Turmeric is certainly the superfood de jour…

But whereas noni, mangosteen, incaberries etc have come and gone without any real research to back up the claims – turmeric really is the real deal, and has fast become THE most researched natural food.

The scientific and medical community are really sitting up and taking note of just how powerful turmeric is in the prevention and potential cure of many degenerative diseases, including Cancer.

In just the past 12 months research has been published with positive results about turmeric preventing and fighting:

• Colon Cancer: Effect of Curcumin and Silymarin in Combination Exerts Synergistic Inhibition of Colon Cancer Cell Proliferation; Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal; April 2015 (Link)
• Cervical Cancer: The Effects of Curcumin-based Compounds on Proliferation and Cell Death in Cervical Cancer Cells; Anticancer Research Journal; October 2015 (link)
• Prostate Cancer: Development of Curcumin Loaded Nanoparticles and Evaluation of Antitumor Effects on Prostate Cancer Cell Lines; UNT Health Science Centre; October 2015 (link)
• Breast Cancer: The Effect of Curcumin on Breast Cancer Cells; Journal of Breast Cancer; August 2015; (Link)
• Colorectal Cancer: Curcumin Inhibits DLD-1 Colorectal Cancer Cell Proliferation by Modulating MicroRNA and Tumor Suppressor Gene Expression; Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal; April 2015 (link)
• Pancreatic Cancer: Curcumin Induces Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Cell Death Via Reduction of the Inhibitors of Apoptosis; Pancreas Journal; January 2016; (link)
• Liver Cancer: Curcumin inhibits cancer stem cell phenotypes in ex vivomodels of colorectal liver metastases, and is clinically safe and tolerable in combination with FOLFOX chemotherapy; Cancer Letters; August 2015; (link)

I could go on…

Curcumin Punishing Cancer at It’s Root: Cancer Stem Cells

A research paper published in 2014 in the journal ‘Cancer Letters’ has particularly caught my eye.

In this research, the authors, Yanyan Li and Tao Zhang, found that curcumin (the primary polyphenol in turmeric) had the capacity to target these Cancer Stem Cells, believed to be at the root of every variant of cancer.

This explains the research above showing turmeric as effective in so many different types of cancer!

According to the Ludwig Centre at the Stanford Medicine School cancer stem cells are potentially the key to finding a cure for cancer:

“The stem cell theory of cancer proposes that among all cancerous cells, a few act as stem cells that reproduce themselves and sustain the cancer, much like normal stem cells normally renew and sustain our organs and tissues.

The idea that cancer is primarily driven by a smaller population of stem cells has important implications. For instance, many new anti-cancer therapies are evaluated based on their ability to shrink tumors, but if the therapies are not killing the cancer stem cells, the tumor will soon grow back (often with a vexing resistance to the previously used therapy). An analogy would be a weeding technique that is evaluated based on how low it can chop the weed stalks—but no matter how low the weeks are cut, if the roots aren’t taken out, the weeds will just grow back.
Another important implication is that it is the cancer stem cells that give rise to metastases (when cancer travels from one part of the body to another) and can also act as a reservoir of cancer cells that may cause a relapse after surgery, radiation or chemotherapy has eliminated all observable signs of a cancer.”

(Source: Stanford School of Medicine)

In other words, unless the CSCs are addressed, the cancer may not be removed. These CSCs are at the root cause of every cancer forming…and remaining…and returning.

And the research by Li and Zhang has shown that curcumin has been shown to inhibit CSCs.

They concluded:

“Curcumin, as well as its modified forms (analogues or nanoparticle-encapsulated formulations), has shown great potential to inhibit CSCs in several types of cancer both in cell cultures and in mouse models, including glioma, breast, colorectal, pancreatic, brain, and esophageal cancers. Some analogues (e.g., CDF) and formulations (e.g., nanotechnology-based formulation) have exhibited improved efficacy against CSC-like cells and greater growth-inhibitory capacity in tumors. It is promising to evaluate curcumin and its modified forms in other types of CSCs.”

This is such an important breakthrough, and given the huge volume of research and studies emerging proving the benefit of curcumin/turmeric in the fight against and recovery from cancer, I truly hope that it will not be long before individuals are offered these compounds as part of their routine treatment.

Start Now: Make Turmeric a Part of Your Daily Diet!

There is no reason NOT to have turmeric as part of your daily diet right now, it’s really delicious and easy to squeeze in every day!

Even if you simply boil it in water to make turmeric tea, there is no excuse to be going any further without making this a part of your life!

Here are a few turmeric-containing recipes for you to try:

+ The Turmeric Anti-Inflammation Smoothie
+ Turmeric & Lentil Soup (very very popular with my readers)
+ Two Powerful Turmeric Teas

Fresh is Best…But…

A question I’m often asked about Turmeric is – what if I can’t buy it fresh, is powdered OK?

The answer is YES for sure. Fresh is best, but powdered is a zillion times better than not at all!

Don’t forget to search online for a fresh turmeric supplier near you. And as ever, if in doubt – try AMAZON! They sell everything…including fresh turmeric.

Enjoy and please do share this and help spread the message about this incredible, TRUE superfood.

Ross

The post Turmeric at the Root of Preventing & Killing Cancer (New Research) appeared first on Live Energized.