.

References

1. Main ingredients of Sharwood’s Authentic Hot Madras curry powder.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry#Spices

2a. ‘Natural products as aids for protecting the skin’s immune system against UV damage’ Strickland FM, et al. Cutis. 2004 Nov;74(5 Suppl):24-8. "Formulating sunscreens with a high SPF, as well as high immuned protection factor, is necessary for preventing skin cancer and maintaining effective immune responses to infectious disease after sun exposure. …Animal and now human studies have shown that a class of agents known as soligosaccharins – protect the cutaneous immune system from UVB-induced and UVA—induced immunomodulation. … ‘these agents, particularly tamarind xyloglucan, may become important adjunctive ingredients to sunscreens."

2b. ‘Body weight and abdominal fat gene expression profile in response to a novel hydroxycitric acid based dietary supplement.’ Roy S, et al. Gene Expr. 2004;11(5-6):251-62.

3. Curry recipes: http://www.curry-design.com/recipes%20/recipes.html

4. Ibid.

5. http://www.dolcevita.com/cuisine/curry/curry.htm

6. http://www.recipesource.com/special-diets/vegetarian/curry/

7. Definition: Endorphins are endogenous opiod biochemical compounds. They are peptides produced by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus in vertebrates, and they resemble the opiates in their abilities to produce analgesia and a sense of well-being. In other words, they work as "natural pain killers".

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry#Spices

9. News: Daily Mail, 4 Jan: ‘Good Health’ ‘Is curry the answer to Alzheimer’s?’ by Martin Halle. A study carried out by experts at the University of California, Los Angeles, results published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

‘Curcumin interaction with copper and iron suggests a possible mechanism of action in

Alzheimer’s disease animal models.’ Baum L, Ng A. J Alzheimers Dis. 2004 Aug;6(4):367-77; discussion 443-9. And:

‘Discovery of natural products from Curuma longa that protect cells from beta-amyloid insult: a drug discovery effort against Alzheimer’s disease.’ Park SY, Kim DS. J Nat Prod. 2002 Sep;65(9):1227-31.

10. ‘The curry spice curcumin reduces oxidative damage and amyloid pathology in an Alzheimer transgenic mouse.’ Lim GP, et al. J Neurosci 2001 Nov 1;21(21):8370-7.

11. ‘Curcumin sensitizes prostate cancer cells to tumour necrosis factor-related apotosis-inducing lingand/Apo2L by inhibiting nuclear factor-kappaB through suppression of IkappaBalpha phosphorylation.’ Deeb D, et al. Mol Cancer Ther. 2004 Jul;3(7):803-12.

‘Therapeutic potential of curcuminin human prostate cancer. II. Curcumin inhibits tyrosine kinase activity of epidermal growth factor receptor and depletes the protein.’ Dorai T. Gehani N, Katz. Mol Urol. 2000 Spring;4(1):1-6.

‘Therapeutic potential of curcumin in human prostate cancer-I. Curcumin induces apoptosis in both androgen-dependent and androgen-independent prostate cancer cells.’ Dorai T. Gehani N, Katz A. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2000 Aug:3(2):84-93.

‘Therapeutic potential of curcumin in humamn prostate cancer. III. Curcumin inhibits

proliferation, induces apoptosis, and inbibits angiogenesis of LnCaP prostate cancer cells in vivo.’ Dorai T, Cao YC, Dorai B, Buttyan R, Katz AE. Prostate. 2001 Jun 1;47(4):293-303.

12. ‘Oral administration of a turmeric extact inhibits LDL oxidation and has hypocholesterolemic effects in rabbits with experimental atherosclerosis.‘ Ramierz-Tortosa MC et al Atherosclerosis. 1999 Dec;147(2):371-8.

13. The German Commision E is the authority that gives approval of those herbs it deems can be safely prescribed in Germany and for what purposes, which is reflected in other EU Member countries.

14. ‘Curcumin inhibits the growth of AGS human gastric carcinoma cells in vitro and shows synergism with fluoracil.’ Koo JY, et al. J Med Food. 2004 Summer;7(2):117-21. ‘Inhibitory effects of dietary curcumin on forestomach, duodenal, and colon carcinogenesis in mice.’ Huang MT et al. Cancer Res. 1994 Nov 15;(22):5841-7.

‘Curcumin as an inhibitor of cancer.’ Nagabhushan M, Bhide SV. J Am Coll Nutr. 1992 Apr’;1(2):192-8.

