Curry spice kills cancer? No wonder my stomach hurts.
Source: Cancer Research UK
The UK (that’s the United Kingdom or Great Britain for the slower ones) where, largely due to prior colonial influence, one can still get a really good curry take out has some interesting news.
An extract of tumeric (the yellow spice in curry) called curcumin has shown promise in killing of cancer cells. A research team from Cork (Google it) has found that within 24 hours curcumin began killing cells containing cancer.
This follows an earlier study (2006) by University of Arizona researchers which found that curcumin had an anti-inflammatory effect on osteoarthritis sufferers. Those researchers posited that tumeric compounds may have application to other inflammatory disorders including asthma, Multiple Sclerosis and in a moment of pure irony -IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).
So can you get the same effect from your local curry house? Probably not at this point, but interesting stuff, notwithstanding, no?
~Posted by David Marc Schwadron, Esquire