Curcumin For Cancer Prevention & Treatment: With Dosages

Breaking news: Curcumin holds great promise for a long-term solution for cancer patients.

I recently interviewed Ajay Goel, Ph.D., primo cancer researcher at Baylor University about his latest research that shows curcumin kills the cells responsible for recurring cancer.

Now I know that doctors hate to use the word “cure” for cancer, but that seems to be the bottom line of Dr. Goel’s research on curcumin, the rhizome of the turmeric plant that gives curry its distinctive yellow color.

The study published in January looked at colon cancer cells, but Dr. Goel says he is confident that he will eventually find the same effect in other types of cancer.

Here’s how it works, in Dr. Goel’s words:

“You know how people with cancer seems to do all right with surgery and chemotherapy, for a while then the cancer returns?

“That’s because the chemo kills some, maybe most of the cancer cells, but it doesn’t kill the cancer stem cells. These are master cells remain dormant and can generate new cancerous cells, sometimes years after the cancer was contained. Previously, those cancer stem cells were thought to be almost immortal.

“Curcumin makes the stem cells much more susceptible to chemotherapy, increasing the chances that tumors will not come back,” he concluded.

Dr. Goel’s recent research was on cell lines in a lab setting, but he is now conducting animal studies and hopes to follow it shortly with human studies.

Dr. Goel has published large body of research on curcumin his role as director of epigenetics and cancer research at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Dr. Goel explains the complex science of epigenetics in simple terms: “Everything we do from the day we are born, everything we eat, drink and are exposed to in our environment has an indirect but strong influence on our genetics. As we age and grow, it is very natural that some of the genes tend to get turned off as a consequence of our eating habits, exercise regiments and exposure to toxic environmental stresses. Fortunately, unlike genetic disorders, epigenetic alterations are reversible.”

Curcumin plays a key role in turning on those “sleeping” genes that prevent cancer, among other things.

Dr. Goel’s research proves that curcumin can turn on the genes that, among other things, tell cells they have a finite lifespan and telling them to die, rather than becoming immortal (as we find in cancer) and multiplying out of control indefinitely, therefore stopping tumor growth and stopping the spread of cancer.

Curcumin has also been proven to cut off the blood supply to cancerous tumors, stopping their growth.

All of this adds up a tremendous power against cancer. It’s been tested and proven effective against at least 15 types of cancer:

What’s the take home message here?

My regular readers know I am a huge proponent of curcumin for many health benefits, not the least of which is cancer prevention and treatment.

I take curcumin every day, without fail. I use a particular formulation called BCM-95, which is extracted in the way that it can be best absorbed by the body. This is the form that Dr. Goel uses in his research, so I know it is the best and I know it works.

If you have less than a perfect lifestyle, if you have cancer in your family or if you simply want to live a long and healthy life, I highly recommend that you take curcumin, too.