‘The role of dietary tumeric in the low incidence of childhood leukemia in Asian countries’, Nagabhushan M, Kolpe U, Ramaswamy V. International Scientific Conference, Childhood Leukemia: Incidence, Causal Mechanisms and Protection. London, Sept 6-10, 2004. (See: www.leukaemiaconference.org )

15. ‘Phase I clinical trial of curcumin, a chemopreventive agent in patients with high-risk or pre-malignant lesions.’ Cheng Al, et al. Anticancer Res. 2001 Jul-Aug;21(4B):2895-900.

16. ‘Preliminary studies of anti-rheumatic activity of curcumin.’ Deodhar SD, et al. Indian J Medical Res 1980;71:632.

17. ‘Arthritis Today' Online Magazine re: ‘Ayurvedic Herbs’ by Judith Horstman. http://www.arthritis.org/resources/arthritistoday/1999_archives/1999_05_06explorations.asp.

18. ‘A literature review of the effectiveness of ginger in alleviating mild-to-moderate nausea and vomiting of pregnancy.’ Bryer E. J Midwifery Womens Health. 2005 Jan-Feb;50(1):el-3. ‘Botanical medicine and cancer: a review of the safety and efficacy.’ Boon H. Wong J. Leslie D. Expert Opinin Pharmacother. 2004 Dec;5(12):2485-501. " … and ginger may be effective in treating chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting."

19. ‘An in vitro screening assay for inhibitors of proinflammatory mediators in herbal extracts using human synoviocyte cultures.’ Fondoza CG, et al. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2004 Mar-Apr;40(3-4):95-101. " … These observations indicate that ginger extract-HAPC offers a complementary and alternative approach to modulate the inflammatory process involved in arthritis."

20. ‘Therapeutic applications of fenugreek’ Basch E et al. Altern Med Rev. 2003 Feb;8(1):20-7.

21. ‘Antibacterial activity of essential oils and their major constituents against respiratory tract pathogens by gaseous contact.’ Inouye S, et al. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2001 May;47(5):565-73.

22. Scotsman.com News: Curry indgredient ‘Could Aid Diabetics’ by Hugo Duncan, PA News, 29th September, 2004. "Researchers at King’s College London claim the curry-leaf tree, which is used in traditional Indian medicine and is found in many curry dishes, could aid people with diabetes."

‘Effects of extracts of Murraya keonigii leaves on the levels of blood glucose and plasma insulin in allloxan-induced diabetic rats.’ Vinuthan MK, Girish Kumar, et al. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 2004 Jul;48(3):348-52.

23. http://www.mothernature.com ‘Evaluation of the gastric antiulcerogenic effect of large cardamom (fruits of Amomum sublatum Roxb.).’ Jafri MA et al. J Ethnopharmcol. 2001 May;75(2-3):89-94. Results: ‘ … validate the use of 'Heel kalan' in gastrointestinal disorders by Unani physicians.

24. ‘Effect of 50% ethanolic extract of Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & Perry. (clove) on sexual behaviour of normal male rats.’ Tajuddin -, Ahmad S, Latif A, Qasmi IA. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2004 Nov 5;4(1):17 (Epub ahead). " … the resultant aphrodisiac effectivity of the extract lends support to the claims for its traditional usage in sexual disorders."

25. ‘Aphrodisiac activity of 50% ethanolic extracts of Myristic fragrans Houtt. (nutmeg) and Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & Perry. (clove) in male mice: a comparative study.’ Tajuddin, Ahmad S, Latif A, Qasmi IA. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2003 Oct 20;3(1):6. ‘ … The extracts (50% ethanolic) of nutmeg and clove enhanced the sexual behaviour of male mice.’

Source: From the Institute for Complementary Medicine Journal

 Yellow pigment in curry spice blocks, breaks up brain plaques in mice

A dietary staple of India, where Alzheimer's disease rates are reportedly among the world's lowest, holds potential as a weapon in the fight against the disease.

The new UCLA-Veterans Affairs study involving genetically altered mice suggests that curcumin, the yellow pigment in curry spice, inhibits the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and also breaks up existing plaques.

Reporting in the Dec. 7, 2004, online edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the research team also determined curcumin is more effective in inhibiting formation of the protein fragments than many other drugs being tested as Alzheimer's treatments. The researchers found the low molecular weight and polar structure of curcumin allow it to penetrate the blood-brain barrier effectively and bind to beta amyloid.

In earlier studies (Journal of Neuroscience, 2001; 21:8370-8377; Neurobiology of Aging, 2001; 22:993-1005), the same research team found curcumin has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which scientists believe help ease Alzheimer's symptoms caused by oxidation and inflammation.

