Posted on 06/10/2005 8:55:21 PM PDT by FairOpinion
FRIDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- Cancer researchers have been given a million-dollar grant to investigate the therapeutic value of the folk medicine propolis and the food spice turmeric.
The U.S. National Cancer Institute grant is earmarked for the study of the two alternative remedies, each of which has shown promise in reducing risks for breast, prostate and colorectal malignancies, and in enhancing cancer treatment.
Propolis and turmeric are rich in plant polyphenolic compounds that exhibit potent antitumor activities, the researchers said.
"A very interesting property of these compounds is that they have been shown to cause cell death in tumor cells but not in normal cells," study lead investigator Costas Koumenis, assistant professor of radiation oncology at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, in Winston-Salem, N.C., said in a prepared statement.
Propolis is a resinous substance collected by bees from the bark and leaves of trees and plants. Since ancient times, propolis extracts have been used as antibacterial and anti-inflammatory treatments. The major active ingredient in propolis is caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE). Recent research has found CAPE protecting mice against radiation-induced inflammation and skin damage, and also protecting rats against certain forms of heart muscle damage after they were given chemotherapy drugs.
Turmeric, a spice found in curries, contains the compound curcumin. Previous studies found an association between diets rich in curcumin and greatly reduced rates of colon cancer, the researchers said.
"Based on these interesting properties of CAPE and curcumin and their good safety profile, our lab has carried out studies in cell cultures and experimental animal tumor, showing that the compounds can make tumor cells more susceptible to chemotherapy and radiation, while having little effect or even reducing some of the toxic effects of radiation on normal cells," Koumenis said.
For the next four years, he and his team will study if CAPE and curcumin enhance radiation therapy in deadly brain tumors called gliomas and other tumors in animals. They'll also attempt to learn how the two compounds make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation, while protecting normal cells.
"The differential effects of this class of compounds on normal and tumor cells are well-documented, but still remains a mystery," Koumenis said. "Discovering how they are able to do this may open the way to design drugs with similar properties but are even more potent."
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1/2 to 5 teaspoons Red or Yellow curry paste (depending on tolerance for extreme heat) The Yellow paste is more sour but has the turmeric
one can coconut milk
1 lb chicken (dices in 1" cubes)
i medium onion coarsely diced
2 carrots chopped
two small potatoes diced
2 to 4 cloves garlic
Most any other veggie you like added in proportionate amounts (I like chopped egg plant)
two tablespoons cooking oil
For the first time, warm curry paste in oil until smooth and giving off good aroma. add chopped garlic and cook briefly. Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add chicken and veggies and simmer for an hour until done (firm chicken and soft potatoes). Serve over brown rice or rice noodles. If you are new to rice noodles here is the best way to fix them:
Soak noodles in water until soft. Boil water and add the noodles for one to two minutes until soft. Drain and rinse with cold water. Serve immediately with curry.
Oh wow! Thank you and thank your wife, JimSEA. I really appreciate this.
I'm now hand writing it because my printer is out of ink, LOL!
irrelevant witch doctor ping
Does she make it with chicken nuts?
excellent article
recipe....PLEASE!!!!
And God forbid that they should cure people with "unregulated crap" instead of killing them with highly regulated prescription poison.
None of these natural substances has ever caused a single death, while deadly prescription drugs are responsible for over a million deaths per year, and continue to be protected by the FDA (federal death accelerators)
That the pharmaceutical companies have zero desire to cause a single cure is obvious from the Graviola story. This natural herb was fully researched, and found to be more than 75% effective against most forms of cancer, yet because they were unable to synthesize a patentable product that had similar properties, they hid their results from the world. Can you say satanic?
Picked from organically grown chicken trees?
Propolis in the hive is a very hard sticky substance that the bees use to seal off cracks and holes and have even covered mice that they have killed in the hive with it. The veroa mites you refer to do not ingest any of the propolis. They do however ingest the blood of the bees that make the propolis. The bees are also suffering from a mite that infects their trachea.
The bees are not producing the ingredients for propolis other than the wax that is part of propolis. The wax is secreted from glands on the abdomen. The bees are mainly gathering the ingredients from natural sources and mixing it for their special needs.
Simmer chicken for an HOUR?? are you sure about that? I think you'd have rubber hockey pucks.
Thanks. Much appreciated.
That's right, it would be illegal.
Yumm, yumm.
Sounds delicious!
"The veroa mites you refer to do not ingest any of the propolis. They do however ingest the blood of the bees that make the propolis. The bees are also suffering from a mite that infects their trachea."
How horrible! Is there a way to kill of the mites,without killing off the bees too?
Having seen the movie "Medicine Man", and heard rumors it was based on a true story, I was not surprised when I finally read about a South American plant called Graviola.
The drug companies have things they will never release. They can't patent them.
I eat raw bee pollen every day. I presume that it contains at least some propolis?
WOW!
Thanks for the details. I had no idea a mites are such horrendous problem and that it's so difficult to get rid of them.
I hope they'll be able to eradicate them.
Bees are one of the most useful creatures on earth.
Since you are so knowledgeable, do you know, how this started and became so wide spread?
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