Curcumin holds prostate cancer in check by preventing metastasis

Curcumin holds prostate cancer in check by preventing metastasis


(NaturalNews) Cancer continues to be the second leading cause of death
in America and Western Europe, and prostate cancer will affect one in
six men during the course of their lives. Most people with cancer die
not because of the primary tumor, but because the cancerous cells have
traveled to distant points throughout the body in a process known as
metastasis. Prostate cancer normally progresses very slowly, and as long
as it does not metastasize, it can be controlled through diet and
lifestyle modifications.

Nature provides us with a number of
natural compounds that have proven effective in controlling the division
and replication of cancerous growths. One of the most promising is
curcumin, the anti-inflammatory, bioactive extract from the curry spice,
turmeric. A research team from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany has published the result of a study in the journal, Carcinogenesis that shows how curcumin inhibits the formation of metastases in prostate cancer tissues and other cancer lines as well.

In
prior studies, lead researcher, Dr. Beatrice Bachmeier has demonstrated
that curcumin significantly reduces the incidence of lung cancer
metastasis in breast cancer patients, and wanted to expand her scope to
determine if men suffering from prostate cancer would benefit in a
similar manner. Statistics show that prostate cancer is one of the most
prevalent malignancies in the Western world, and is often diagnosed only
after metastatic tumors have formed in other organs. In three percent
of cases, these metastases are lethal.


Curcumin alters gene expression to negate the carcinogenic effects of pro-inflammatory proteins

The
study was designed to determine the efficacy of curcumin in the
prevention of prostate cancer metastases, and to determine exactly how
the compound worked at the cellular level. Both prostate and breast cancer
lines are associated with an increase in the pro-inflammatory
cytokines, CXCL 1 and CXCL 2, and are believed to spread throughout the
body to other organs and tissues through the release of these chemical
messengers.

The study team found that curcumin
alters the expression of these two destructive proteins and directly
inhibits the metastatic spread of prostate cancer cells. Dr. Bachmeier
concluded of the current and past studies on cancer cell propagation: "Due
to the action of curcumin, the tumor cells synthesize smaller amounts
of cytokines that promote metastasis... as a consequence, the frequency
of metastasis formation in the lungs is significantly reduced, in
animals with breast cancer, as we showed previously, or carcinoma of the
prostate, as demonstrated in our new study."

This study
clearly demonstrates the importance of natural compounds such as
curcumin to prevent the development and spread of both prostate and
breast cancer lines through metastasis. The study authors indicated that
up to eight grams per day of supplemental curcumin can be used safely.
Most nutrition experts recommend 400 to 800 mg of a 95 percent
standardized dosage be used as a natural agent to protect against cancer
development and metastasis.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/037826_curcumin_prostate_cancer_turmeric.html