The research team's body of research into curcumin has prompted the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) to begin human clinical trials to further evaluate its protective and therapeutic effects. More information about enrolling in this and other clinical trials at the Center is available by calling (310) 206-3779 or online at www.npistat.com/adrc/Treatment.asp.

"The prospect of finding a safe and effective new approach to both prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease is tremendously exciting," said principal investigator Gregory Cole. He is professor of medicine and neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, associate director of the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and associate director of the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System at Sepulveda, Calif.

"Curcumin has been used for thousands of years as a safe anti-inflammatory in a variety of ailments as part of Indian traditional medicine," Cole said. "Recent successful studies in animal models support a growing interest in its possible use for diseases of aging involving oxidative damage and inflammation like Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease. What we really need, however, are clinical trials to establish safe and effective doses in aging patients."

The research was funded by the Siegel Life Foundation, Veterans Affairs, Alzheimer's Association, UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and private donors.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that occurs gradually and results in memory loss, unusual behavior, personality changes, and a decline in thinking abilities. These losses relate to the death of brain cells and the breakdown of the connections between them.

The disease is the most common form of dementing illness among middle and older adults, affecting more than 4 million Americans and many millions worldwide. The prevalence of Alzheimer's among adults ages 70-79 in India, however, is 4.4 times less than the rate in the United States.

Widely used as a food dye and preservative, and in some cancer treatments, curcumin has undergone extensive toxicological testing in animals. It also is used extensively in traditional Indian medicine to treat a variety of ailments.

Other members of the research team are Fusheng Yang, Giselle Lim, Aynun Begum, Mychica Simmons, Suren Ambegaokar, Ping Ping Chen of UCLA; Rakez Kyad and Charlie Glabe of the University of California at Irvine; and Sally Frautschy of UCLA and the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System at Sepulveda.

The Alzheimer Disease Research Center at UCLA, directed by Dr. Jeffrey L. Cummings, was established in 1991 by a grant from the National Institute on Aging. Together with grants from the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center of California and the Sidell-Kagan Foundation, the center provides a mechanism for integrating, coordinating and supporting new and ongoing research by established investigators in Alzheimer's disease and aging.

Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Health Care System and Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center combine resources to form a unified Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, one of 20 nationwide. These centers of excellence are designed to improve health care and quality of life to older veterans through the advancement and integration of research, education and clinical achievements in geriatrics and gerontology into the total VA health care system and broader communities.

A copy of the full paper can be found on the Journal of Biological Chemistry Web site at www.jbc.org

Additional online resources:
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA: www.medsch.ucla.edu
UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center: www.adc.ucla.edu
VA Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center: www.grecc-gla.org/mission.htm

Imagine a natural substance so smart it can tell the difference between a cancer cell and a normal cell; so powerful it can stop chemicals in their tracks; and so strong it can enable DNA to walk away from lethal doses of radiation virtually unscathed. Curcumin has powers against cancer so beneficial that drug companies are rushing to make drug versions. Curcumin is all this and more.

Curcuma longa is a ginger-like plant that grows in tropical regions. The roots contain a bright yellow substance (turmeric) that contains curcumin and other curcuminoids. Turmeric has been used in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine for centuries. But it's only within the past few years that the extraordinary actions of curcumin against cancer have been scientifically documented. Among its many benefits, curcumin has at least a dozen separate ways of interfering with cancer.

Curcumin blocks estrogen mimicking chemicals

One of the things that sets curcumin apart from most other anti-cancer supplements (I3C being an exception), is that this phenolic can actually block chemicals from getting inside cells. Importantly, curcumin can interfere with pesticides that mimic estrogen. These include DDT and dioxin, two extremely toxic chemicals that contaminate America's water and food. (Dioxin is so toxic that a few ounces of it could wipe out the entire population of New York City). Curcumin has the unique ability to fit through a cellular doorway known as the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. This is a feat it shares with estrogen and estrogen-mimicking chemicals. Because it can compete for the same doorway, curcumin has the power to block access to the cell and protect against estrogen mimickers.

Like estrogen, estrogen-mimicking chemicals promote the growth of breast cancer. In a study on human breast cancer cells, curcumin reversed growth caused by 17b-estradiol by 98%. DDT's growth-enhancing effects on breast cancer were blocked about 75% by curcumin.

Two other estrogen mimickers were tested for their ability to enhance breast cancer. Chlordane and endosulfane together make breast cancer cells grow about as much as17b-estradiol. Curcumin can reverse that growth about 90%. Adding the soy phytochemical, genistein, causes a 100% growth arrest.

