Turmeric

Turmeric Reported Decr Precancerous Oral Lesions: 1g/d for 9 months decreased the lesions. Indian J Med Res ’98;108:167 (curcumin is active ingredient of rhizome of turmeric plant. Curcumin in diet decreases colon CA in rats. Cancer Res ’95;55:259. Numerous animal studies showing benefits against various skin, stomach, breast, and other cancers. Works in vitro against human leukemia. Curcumin ointment helped reduce symptoms and in 10% of patients the size of skin cancers in humans. Rural Indians consumed .6g/d. Up to 2g/d no toxicity for rats, monkeys, guinea pigs, rabbits for 1-3 months. Influence blood lipids, used in ayurveda to treat contusions, sprains, bruises. Antimutagenic. Potent antioxidant. Potent anti-inflammatory. Popular in skin creams and tooth powders. Prevents aflatoxin production and nitrosamine formation. Inhibited excretion of urinary mutagens in smokers. Krishnaswamy, Nutr Rev 11/96;54(11 Pt 2):127. Says beneficial effect due to its anti-oxidant ability. Green leafy veg highest followed by wheat and rice in anti-oxidant. Onions and garlic also said good anti-mutagenic. Krishnaswamy, Natl Inst Nutrition, Hyderabad, Ind J Med Res 11/98;108:167

Curcumin & isoflavones Inhib Breast CA: Estrogen-sensitive breast CA induced by estrogenic pesticides in vitro.Combo effective—"most potent inhibitor of growth of human breast cancer cells." Verma, Tufts, Environ Health Perspec ’98;106:807

Curcumin & Catechin Inhib Oral CA in Vitro: Both block arachidonic acid metab. In vitro with normal and premalig cell cultures. Both inhib thru separate induction pathways.Sacks, Sloan-Kettering, Proc Ann Meeting Am Assoc Cancer Res ’97;38:A1755

Liver CA Less Common in India: Liver CA 4^th most common cancer death in world. 80% of liver CA in India due to Hep B or C. However, altho Hep B and C infection rates moderately high in India, but only 1.6% CA deaths due to liver CA, i.e. abnormally low and without explanation. Dhir, Mumbai, Ind J Gastroent 7/98;17:100; India is a relatively low cancer country except oral CA due to betel nut chewing. Ed: Low Liver CA maybe due to high intake curcumin? Low rates of small and large bowel cancers with large bowel adenomas rare. However, rectal cancer is not uncommon. Rates increase with emigration and urban diets. Curcumin thought to play a protective role. Mohandas, Indian J Gastroent 7/99;18:118

Curcumin No Help Dog Osteoarthritis in DB: 61 dogs DB PC 8 weeks. Vet Rec 2003 Apr 12;152(15):457-60

Curcumin Helps Uveitis: 375mg tid for 12 weeks led to 100% response rate in 18 pts with 55% relapse over next 3 yr. Usual Rx is steroids. Phytother Res 6/99;13:318-22.

Curcumin, Ellagic Acid, Bixin Protect Against Radiation Damage: Mice study of whole body radiation found these protected against induction of micronuclei and chromosomal aberrations as well as vit E on a molar basis each individually. Curcumin, and ellagic acid protected bone marrow cells and lymphocytes against chromosomal aberrations as well as vit E. Tresiamma, India, J Exp Clin Cancer Res 12/98;17:431; Curcumin (diferuloyl methane) from rhizome of curcuma long Linn., a member of the ginger family. It is a nuclear transcription factor AP-1 inhibitor. In another mouse study, curcumin protected from radiation damage the glyoxylase system in liver and kidney. India, J Ethnopharm 1/99;64:1

Curcumin Inhibits Cancer: Curcumin inhibited AK-5 tumor growth and induced AK-5 cell apoptosis thru activation of caspase-3 and the generation of reactive oxygen intermediates. Khar, India, FEBS Letter 2/99;445:165; Curcumin also inhibits inflammatory cytokine production by monocytes and by alveolar macrophages. Abe, Tokyo, Pharmac Res 1/99;39:41; It inhibits colon CA growth by increasing apoptysis in rats in all stages of cancer development from initiation, post-initiation, and progression (late in the premalignant) stages. Kawamori, American Health Foundation, Cancer Res 2/99;59:597. Inhib of human colon CA cells. Blocks COX-2 inflammatory prostaglandin enzyme which is overexpressed in colon CA. Said promising as preventive. Plummer, U Leicester, Oncogene 10/99

Up to 8 g/day Used for CA: Taiwan study starting with 500mg/d and increasing found over 8g/d not tolerated. Given to a variety of cancer patients with 25% or so showing regression. Anticancer Res 2001 Jul-Aug;21(4B):2895-900

Protects Rats fr Alc Brain Injury:By anti-ox and hypolipemic functions found protective. Phytother Res 11/99

Curcumin Protects Mice From Skin Radiation Damage: Effect was dramatice. Should therefore protect human cancer patients receiving radiation therapy from burnsand blisters. 10/7/02 U Rochester Science Daily.

Curcumin Helps Diabetes Side-Effects in Mice: Oxidation causes cross-linking in collagen in diabetes with accumulation of advanced glycation end products. 200mg/kg curcumin used. India, Biochem Pharmacol 12/98;56:1607

Curcumin Reduces Fatty Streak Damage in Rabbits: Rabbits on high cholesterol diet on curcumin diet had less damage and less oxidative stress. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2002 Jul 1;22(7):1225-31

Curcumin Helps Muscle Injury: Muscle regeneration in vivo after trauma greatly enhanced by curcumin which is an inhibitor of transcription factor NF-kappa B. Stimulate cell proliferation and differentiaiton. Thaloor, Emory, Am J Physiol 8/99;277:C320-9.

