Curcumin has once again hit the headlines for its anti-cancer properties.

A small study published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research demonstrated that it temporarily stopped advanced pancreatic cancer growth in two patients and substantially reduced the size of a tumour in another patient. During the study, 25 patients were given 8g of curcumin by mouth every day for two months. Maintenance therapy was continued at the same dose and schedule until the disease progressed.

“The effects of curcumin were encouraging,” commented the study’s principal investigator, Razelle Kurzrock, M.D., chair of M. D. Anderson’s Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I clinical trial program). “It showed activity in patients, and there were no side effects.”