Curcumin Shows Promise of Treating Pancreatic Cancer

Last year three classmates and one dear friend died of pancreatic cancer. There were other prominent people died of the same disease that year. I wondered if there was a prevention or cure for it. A promising answer is an ingredient used in curry. A tasty way to get the benefits of curry is to use it in an entree with beef, chicken, tofu, gluten, or vegetables. Be aware that curcumin is also known to thin the blood, so it should not be taken with anti-coagulants or anti-inflammatory drugs.

Curcumin is a pigment in turmeric root, an herb in the ginger family. Curry gets its spicy flavor from curcumin, which has been used for centuries by Indian Ayurvedic healers to treat indigestion, arthritis, and urinary tract disorders. Research from UCLA has shown that curcumin may improve cognitive function and help reduce Alzheimer's risk More recently we've seen growing evidence that curcumin may also fight cancer.

Cancer researcher Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., believes that life-long curcumin intake may explain why the cancer mortality rate is unusually low in Sri Lanka where the typical diet delivers curcumin on a daily basis. According to Dr. Moss, curcumin is a natural anti- inflammatory, rich in antioxidants, and curbs tumor growth by inhibiting the development of tiny blood vessels that tumors require to thrive.

In recent years, curcumin research has advanced from the laboratory (in a 2005 study curcumin prompted melanoma cancer cells to self-destruct), to animal studies (last year, curcumin was found to inhibit tumor growth in mice while also enhancing the effects of radiation therapy), and finally to a human trial in which this spicy root extract was tested in 25 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer - a disease that's almost always fatal.

Researchers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas chose to test curcumin against such an aggressive cancer. Each subject was given eight grams of Curcumin C3 Complex daily. Blood tests showed that bioavailability of the extract appears to be poor when given orally. But despite the limited absorption, the extract prompted clear biological activity in two subjects. In one of the subjects, the disease stabilized for more than 18 months. The second subject had "a brief, but marked, tumor regression."

While curcumin obviously didn't produce a striking success, researchers say the extract appeared to exert a potent activity against a particularly virulent cancer, indicating that higher levels of curcumin need to be achieved. Further curcumin research is currently underway at the Anderson Center.

Sources:

"Phase II Trial of Curcumin in Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Cancer" Clinical Cancer Research Vol. 14, No. 14, 7/15/08, clincancerres.aacrjournals.org"

Historic Verdict slaps 'Smiling Bob' With 25-Year Jail Sentence" NutraIngredients- USA.com, 8/27/08, nutraingredients-usa.com"

Reporting Mortality Findings in Trials of Rofecoxib for Alzheimer Disease or Cognitive Impairment" Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 299, No. 15, 4/16/08, jama.ama-assn.org

the Anderson team uses Curcumin C3 Complex, a turmeric root extract product, standardized for 95 percent of three curcuminoids.