Curry spice could be used in cancer healthcare plan

A spice commonly used in curries could form part of a healthcare plan to treat cancer, it has been claimed.

Scientists from the University of Leicester have discovered that curcumin - an extract of root turmeric - can improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy, as well as reduce the number of chemo-resistant cells in tumours, reports the Press Association.

Funded by Hope Against Cancer, researchers at the university's Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine have been testing the ingredient on tissue from tumours extracted from patients undergoing surgery.

They hope to use the technique to target chemo-resistant cells in colorectal cancer tumours – the third-most common form of cancer in the western world.

Dr Karen Brown, the principal investigator of the new research, told the news provider: "Following treatment for cancer, small populations of cancer cells often remain which are responsible for disease returning. These cells appear to have different properties to the bulk of cells within a tumour, making them resistant to chemotherapy."

She said the curcumin can not only improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy but reduces the number of chemo-resistant cells "which has implications in preventing the disease returning".

Turmeric has been used in folk medicine for hundreds of years in some Asian countries to treat a variety of ailments.

A new study suggests that statins should be prescribed to healthy people on the NHS to prevent unexpected heart attacks and strokes . Statins could be prescribed to healthy people on the NHS ...

A prosthetic retina to help people suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is being developed by scientists in the U.S. Macular degeneration affects the macular, a tiny part of the retina at the...

Heart transplant patients are less likely to develop cancer if they take statins after surgery, according to a new study. A heart transplant is an operation to replace a diseased heart with a healthy human...

A pioneering knee operation for arthritis sufferers has been successfully carried out for the first time in the UK. Knee replacement surgery involves replacing a damaged, worn or diseased knee with an...

A deadly strain of hospital superbug MRSA has become resistant to last-line antibiotics. MRSA is a type of bacterial infection that is resistant to a number of widely used antibiotics. The bacterium is...