Eating a curry not only spices up your life, it could save it too.
A tumeric, a spice in curry can help prevent breast cancer and even stop cancer cells from spreading, according to a new research.
The researchers, writing in the Journal of Cancer, studied a line of colon cancer cells in a laboratory model.
They have revealed that curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, could be combined with another chemical called silymarin to stop cancer cells in the colon from spreading.
Treating the cancer cells first with curcumin, then with silymarin was more effective in fighting cancer than treating the cells with either phytochemical alone, the researchers found.
Dr. Uthayashanker Ezekiel, associate professor of biomedical laboratory science at Saint Louis University, said: “The combination of phytochemicals inhibited colon cancer cells from multiplying and spreading.”
“In addition, when the colon cancer cells were pre-exposed to curcumin and then treated with silymarin, the cells underwent a high amount of cell death,” he said.
“Phytochemicals may offer alternate therapeutic approaches to cancer treatments and avoid toxicity problems and side effects that chemotherapy can cause,” Dr. Ezekiel added.
The doctor also warned that the research is a preliminary, adding that more studies will be required before scientists know if the compounds are an effective treatment for people who have colon cancer.