Food of the gods—and good for you, too!: An ingredient in curry has cancer-fighting properties. Photo by yajico at Flickr.com

I love Indian food! The hotter, the better. My friend Bruce and I used to walk into random restaurants in the Los Angeles area and order the spiciest thing on the menu. Our motto was: it’s not really food if it doesn’t hurt.

Well, now it turns out that all those years I was downing rogan josh and chicken vindaloo, I was actually ingesting a potent cancer-fighting agent! According to some studies, curcumin, the yellowish spice in turmeric that gives curry its flavor, suppresses tumors. Unfortunately, it quickly loses its cancer-fighting properties when eaten.

But now, researchers in Japan have developed two synthetic versions of the compound. In tests on mice, these artificial flavorings were up to 30 times more powerful than natural curcumin. Treated mice fared 40% to 50% better than non-treated mice.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Every time we post a story about cancer or other serious diseases, we get a flood of messages asking for information. We are not doctors. No one on Science Buzz is qualified to give medical advice. Synthetic curcumin is still in early trials, and won’t be ready for human use for several years, if ever. Eating natural curcumin will not – I repeat, will NOT – protect you from cancer nor cure cancer you already have.

Tags : cancer, curry, health, Indian food

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