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Turmeric is a spice that not only enhances the taste of your food, but also contains valuable compounds that exhibit potent anti-cancer properties. This wonderful little plant is a staple spice in Middle Eastern, North African and South and Southeast Asian cuisine. Its wonderful aroma and pungent, bitter taste makes it a great addition to many soups, salads and meats.

Aside from its culinary versatility, turmeric also contains compounds known as curcuminoids. These provide a variety of medicinal properties, along with its anti-cancer potential. One of the main curcuminoids, curcumin, has been found to be the one with the most potent cancer-killing substances found anywhere in nature.

Curcumin helps rejuvenate and detoxify the liver, reduces the effects of iron overload (which is important, since iron with wormwood is also cancer-killing), increases the body’s antioxidant capacity, improves cognitive function, regenerates neurons, reduces the likelihood of Alzheimer’s and depression, reduces the risks of heart disease and inflammation and fights premature aging.

Curcumin kills cancer cells

A lot of research has come out supporting curcumin’s ability to kill cancer cells.

Cancer cells are generally characterized by abnormal and uncontrolled growth which invades the body’s other processes. They do this by circumventing a normal cell’s apoptosis, or the tightly regulated cell-suicide mechanism found in healthy cells. The cell suicide process is crucial for replacing approximately 100 to 130 billion cells per day in the human body. When cancer cells turn off the suicide switch, they multiply and disrupt the body’s natural regeneration process.

Curcumin activates the cell-suicide mechanism in these cancer cells in ways that we are still learning. One of these ways is by activating enzymes that cut up the proteins within the cancer cells, effectively killing them. Unlike chemo drugs, curcumin does not have a single method of killing cancer, and it curiously does not damage healthy tissue. Thus, curcumin does not build up a resistance to cancer cells, unlike chemo, and also has much fewer adverse side effects.

One study even found that curcumin’s anti-cancer action also comes from its ability to inhibit the cell signaling pathways of cancer cells at multiple levels, and another study found that curcumin takes a multi-faceted approach to treating cancer, such as by attacking the growth factors of cancer cells, inflammatory proteins and other cancer-causing molecules.

Here are other ways that turmeric beats back cancer.

• Works as a chemo-preventive agent, preventing potentially pre-malignant cells from turning into cancer cells.
• Prevents cancer cells from metastasizing.
• Halts the progression of pre-cancerous lesions
• Inhibits angiogenesis in tumors, or the formation of new blood vessels
• Arrests the cell cycle and development of cancer cells
• Protects from the side effects of mainstream cancer treatments

Other health benefits of turmeric

Turmeric and curcumin aren’t just a powerful anti-cancer superfood and super-compound. Turmeric and curcumin are also known for a variety of different major health benefits. For example, turmeric dramatically increases the body’s capacity for antioxidants and curcumin is a natural anti-inflammatory compound. Furthermore, one tablespoon of organic turmeric powder contains 26 percent of your recommended daily intake of magnesium, 16 percent of your daily iron, five percent of your daily potassium and three percent of your daily recommended dose of vitamin C.

• Improves brain function and lowers your risk of brain diseases.
• Lowers your risk of heart disease.
• Prevents and treats Alzheimer’s disease.
• Treats the symptoms of arthritis.
• Alleviates the symptoms of depression.
• Delays aging and fights against age-related chronic diseases.

Learn more about different superfoods at Superfoods.news.

Sources:

TurmericForHealth.com

Healthline.com

MedicalNewsToday.com