Life
Discoveries: Tuck Into That Curry
You never listened to your amma, but she was right about the myriad benefits of turmeric. Now the powers that be are saying it too. A recent study at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center shows that curcumin, which is the main ingredient of turmeric and
the compound that gives curry its mustard-yellow color, halts the spread of breast cancer in mice. The spice seems to shut down a protein that is active in the spread of breast cancer. Though the study results are early, researchers found that the nontoxic natural substance not only repelled progression of the disease to the lungs, but also appeared to reverse the effects of paclitaxel, a commonly prescribed chemotherapy for breast cancer that may trigger spread of the disease with use over a long period of time. “We are excited about the results of the study and the possible implications for taking the findings into the clinic in the next several years,” says Bharat Aggarwal, Ph.D., professor of cancer medicine in M. D.Anderson’s Department of Experimental Therapeutics. |