Curcumin's ability to block other chemicals have been documented. It has been tested against paraquat (weed killer), nitrosamines (in cooked meat and "lunch" meats) and carbon tetrachloride (a solvent in varnish and other products). In all cases, curcumin is able to block the chemical's effect. The beneficial effects are evident in a study where mice were treated with diethylnitrosamine. All mice treated with this chemical would usually develop liver cancer. However, when treated with curcumin, the percentage of animals developing cancer went from 100% to 38%, and the number of tumors dropped by 81%.

Drug companies rush to make synthetic versions

One of the hottest areas of oncology drug development is in the area of kinase inhibitors. Kinases are the equivalent of phone lines into cancer cells. There are over 2000 known protein kinases, or phone lines. These lines run from the outside of a cell into the DNA command center. They carry messages. Cut these lines, and you can effectively stop the growth of some types of cancer cells.

Curcumin effectively blocks some of the lines. In cells treated with curcumin, certain "grow" signals are blocked from reaching the cell.

The most well-studied growth factor blocked by curcumin is nuclear factor-k B. NF-kB is activated by chemical messengers known as cytokines. Cytokines help the immune system, but they also activate signals that tell cells to multiply, grow. By interfering with those signals, curcumin effectively stops the growth of cancer cells by kinase pathways. It has been demonstrated, for example, that curcumin can prevent the bug that causes ulcers (Helicobacter pylori) from causing cancer. H. pylori increases levels of a cytokine (IL-8) that activates NF-kB. Curcumin blocks the process.

Drug companies are rushing to patent chemicals that do what curcumin does-inhibit kinases. AstraZeneca has gotten one off the ground called "Iressa". Iressa inhibits protein kinase C (PKC), a kinase that plays a significant role in cancer. PKC transmits signals from the "epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor." Cutting off signal transmission through EGF significantly slows the growth of any cancer that uses this factor to grow-glioma, breast, prostate, skin and lung cancers.

Curcumin has long been known for its ability to prevent skin cancer. In 1993, researchers in Taiwan reported that curcumin inhibits PKC. The next year it was reported that curcumin blocks EGF signals up to 90% and stops growth.

It turns out that the structure of curcumin enables it to inhibit multiple kinases. This ability is shared with other phytochemicals including silymarin, apigenin and hypericin. While drug companies rush to try to recreate safe, patentable, chemical versions of this structure, curcumin sits ready and available for use. Blocking kinases, however, is only one of curcumin's anti-cancer effects.

Inflammation: Curcumin suppresses LOX and COX

Squamous cell carcinoma can affect the bronchial tubes, mouth or skin. When researchers at the University of Missouri treated oral squamous cell carcinoma cells with curcumin, it caused significant growth inhibition.

Curcumin is also notably effective against colon cancer. Inflammation appears to play a significant role in promoting this type of cancer. Curcumin has long been known for its anti-inflammatory action. More recently, it has been shown that curcumin inhibits cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipoxygenase (LOX), two enzymes that promote inflammation. Inflammation is in the limelight these days because of the discovery that people who take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin, have stunning protection against colon cancer. Inflammation, it turns out, plays significant and diverse roles in the initiation and promotion of cancer. Oxidative stress helps activate PKC, for example. Part of curcumin's ability to block PKC signals is due to its powerful antioxidant activity.

Curcumin possesses several other anti-cancer benefits that make it useful for cancer prevention. One of its most recognized features is its antioxidant action. Turmeric is a spice that contains curcumin. It has traditionally been used as a food preservative for a good reason: it keeps food from going rancid-oxidizing. And just as it keeps oxygen from turning meat rancid, it protects our own bodies from damaging free radicals. Free radicals promote cancer by damaging DNA and activating genes.

Radiation damages DNA partially through free radicals. In a recent study, it was demonstrated that under laboratory conditions, curcumin could protect bacteria from a lethal dose of radiation almost perfectly. Bacterial DNA emerged virtually intact.

Curcumin kills cancer cells

Curcumin can stop cancer in its earliest stages, long before it's detectable. It works at the level of the cell. One of the things it does is to tell damaged cells to self-destruct so they won't keep multiplying. The process is called "apoptosis" and it's the body's way of destroying abnormal cells that can become cancerous. Cancer cells can circumvent the process, but curcumin can override them and send "self-destruct" signals to many different types of cancer cells. Curcumin does not induce apoptosis of healthy cells, only cancerous ones. It identifies cancer cells by their abnormal chemistry. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in all types of cancer, but Indian researchers may have figured out why. Their findings, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, may lead to ways of making most types of cancer susceptible to curcumin's effects.

