Prevent cancer with turmeric, Teaspoon Of Turmeric A Day Can Keep Cancers At Bay

April 5, 2008 - PRLog -- Spice up your life with turmeric - and health
Prevent cancer with turmeric, Teaspoon Of Turmeric A Day Can Keep Cancers At Bay
Kerala, April 2008 : If you chow down on curry dishes regularly, give yourself a pat on the back (or tummy). You probably gobble the spicy stuff because it's delicious, but here's another good reason to load curry sauce on your veggies: turmeric, the main ingredient in curry, is proving to have numerous health benefits. Ounce for ounce, few spices can compete with the health-promoting effects of turmeric. Commonly used in curry sauces in South Asian cuisine, this golden yellow spice is showing up with increasing frequency in medical journals all over the world as researchers identify the many health attributes of turmeric.
A teaspoon of turmeric a day can keep cancers at bay. The good old grandmother's practice of putting a pinch of turmeric to spice and spruce up curries has now proved to be also protecting the human body.
Turmeric has anti-cancer properties and is known to protect the body from developing cancers. Curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, has been able to work miracles in even reversing cancers. Lots of studies in the world have shown that curcumin is a powerful anti-oxidant and can prevent cell damage that leads to cancers. Painting turmeric in the inner cheeks has led to preventing mouth cancers in women who have the habit of reverse smoking.
Dr Merina Benny Anthony, PHD, specialization in Plant Biochemistry, Dept. of Biochemistry University Centre, Kariavattom,  who has done a research study on Curcumin extract said “Curcumin has been shown to inhibit the estrogen mimicking pesticide recedues in the food, water, fruits, milk, vegetables etc. Today, there are capsules available in the market that’s 100 percent turmeric extract. One such capsule is available in Kerala market which is known as Biocurcumax. The Curcumin present in Biocurcumax has 6 fold bio-availability compared to normal curcumin. Human body requires 400 mg of curcumin every day for its full benefits which is available from 10 gm turmeric in the diet or 2000 mg of curcumin capsule/tablet. The same 400 mg of curcumin is available from single capsule of


Biocurcumax. The intake of just one capsule of biocurcumax is equivalent to 10 gms of raw turmeric the recommended dosage in Ayurveda.”
Dr Merina Benny Anthony also faulted the change in lifestyle to the growing incidence of cancer worldwide saying, "there has been a sharp increase in cancers all over the world, especially in developing countries like India. The burden of cancer is going to be enormous in the coming decades."
The only way to protect the human body against cancers is the three "N" formula-- nature, nurture and nutrition. Eating natural foods rich in riboflavin, selenium and vitamin a can reduce the incidence of cancers. Micronutrients present in fruits and vegetables too play a major role in checking the incidence.
Here's the lowdown on some of the most promising research to date.

Cancer
Numerous studies have found that curcumin suppresses the proliferation of cancer cells.
* In one recent study on hamsters with chemically induced tumors, subjects receiving topically applied and orally ingested turmeric and/or curcumin developed significantly less tumors than the control group. Researchers concluded that turmeric or curcumin may have a chemopreventive effect on precancerous lesions of the mouth.
* A second study found that daily turmeric intake for 9 months contributed to regression of precancerous lesions in the mouths of humans. Thus, curcumin may be especially beneficial for smokers.
* Curcumin supplementation inhibited carcinogenesis in the stomach and colon, in mice, in another study.
* Other research showed that curcumin inhibited the growth of estrogenpositive, human breast cancer cells. The researchers asserted that including turmeric in the diet might help prevent hormone-related cancers resulting from environmental pesticide exposure. There's more than one theory on how curcumin protects against cancer. It may encourage apoptosis of cancer cells - in other words, getting the nasty cells to kill themselves off. Curcumin's powerful antioxidant ability is also attributed with the compound's anti-tumor activity. This makes sense, considering that antioxidants scavenge harmful free radicals that can lead to cancer-cell proliferation.If you would like to add turmeric to your diet via curry powders and sauces, be sure that turmeric appears on the list of ingredients. Many curry powders, sauces, and recipes use cumin, which is not to be confused with curcumin or turmeric. The health-promoting effects listed in this article are attributable to curcumin found in the spice turmeric.


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