|
Curcumin |
Curry May Help Prevent Colon Cancer
Wed Aug 2, 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060802/hl_hsn/currymayhelppreventcoloncancer
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Chemicals found in onions and curry
may help prevent colon cancer, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
study suggests.
Published in the August issue of the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and
Hepatology, the study included five people with familial adenomatous
polyposis (FAP), an inherited form of precancerous polyps in the lower
bowel. FAP is characterized by the development of hundreds of colorectal
polyps and eventual colon cancer.
For an average of six months, the patients received three daily oral doses
of 20 milligrams of quercetin (an antioxidant found in onions) and 480
milligrams of curcumin (found in tumeric, one of the main ingredients of
curry).
The average number of polyps in the patients declined by 60.4 percent, and
the average size of the polyps decreased by 50.9 percent, the study said.
"We believe this is the first proof of principle that these substances have
significant effects in patients with FAP," study leader Dr. Francis M.
Giardiello, director of the division of gastroenterology at the university,
said in a prepared statement.
He believes that curcumin is the key agent.
"The amount of quercetin we administered was similar to what many people
consume daily; however, the amount of curcumin is many times what a person
might ingest in a typical diet, since tumeric only contains on average three
percent to five percent curcumin by weight," Giardiello said.
It's not likely that simply eating onions and curry would provide the same
benefits seen in this study, he noted.
The researchers plan to conduct a randomized clinical trial with more
patients.
|
|
|