Before apoptosis is induced, curcumin stops cancer cells from multiplying. In cancer research, this is known as "interrupting the cell cycle." The cell cycle can be interrupted at several different points. This is the rationale behind using various chemotherapy treatments in one person. One drug stops the cells when they are in one stage of growth; another stops them at another stage. Using a variety of drugs that stop growth at different stages increases the chances of killing all the cancer cells. Curcumin arrests the growth of cancer cells in the G2 stage.

Curcumin, Free Radicals and Methylation   Methylation of DNA is critical for maintaining a cancer-free state. More specifically, certain patterns of methylated and non-methylated DNA keep cancer genes turned off, and tumor suppressor genes turned on. Dr. Khing Lertratanangkoon has done research showing that chemicals which deplete glutathione in the liver, cause DNA methylation disruption. In other words, maintaining glutathione is important for maintaining DNA methylation. Glutathione is the liver's natural antioxidant. Chemicals (which are all processed by the liver) deplete glutathione. Curcumin protects glutathione in the presence of chemicals (including alcohol). Dr. Lertratanangkoon has shown that a glutathione-depleting chemical can disrupt DNA methylation. But if curcumin is given at the same time, both methylation and glutathione are maintained. Bottom line: curcumin may also save DNA methylation patterns, another anti-cancer benefit.

Other phytochemicals stop the cell cycle at other stages. Genistein, a soy phytochemical, arrests growth at G2, like curcumin. But epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) from green tea, arrests cancer cell growth at the G1 phase. Combining EGCG with curcumin increases the odds of killing more cells. Researchers at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have suggested that EGCG and curcumin be used together for cancer prevention.

Curcumin enhances immunity

Curcumin can also help the body fight off cancer should some cells escape apoptosis. When researchers looked at the lining of the intestine after ingestion of curcumin, they found that CD4+ T-helper and B type immune cells were greater in number. In addition to this localized immune stimulation, curcumin also enhances immunity in general. Researchers in India have documented increased antibodies and more immune action in mice given curcumin.

Curcumin stops angiogenesis

All of the above actions of curcumin stop cancer before it has a chance to become detectable. If cancer grows to the point that it is a detectable tumor, curcumin can still have an effect.

Certain enzymes enable tumors to create a blood supply for themselves. Known as "angiogenesis," this phenomenon allows tumors to invade surrounding tissue and spread. Working with blood vessels of the eye (where angiogenesis creates big problems for vision), researchers at Tufts University were able to inhibit blood vessel formation by using curcuminoids. Curcumin blocks AP-1, which enhances angiogenesis.

Curcumin may also inhibit angiogenesis by chelating metals used by enzymes that promote the growth of blood vessels. Some of the enzymes that promote angiogenesis are known as "metalloproteinases." Metalloproteinases require metals to work. Curcumin chelates iron and probably copper-both of which help metalloproteinases create new blood vessels for tumors. In a study on a highly invasive form of human liver cancer, curcumin inhibited metastasis 70% by suppressing metalloproteinase-9. Curcumin appears to be very protective against liver cancer. In a more recent study, the incidence of liver cancer was slashed 62%, with the number of tumors decreasing by 81% in mice given curcumin four days before a carcinogenic chemical.

Curcumin possesses several other anti-cancer benefits that make it highly effective as a cancer preventive agent against almost any type of cancer. One of its most talked-about features is its antioxidant action.

The cancer preventive effects of curcumin are powerful and proven. Curcumin interferes with the ability of estrogen-mimicking and other chemicals to do damage (a trait it shares with I3C). It is a powerful antioxidant that can alter gene expression, stop the cell cycle, and induce the self-destruction of cancer cells without affecting healthy ones. By blocking signals known as kinases, curcumin interrupts signals that enable cancer cells to grow. In addition, curcumin enhances immunity and blocks the invasion and metastases of tumors. Curcumin significantly reduces the risk of cancer after chemical exposure, and appears especially beneficial against colon and liver cancers. The actions of curcumin have been the subject of presentations at major meetings on cancer research, and the object of study by researchers at the most prestigious universities in the world. If curcumin were a drug, it would be hailed as one of the best all-around cancer drugs ever invented. As it is, it's a phytochemical with impeccable credentials, thousands of years of use behind it, and a very small price tag. No wonder a host of drug companies want to imitate it.

