Study Reveals 1 Of These 16 Spices Radically Targets And Kills Cancer Cells

A recent study published in the journal Anticancer Research entitled, “Curcumin and Cancer Stem Cells: Curcumin Has Asymmetrical Effects on Cancer and Normal Stem Cells”, has demonstrated that curcumin, a component of turmeric, can kill cancer stem cells with more precision than conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. This simply means that curcumin appears to be able to target cancer stem cells while leaving our healthy cells to flourish. Stem cells are known to be the most powerful and cancer-proliferating type type of cancer cell.  

This is an incredibly important finding, because conventional therapies like chemo, radiation and surgery do not target  cancer cells alone with such specificity. In fact, they kill our cells, cancerous and healthy,  indiscriminately. This obviously weakens our body’s defenses. According to an article entitled “Turmeric’s ‘Smart Kill’ Properties Put Chemo & Radiation To Shame” on GreenMediInfo.com, cancer stem cells (CSCs), the type found to be destroyed by curcumin in this study are:  

“..capable of producing all other cells within a tumor, making them the most lethal, tumorigenic of all cells within most if not all cancers.”

This article also states:

“Because CSCs are resistant to chemotherapy, radiation, and may even be provoked towards increased invasiveness through surgical intervention, they are widely believed to be responsible for tumor recurrence and the failure of conventional treatment.”

 

Though this study does not explain exactly how curcumin accomplishes this miraculous feat, the article does list 8 possible mechanisms.  A few mentioned are:

“...Down Regulation of interleukin-6, Down Regulation of interleukin-8, Down Regulation of interleukin-1, Modulation of the Notch Pathway..”

In other words, curcumin has a number of powerfully beneficial effects, the most extraordinary being its “selective cytotoxicity.” This is simply “fancy speak” meaning it is able to kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells uninjured. This is extremely important, because our body relies on our healthy cells to regenerate and heal. Therefore, killing them during treatment decreases our chances for quick recovery.

In closing, this article states:

 

“...Given the evidence that a safe and effective alternative may already exist, chemotherapy, radiation and even surgery may no longer be justified as the first-line standard of care for cancer treatment. In fact, a significant body of evidence now implicates these treatments in worsening prognosis, and in some cases driving cancer stem cell enrichment in tumors.”

 

and that,

“Turmeric and its components, of course, are not FDA approved drugs, and by definition the FDA will not allow an unapproved substance, natural or synthetic, to prevent, treat, diagnosis or cure a disease.  This means that you will not be seeing it offered by an oncologist as an alternative to chemotherapy or radiation any time soon.  This does not, however, mean that it does not work. We have gathered over 1500 citations from the National Library of Medicine's bibliographic database MEDLINE, accessible through pubmed.gov, and which can be viewed on our database here: Turmeric Research, showing that curcumin and related turmeric components possess significant anti-cancer activity.”

For more detailed information, you may visit the full article here.

My take on this:

I will be the first to admit that I am not a doctor. However, I have lost friends and family to cancer and witnessed the excruciatingly painful process and side effects of conventional therapies. While I understand that treatments like chemo, radiation and surgery may have helped many cancer sufferers, I also believe we need a fresh approach.

The budding research of epigenetics has demonstrated that our lifestyle decisions, such as diet, have a profound effect on that state of our health and risk for disease. Therefore, making healthful dietary decisions is one of the key elements in cancer prevention.  I am not proposing that diet is the only cause of cancer, but I think it’s important to take control wherever possible. When a food like turmeric, a spice we can use daily, has shown such incredibly therapeutic effects, we should take note.

I have not had cancer myself, nor could I understand the many complex variables that factor into determining one’s course of treatment. My goal here is to make you aware that you may have more than one option. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery have helped many people, but they might not be the the only answer. There are many natural, alternative therapies that have shown promise. If you, or someone you love, are suffering, my hope is that you might explore every available option 😊  

Here’s to preventing cancer, one bite at a time!