The Benefits of Curcumin in Cancer Treatment
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death. What if there was a
safe, natural herb that could work for nearly every type of cancer?
According to Dr. William LaValley, who focuses most of his clinical work on the treatment of cancer, curcumin—a
derivative of turmeric, and the pigment that gives the curry spice
turmeric its yellow-orange color—may fit the bill. It's a natural
compound that has been extensively researched, and has been found to
have numerous health applications.
Like me, Dr. LaValley was trained in general medicine, but he's
devoted a considerable amount of time to understanding the biochemical
pathways that can support health nutritionally.
In 1982, he participated in an exchange program to the People's
Republic of China, where he got first-hand experience with the ancient
practices of traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
"One of the important messages that I learned there was that
natural products, natural molecules, from plants and animals that are
already available in nature, have been used by the Chinese for at least
hundreds, probably thousands of years. That deeply changed my
perspective in the world of medicine," he says.
"I came back to medical school, and thereafter, looked at how I
could integrate the perspective of conventional pharmaceutical
administration as well as natural extract, natural product
administration."
Curcumin Has Potent Anti-Cancer Activity
In 2005, he took a 75 percent sabbatical from clinical practice to
immerse himself in the science of molecular biology, specifically the
molecular biology of cancer. He also devoted approximately 9,000-9,500
hours building a relational database from the PubMed literature about
the molecular biology of cancer.
One important lesson he learned through that venture is that the
understanding of molecular biology can be applied across a range of
diseases and symptoms described in the scientific literature. That
knowledge can be applied by searching PubMed and other related
databases, looking at the relevant molecular pathways involved.
"In learning the molecular biology of cancer pathways, and in
learning that what the evidence actually shows for the effect of natural
product extracts on various relevant molecular targets in various
cancers, we see that there's actually quite a large amount of evidence
that supports using various molecules, natural products, and
pharmaceuticals that are already approved and that have been around for a
long time to affect anti-cancer activity along that pathway at that
target. That's called molecularly targeted anti-cancer treatment, and
it's widely practiced in oncology today.
What's not widely practiced is the use of the
natural products for the molecularly targeted anti-cancer activity. I
provide that for my patients because the evidence base suggests and
supports the use of these treatment recommendations."
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