Note: There is still not a scientific consensus on how those with active cancer may best take advantage of the multiple potential benefits of curcumin. Most cancer patients have been taking 1800 to 3600 mg a day of curcumin. Life Extension has recommended that curcumin not be combined with the chemotherapy drug Camptosar (irinotecan) because of one animal study that indicated a possible adverse effect. Since curcumin has not been adequately tested with other chemotherapy drugs, it might be safe to wait until chemotherapy is completed before initiating curcumin. Cancer patients using curcumin may want to avoid high doses of "thiol" nutrients such as cysteine, lipoic acid, SAMe and glutathione because these nutrients might interfere with curcumin's PKC inhibiting effects in actively growing cancer. Since thiol compounds are critically important anti-aging nutrients, cancer patients may consider avoiding or reducing thiol nutrients for a three to six month period while consuming high doses of curcumin (along with soy, green tea extracts, I3C and other nutrients that have shown specific anti-cancer effects). A comprehensive report on suggested nutrient dosing schedules for cancer patients will be published in a future edition of this magazine.

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Chlordane found in foods decades after pesticide use. Press release of the American Chemical Society, May 2, 2000.

Chuang SE, et al. 2000. Curcumin-containing diet inhibits diethylnitrosamine-induced murine hepatocarcinogenesis. Carcinogenesis 21:331-35.

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Ciolino HP, et al. 1998. Effect of curcumin on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and cytochrome p450 1A1 in MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cells. Biochem Pharmacol 56:197-06.

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Elattar TM, et al. 2000. The inhibitory effect of curcumin, genistein, quercetin and cisplatin on the growth of oral cancer cells in vitro. Anticancer Res 20(3A):1733-38.

Incorvia Mattina MJ, et al. 2000. Chlordane uptake and its translocation in food crops. J Agric Food Chem 48:1909-15.

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Lertratanangkoon K, et al. 1999. Inhibition of glutathione synthesis with proppargylglycine enhances N-acetylmethionine protection and methylation in bromobenzene-treated Syrian hamsters. J Nutr 129:649-56.

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Liu JY, et al. 1993. Inhibitory effects of curcumin on protein kinase C activity induced by 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate in NIH 3Td cells. Carcinogenesis 14:857-61.

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 Can a spice help fight cancer?

The Asian spice that gives curried rice its bright yellow color could someday provide researchers with a new way to fight skin cancer. Small doses of curcumin, a spice ground from the turmeric root and a common ingredient in curry, not only stopped the growth of melanoma cells in the lab but also caused the cells to self-destruct, say researchers from the University of Texas's M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

The researchers tested curcumin on lab-grown melanoma cells to see if the spice could stop the cells from surviving and reproducing. The more curcumin they added to the melanoma, the more cells died. Unlike normal cells, cancer cells grow uncontrollably and do not self-destruct. Increased doses of curcumin also stopped the melanoma cells from reproducing.

One coauthor of the paper, which will be published in the August 15 issue of the journal Cancer, Bharat Aggarwal, said curcumin is intriguing to researchers because of its low toxicity. While most forms of chemotherapy cause serious adverse reactions in cancer patients, studies have shown that people can tolerate large amounts of curcumin with no ill effects. Curcumin also works as an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory agent.

"People from countries like India have been taking it for thousands of years," says Aggarwal. "It is well tolerated. Here is a completely nontoxic anti-inflammatory agent."

Doctors diagnose roughly 53,600 people with melanoma each year. The cancerous cells develop as irregularly shaped and colored moles on the surface of the skin. The cancer resists many chemotherapy treatments and can metastasize, spreading to other organs in the body.

Aggarwal and his colleagues believe that curcumin blocks the signals a cancer cell needs to survive. David Fisher, director of the melanoma program at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, said that looking at how curcumin blocks these signals was one of the more important discoveries in this paper.

But is Indian food really a cure for cancer? While this laboratory evidence is interesting, researchers say, it doesn't prove that curcumin will help fight cancer in humans. "It's way in its infancy," Allan Halpern, chief of dermatology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, says of the research. "The problem is that, to date, we do not have is clinical data to support the fact that using these agents as a chemo-preventative strategy is effective."

In the meantime, Aggarwal and his colleagues continue to tests curcumin on a wide variety of cancers, including breast cancer. "Curcumin is a perfect alternative [to chemotherapy], but we have to prove that it works," he says.

Find out more: The National Cancer Institute has an extensive web page on melanoma.

