Researchers at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine tested Pycnogenol on ovarian cancer cells and found that Pycnogenol induced apoptosis in the cancer cells, causing them to die, while not affecting normal ovarian cells at all. This selectivity is very significant since it means that Pycnogenol may be useful as a chemopreventive agent against cancer.
I think that Pycnogenol, grape seed extract, resveratrol, curcumin and other natural substances are part of a new wave of preventative medicine that will significantly improve our health and extend our lives in the future. Unfortunately, many medical professionals are not well informed about these alternatives and thus don’t recommend them to patients (or worse, suggest that they are not worth trying). Instead, often the standard approach is only prescribing pharmaceutical substances that treat the disease after it is diagnosed.
Staying aware, and up-to-date, with ongoing research in holistic approaches can often work in concert with traditional treatments. Choosing the best from these two worlds is (in my opinion) the most intelligent approach.
Curcuminoids are the group of compounds found in curcumin, derived from turmeric. Researchers at the University of Arizona and University of Kansas tested the effect of several curcuminoids on laboratory animals when arthritis was induced. They found that the curcuminoids were efficacious in preventing joint inflammation when treatment was started before the onset of joint inflammation.
Curcumin has been used for centuries as a treatment for inflammation, but this is the the first in vivo (living organism) study on its effect on arthritis.
Read the Abstract (full study requires registration)
To see additional scientific studies on curcumin, visit the Curcumin Extreme™ and click on the Science tab.
Recent research has found that excess belly fat poses a variety of health risks. According to Nadia Murdock of the New Fitness Examiner Curcumin is one of several supplements and foods that can help reduce belly fat.
The January 2008 issue of Life Extension Magazine reported that recent research has found curcumin may be a useful adjutant therapy in the treatment of glioblastoma, a difficult-to-treat form of brain cancer. Malignant gliomas are aggressive tumors due to their resistance to chemotherapy and radiation.
The researches examined the effect of curcumin on various human and rodent glioma cells lines in the laboratory. Curcumin reduced the survival of cancerous cells and also made the cells more sensitive to chemotherapy agents and radiation.
Scientists are discovering that curcumin, and ingredient of the spice turmeric, has properties that fight cancer. Most of the studies are in the lab using cancer cells or laboratory mice and controlled doses of curcumin, but the findings are very exciting.
Curcumin is a natural ingredient in the spice turmeric, which has been used for centuries in traditional Indian and Chinese medicine. Western science has only recently discovered its benefits.
Researchers at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre of the Toronto General Hospital have discovered that “curcumin prevents and reverses murine cardiac hypertophy,” which is enlargement of the heart. It also was able to restore heart function and reduce scar formation.
According to cardiologist Dr. Peter Liu, curcumin works by shutting off one of the major switches right at the chromosome source where the enlargement and scarring genes are being turned on.