The healing potential of curcumin

An ingredient in curry shows promise for treating Alzheimer's, cancer and other diseases Scientific American 2/07 "A chapter in a forthcoming book, for instance, describes the biologically active components of turmeric--curcumin and related compounds called curcuminoids--as having antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties, with potential activity against cancer, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease and other chronic maladies. And in 2005 nearly 300 scientific and technical papers referenced curcumin in the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database, compared with about 100 just five years earlier."

A good article on curcumin in the February edition of Scientific American. They even touch on the P53 debate - whether curcumin turns it on, or off and what it means for cancer (more research needed).

Sites mentioned in the article have some very good info on curcumin here and here.

The author of The Molecular Targets and Therapeutic Uses of Curcumin in Health and Disease is Bharat Aggarwal

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Antiviral might help some with chronic fatigue

Small trial stirs hope for chronic fatigue patients Reuters/Yahoo!News 1/14/07 "Dr. Jose Montoya, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University and a specialist in infectious diseases... believes the disorder may be caused -- at least in some cases, by one or more viruses...suggested an antiviral drug called Valcyte, made by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG, could be helpful in treating certain CFS patients...Montoya now has data on 25 CFS patients, nearly all of whom had high levels in their blood plasma of antibodies to the human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) and the Epstein-Barr virus. The data -- presented recently at a conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida -- were remarkably consistent. Nearly every patient responded to the drug, Montoya said, and most of the responses were dramatic"

There's been discussion for years about a viral connection to some forms of chronic fatigue and this looks like evidence - small though it is. I only wish the study had been larger. As I understand it all 25 patients were picked for their particular type of chronic fatigue - so in a broader study Valcyte might not be as effective for some. The next study is on 30 people.

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