Abstract online: www3.interscience.wiley.com

Source: US News By Cory Hatch

Curcumin Induces Apoptosis in Human Cervix Epithelioid Carcinoma Cells through activation of caspase- 3 and P53 C-S Yu PhDa, JK-S Chan Bsb, J-G Chung PhDca,

Center of General Education, Department of Microbiology; China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan, Department of Biochemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada"

Curcurmin has been demonstrated in rats to prevent azoxymethane-induced aberrant crypt foci, putative precursor lesions in the colon and in mice to prevent tumorigenesis induced by azoxymethane in the colon and by N-ethyl N-nitrosoguanidine in the duodenum and forestomach. The mechanism of curcurmin affect on human cervix cancer cells was not addressed. Therefore, curcurmin was used to study the biological activities on the human cervix epithelioid carcinoma cells (HeLa). On MTT assay, curcurmin showed obvious cytotoxic effects and inhibit the proliferation of HeLA cells. The cytotoxic effects of curcurmin was accompanied by the dose- and time-dependent appearance of characteristics of apoptosis including DNA fragmentation (gel electrophoresis) and sub-G1 ratio (flow cytometric assay). The HeLA cells cotreated with curcurmin caused a rapid transient induction of caspase-3 activity, but not caspase-1 activity. We also found out that cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and decrease of pro-caspase-3 protein were detected in curcurmin-treated HeLa cells. Increased the pro-apoptotic protein (bax), cytochrome C release and caspases-9 and 3 activity and decreased anti-apoptotic protein (Mcl-1) were detected in HeLa cells after cotreated with curcurmin. We also used PCR and multiplex PCR methods to examine the caspase 3 gene expression and the results show that curcurmin induced caspase-3 gene expression.

Paper presented at the International Symposium on Predictive Oncology and Intervention Strategies; Nice, France; February 7 - 10, 2004; in poster session 795 (Apoptosis mechanisms).

Source: www.cancerprev.org

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Dear Friend of Truth in Health,

My name is Robert Redfern and I make it my job to publicise studies that prove poisonous drugs are not the best way to health and there are many natural health remedies that can cure the problem, but still do no harm. One such remedy is Curcumin. This is the first of a series of newsletters that will explore the many uses of this amazing solution to a wide range of health problems.

 

Today’s News Story:

’Curcumin Can Work On At Least One Dozen Cancers’

Says Dr. Bharat Aggarwal

Dr. Bharat Aggarwal, who headed the 12-member team of researchers at University of Texas (U.T) M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, said earlier this week that his clinical research has made available not only "the master switch to turn off cancer, but also a cure for it."

"It was already known that Curcumin can prevent cancer," Aggarwal said. "Now it can also be used to cure cancer." And, he added: "We are providing evidence that Curcumin can work on at least one dozen cancers."

"In fact, let's put it this way: we have not found a single cancer on which Curcumin doesn't work," Aggarwal asserted.

Turmeric, whose vernacular name is haldi, is a rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa. The medicinal use of this plant has been documented in Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old system of medicine that has its origins in India.

Turmeric has long been used as a food preservative, a colouring agent, a spice to flavour food and as a folk medicine to cleanse the body.

“Because of turmeric's extensive use in foods in India and Pakistan, the incidence of cancer, especially breast, colon, prostate and lung, is a lot less in those countries”, Aggarwal said. “And because South Indians use turmeric more widely than North Indians, the prevalence of cancer is less among them than among North Indians," he said.

“The spice has been shown to relieve arthritis as well”, he added. The U.T. team's research focused on how Curcumin stops laboratory strains of melanoma from proliferating, and pushes the cancer cells to commit suicide.

The team homed in on a molecule called NF-kappa B, a powerful protein known to promote an abnormal inflammatory response that leads to cancer in some people, arthritis in others, and a wide range of other diseases in other people.

Aggarwal said, "Nearly 98 percent of all diseases are controlled by this molecule. The humble yellow dye can subdue this potent molecule."

Two to five percent of turmeric is Curcumin and researchers have now found that Curcumin at 95% concentration is far more potent than plain old Turmeric. When combined with Piperine (a black pepper extract) supplements become up to 20 times more potent, a fact that has resulted in the manufacture in the U.S. of a formulation containing 200 capsules each containing 500mg of 95% Curcumin and 3mg of Piperine and sold as a dietary supplement.

Aggarwal said that Indians have known all along about the anti-inflammatory benefits of turmeric, but "there was no documented proof" up until now.

Dozens of clinical trials have already begun in the U.S., India, Israel and the U.K., to see if Curcumin also has the same effect on people as it has in the laboratory experiences.

The UT findings will be published in the Aug. 15 issue of the journal, Cancer.

What is Curcumin?

Curcumin is a standardized extract of Curcuma Longa root. The active ingredients in Curcuma Longa are a group of plant substances called curcuminoids. Known collectively as "curcumin," curcuminoids have demonstrated potent antioxidant properties in scientific studies. In the better formulas there are 200 capsules of 500mg Curcumin + 3mg Piperine in each bottle.

