The headline in Yahoo News yesterday read “Scientists Say Curry Compound Kills Cancer Cells.” A pretty compelling attention grabber, but the content left me longing. When I first saw it I thought – “hey now, we’ve come a long way in making healing foods headliners.” I thought interested readers, however, might like a few more details before they run off and turn their skin yellow by eating buckets of Indian food.
“Curry Compound” is incredibly vague, and the word curry itself is as ambiguous as “chai,” so I’ll start there. “Curry” is a blend of spices, most commonly consisting of the following:
Coriander Seeds
Cumin Seeds
Fenugreek Seeds
Turmeric
Cloves
Garlic
Ginger
Salt
Black Pepper
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Onion
Mustard
All of these spices have medicinal qualities, so what exactly is the “curry compound”? The article specifically refers to the curcumin, which indicates they are referring to turmeric (curcumin is the primary bio-active agent in turmeric). Turmeric is a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), and has a long history in Ayurvedic Medicine. Turmeric has been known far and wide for thousands of years as an anti-inflammatory herb, and has been used to treat everything from arthritis, IBS, and psoriasis to bacterial infections, and even anxiety. Turmeric is a known free radical scavenger, and is thought to enhance neurological nerve production – making it a modern experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease.
The use of turmeric in cancer research is not new. It has been known for decades as a tumor inhibitor, and has been used in numerous treatment studies on colon cancer, pancreatic cancer and the prevention of cervical cancer. The excitement around this Yahoo News/Reuters release is specific to new findings with research on esophageal cancer, and the findings are remarkably promising for patients suffering from a disease with an incredibly low chance of survival.
So the question is, should we all add curry to our food repertoire? How much? Maybe we should just eat turmeric? And this got me thinking about cancer prevention, as opposed to cancer treatment. It is not fair, nor is it my intention, to imply that individuals are responsible for developing cancer, so I do want to be clear at the outset on that point. Having said that, there are preventative practices that we can employ in our lifestyles to reduce risk – especially where other risk factors such as environment, genetics, or just being dealt a lousy hand may be present. This is where I think foods such as curry can be helpful.
When I look at the nutritional profile of the average curry dish I basically see a bowl of disease-fighting militia. Not only that, I see more servings of fresh whole foods and vegetables than the average American consumes in a week. Add to that a cocktail of herbs and spices that are known medicinals, and you have just taken a step towards a lifestyle of cancer prevention, not to mention cold and flu prevention, digestive balancing and cardiovascular support. The main point is that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables that minimizes processed foods is how you can fight cancer and stay well overall.
When you see articles about a certain food or a particular spice being used in medical treatment research you need to know that they are using therapeutic doses, and this does not at all look and taste like what you get for dinner at your favorite ethnic restaurant. For example, the therapeutic dose of turmeric can be as high as 3- 9 grams [Michael Tierra; The Way of Herbs]. That is an enormous amount of any kind of supplement, and it should not be used without the guidance of a trained medical professional. Further, when mainstream articles like this are published they don’t always make it clear if the studies are being done on animals or humans, and they rarely tell you details about the study group (for example, additional medications or side effects).
In sum, I hate to be a buzz kill, but the real news is not glamorous and isn’t new, but I like the haiku Michael Pollan wrote to describe it in “In Defense of Food:”
“Eat Food
Not too much
Mostly Plants”
Eat Well and Live Well,
Sacred Harvest