Curcumin, Eugenol Against Vag Herpes: Study with a mouse model looked at 19 anti-microbial plant compounds. Four helped in invitro assay topically. Bourne, U Cinn, Antiviral Res 7/99;42:219

Curcumin Helps Wound Healing in Mice and Guinea Pigs: Faster wound closure of puncture wounds. Sidhu, Bethesda, Wound Repair Regen 3/98;6:167. Worked both orally and topically in rats and guinea pigs. Incr in Growth Factor best-1 expression with more revasc and other changes. Sidhu, Wound Repair Regen 9/99

Curcumin Anti-Depressant Effect in Mice: With huge dose of 560mg/kg but less at 140mg/kg in 14 day study found effect on swim test. High dose was superior to fluoxetine. dose of 140 mg/kg or above for 14 days, significantly inhibited the monoamine oxidize A (MAO) activity in mouse whole brain at a dose-dependent manner, however, oral administration of the extract only at a dose of 560 mg/kg produced observable MAO B inhibitory activity. Antidepressant activity of aqueous extracts of Curcuma longa in mice. Yu ZF, Kong LD, Chen Y. J Ethnopharmacol 2002 Nov;83(1-2):161-5

Curcumin Decr Atheroscl: Curcumin blocks oxidation of LDL cholesterol which is a cause of athero in rabbit study. However, abstract suggests inconsistant results. Ramirez-Tortosa, U Granada, Atheroscl 12/99

Curcumin on PubMed: In all, on 3/24/99 there were roughly 300 articles published and listed on PubMed. Almost all were animal studies. The large majority showed anti-cancer effects with a very wide variety of cancers. Every study I read documented beneficial effects. There were also hepatoprotective effect articles, every one showing benefit. Protected rat heart against oxidative effect of adriamycin. Simultaneous administration of piperine markedly increased curcumin blood levels in animals and humans. Dietary curcumin didn’t help two chemically induced lung and breast cancers in mice possibly due to low bioavailability. Topical application did help skin cancer. However, dietary curcumin was just as effective as curcumin painted on oral pouch lesions in hamsters. Dietary curcumin helped diabetic nephropathy in mice. Curcumin completely inhibited cytokine IL-8 production which is induced by pathogenic strains of H. pylori and which is a step in causing ulcers of stomach and duodenum. Curcumin inhibits transcription factor nuclear factor Kappa-B (NF-KappaB) which is necessary for IL-8 production. Curcumin induces cell apotosis in human breast cancer cells. Curcumin was one of seven chemicals to stimulate glutathione levels (GSH) which is thought to be anti-carcinogenic. EGCG of green tea uses a different mechanism than curcumin and may be synergistic. Carcinogenesis 3/98. Capsiacin and curcumin decr paw inflam in arthritis rats. Curcumin was second only to cinnamon in inhibiting Aspergillus growth and aflatoxin production. Curcumin synergistic with Vitamin D3 and with retinoic acid against leukemia. Dietary curcumin protected against cataracts in rats. Am J Clin Nutr ’96;64:761. Three curcuminoids in turmeric. There are also synthetic ones now available. It also has a membrane stabilizing action and decr lipid peroxidation.

My Curcumin Recommendation: Buying curcumin in capsules in health food stores is expensive and wasteful, i.e. $11 for 30 capsules totalling 10-15 grams. Buying tumeric in bulk, if available, is much cheaper, i.e. $.45/oz in Urbana, IL or 15 cents for the amount in $11 in capsules. My recommended daily intake is 1-2 g/d costing 2-3 cents per day, a very reasonable expenditure. 1g=1/3tsp. Currently, I am mixing equal amounts of curry powder, which has a fair amount of tumeric, with pure tumeric. I am adding 1/3 tsp tumeric & 1/3 tsp curry to my homemade tomato juice (3cans tomato paste, lemon juice, 2Tsp parsley, ¾ tsp garlic powder, and 4-5 cups water). I also have added it to my flatbread (2½ #whole wheat, 2½# rye, (may substitute some soy & flax flour for some rye), 3-4 tsp tumeric, 1½-2 tsp curry, 1 tsp garlic, and water. Form in balls, flatten on poppy and sesame seeds so flat bread about 4" across and ½"-¾" thick. Bake on cookie sheet (no need to grease) at 325-350 for 35 min) as well as to my breakfast "cereal" (60%soy protein($1.15/#), 30%wheat germ($.49/#), 10%flax seeds) which I mix up in a bowl container containing 1-2 week’s supply. If I cook brown rice or lentils and brown rice or white rice, I now add ¼tsp tumeric & ¼tsp curry & some garlic powder per cup of seeds which give a pleasant flavor. This way I easily meet my daily target of curcumin without altering my regular diet. I have continued my Vit E, selenium, and vitamin C anti-oxidants (lycopene in tomato juice is also a potent anti-oxidant as well as those present in other dietary fruits and vegetables). Unfortunately, I have seen little research to determine whether there is any reason to take so many anti-oxidants or whether they simply have no added benefit once a certain level of anti-oxidant effect is achieved. While a very large amount of favorable animal research on curcumin is now being published with several new studies each month, there is a real need for human epidemiological and double-blind studies. One side-effect of curcumin is diarrhea.