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TUMERIC (in science called curcuma longa
of Zingiberaceae family) which is
called HADdr in
gujraati has been used as food, medicinal ingredient and
colouring agent among veDik peoples
around the world and in bhaart
(India) since times immemorial. Some of the famous which are mentioned in
aayuARveD (life sustaining and maintaining
sciences) and paak-shaasTR (science
of cooking) uses are:
- To purify the skin of the bride and groom at the
time of their wedding. The body is anointed with tumeric paste for the last
week or three days before wedding day. This anointing is known as
piTHii in
gujraati.
- As a general purpose skin cure for rashes and
blemishes.
- As taste and second class antibiotics in many
daily food preparations.
- As healing paste for reducing swellings in body
injuries.
- As a blood clotting agent to stop bleeding of cut
skin.
- As cough syrup prepared with milk as per grandma
medicine chest of every family traditional medicine.
- As orange or yellow food colouring without the
negative health effects of western chemical food colouring......
As part of aayuARveD knowledge
sharing please visit the web site
HERBMED
to read current western based scientific and research knowledge on
TUMERIC.....and
to read about how TUMERIC may be able
to treat deadly genetic diseases especially cystic
fibrosis which is caused by a defective gene which causes the body to
produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to
life-threatening lung infections. These thick secretions also obstruct the
pancreas, preventing digestive enzymes from reaching the intestines to help
break down and absorb food.....please click on the next line for a news
posting.....
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TUMERIC
may fight cystic fibrosis
Associated Press
Washington A substance in a common spice that helps turn curry and mustard
yellow may also help treat deadly cystic fibrosis, a study by Yale University
scientists indicates.
Eating large doses of the substance found in turmeric a key ingredient of
curry significantly cut deaths among mice with the genetic disease. The
discovery prompted the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to fund a study on its effects
in patients this summer.
The substance, called curcumin, is sold as a dietary supplement, but CF
specialists stressed that patients should not self-medicate. No one yet knows if
large amounts of curcumin could interact dangerously with the other medicines
they take.
Still, it's very promising, said Dr. Peter Mogayzel Jr., director of the
Cystic Fibrosis Center at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. This is research
that really has the potential, I think, to benefit patients down the road.
Cystic fibrosis afflicts about 30,000 children and young adults in the United
States. It is estimated to affect one in every 2,500 children in Canada.
CF attacks patients' lungs with a thick mucus, trapping bacteria. Most
eventually die from lung damage or infection. CF also harms digestion and
vitamin absorption as the mucus clogs other organs.
Treatments to fight lung infections and improve nutrition have dramatically
improved care and lengthened survival into the 30s. But they treat only
symptoms.
The curcumin research, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science,
shows a possible way to attack the disease's underlying cause.
In most patients, CF's damage stems from a single genetic defect. It skews a
protein called CFTR that is responsible for balancing the salt content of cells
lining the lungs and certain other organs.
CFTR is supposed to travel to a cell's surface to create channels for chloride
ions to exit that cell. But cells police protein quality, trapping mutated CFTR
and shuttling it to a holding bin for later destruction. Thus, chloride cannot
escape, and an eventual salt buildup inside cells leads to the dangerous mucus
formation.
So-called protein trafficking might fix that: Block the cellular police long
enough for CFTR to reach the surface, and even a mutated version could open some
chloride channels. Scientists for several years have experimented with two
chemicals, phenylbutyrate and a relative of caffeine, that promise to do that.
Yale's Dr. Michael Caplan tried a slightly different trafficking route. That
cellular holding bin also stores calcium, which many of the cell's protein
policemen need to function. Would inhibiting the bin's release of calcium in
turn allow mutated CFTR time to escape?
Experiments with a calcium-inhibiting chemical showed the plan worked. But that
chemical spurs cancer, so Dr. Caplan needed a safer drug candidate.
Enter curcumin. Derived from turmeric, the East Indian yellow spice used to
flavour curries and colour mustard, it has long been used in Asian folk remedies
as an antiseptic, a digestive aid or a cold treatment.
Still, unproved attempts to find a medical use do show that people can tolerate
fairly high doses, and it seems to inhibit calcium the way Dr. Caplan wanted.
In a series of elegant experiments, Dr. Caplan and Yale CF specialist Dr. Marie
Egan showed:
Daily curcumin slashed the death rates of CF-stricken mice.
The mice had the same genetic defect that causes the human disease, but they
quickly die of a mucus-blocked digestive tract instead of lung damage. Only 10
per cent of curcumin-treated mice died within 10 weeks, compared with 60 per
cent of untreated mice and the survivors gained weight.
Electrical measurements of how well nasal tissue could secrete ions also
showed a dramatic effect, Dr, Caplan said. Curcumin-treated mice improved from
very poor levels to almost normal.
Additional test-tube studies, performed with the University of Toronto, showed
that CFTR got to the cell surface and functioned after addition of curcumin.
The next step: The CF Foundation and SEER Pharmaceuticals will hunt for an
appropriate dose and check for side effects in a first-stage study of two dozen
CF patients this summer.
Meanwhile, both Dr. Caplan and the CF Foundation's Dr. Preston Campbell stress
that people should realize that treatments that help mice do not always help
people.
Aside from possibly wasting money, large curcumin doses could interact with
prescription drugs, and because dietary supplements are largely unregulated,
there is no proof that today's supplies are pure, they caution.
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