Curcuminoids are responsible for turmeric's distinctive yellow colour, but there can be less than 4% content in turmeric. Advanced Curcumin complexes usually supply 95% total curcuminoids and Piperine is added as a natural bio-enhancer, to promote absorption of the Curcumin.

Where does it come from?

Native to Southeast Asia, Curcuma longa is a tall tropical shrub. The genus "Curcuma" belongs to the Zingiberaceae family, which includes ginger. The plant possesses a large root structure with fleshy, bulbous underground parts called "rhizomes." These rhizomes, known as turmeric root, are harvested at maturity, dried and cured for commercial use.

Turmeric is named in ancient Ayurvedic and Chinese herbal texts as a traditional folk remedy. Historically, turmeric was used externally for wounds, and sprains, and internally for digestive complaints, rheumatism, liver disorders, coughs and colds.

Nature's Absorption Enhancer Boosts Curcumin Power

Traditional Ayurvedic herbal formulas often include black pepper and long pepper as synergistic herbs. The active ingredient in both black pepper and long pepper is the alkaloid Piperine. Experiments carried out to evaluate the scientific basis for the use of peppers have shown that Piperine significantly enhances bio-availability when consumed with other substances. Several, double blind, clinical studies, have confirmed that Piperine increases absorption of nutrients.

All round herb for general well being.

Curcumin is the main biologically active part of Turmeric. Over 500 references to articles on Turmeric and Curcumin have been published in peer reviewed professional journals.

It has been identified in pharmacology as:

Anti-bacterials	Anti-inflammatory
Anti-viral	Anti-oxidant
Anti-fungal	Anti-spasmodic
Anti-yeast	Carminative
Anti-allergenic	Diuretic and anti-tumour

Turmeric and Curcumin have traditionally also been used to support those suffering from pain and inflammatory conditions:

Acne, allergies	Chicken pox
Ascites	Diabetes
Auto immune disorders	Digestive disorders
Burns	Gallbladder problems
Liver damage	Liver disorders
Skin rashes	Ulcers
Tumours	Eye problems such as cataracts

If that is not enough, Turmeric has been used for thousands of years by Indian women to make their skin beautiful and blemish free.

There are plenty of New Studies that show potential benefits with:

Alzheimer's	Kidney-Disease
Liver Disease	Anti-Arthritic
Anti-Coagulant	Anti-Carcinogenic and Anti-Cancer
Lowering-LDL	Raising HDL-Cholersterols

The Science

The numerous beneficial effects attributed to turmeric are probably due to the antioxidant properties of Curcumin.

Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, which are highly unstable molecules that can damage cellular structures through abnormal oxidative reactions. Curcumin is a potent "scavenger" of the superoxide radical, a free radical that initiates potentially harmful oxidative processes such as lipid peroxidation. Through this activity, curcumin has been shown to protect skin cells from the injurious effect of nitro blue tetrazolium, a toxin that generates superoxide radicals.

Curcumin also increases survival of cells exposed in vitro to the enzyme hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase, which stimulates superoxide and hydrogen peroxide production, possibly by stimulating the enzyme catalyse.

Curcumin itself is not toxic to cells, even at high concentrations. Because free radicals are involved in aging and exert harmful effects on skin, these results suggest curcumin may help slow skin aging.

Curcumin demonstrates several other in vitro effects linked to free radical scavenging.

Curcumin scavenges nitric oxide, a compound that when in excess is associated with the body's inflammatory response.

Pure curcumin and turmeric extracts protect red blood cells from lipid peroxidation induced by hydrogen peroxide.

Curcumin has been shown to protect DNA from oxidative damage, inhibit binding of toxic metabolites to DNA, and reduce DNA mutations in the Ames test.

Curcumin also demonstrates in vitro inhibition of COX-I and COX-II enzymes, which are involved in the inflammatory reaction.

Together these results strongly suggest that curcumin has a potent bio-protective effect, with a potentially wide range of therapeutic applications.

Curcumin is poorly absorbed in the intestinal tract, limiting its therapeutic effectiveness. Oral doses are largely excreted in faeces, and only trace amounts appear in the blood. Administration of 3 mg of Piperine with 500mg of Curcumin (1 capsule) can, in exceptional circumstances increase the bio availability of curcumin by 2000%.

We state 100% increase from 500mg to the equivalent to 1000mg is about right. Be aware that the bioavailability of all other nutrients taken around the same time (and DRUGS) may also be increased by the same proportion.

Side Effects

No side effects have been found when taking high doses of Curcumin. Rare cases of stomach upset or diarrhoea may be resolved by temporarily reducing the dosage and taking with food.

With kindest and healthiest regards

Robert Redfern

info@curcuminhealth.info

www.curcuminhealth.info