Well, well, I just happened upon a lovely bit of news. Are you ready?

 

The MD Anderson curcumin myeloma clinical trial is not THE only one. Yep, that’s right. Another trial is being held right now in Australia. Well, okay, technically, it’s a MGUS, not MM, curcumin trial, as we will see in a second.

 

Let’s see, you can access the PDF file that provides some information about the trial (an interesting read, by the way), but for some reason it doesn’t seem to work unless you do a Google search (for instance, the words curcumin myeloma clinical trial Australia should bring up the correct Dove Press article).

 

OR you can click on this HTML link: http://tinyurl.com/crkjy3. Then click on the PDF link at the top of that page. You can then download the PDF file onto your computer.

 

OR (!) you can do another Google search for the title of the study “The potential role of curcumin (diferuloylmethane) in plasma cell dyscrasias/paraproteinemia.” I’m very sorry that I cannot provide a direct link (as I said, it doesn’t work, not for me anyway). But this search operation will take only a few extra seconds of your time.

 

If you don’t want to go to the trouble, though, then just read the following synopsis. The abstract tells us that Preliminary results from our pilot study show a drop of between 5% and 30% serum paraprotein in patients taking curcumin compared with patients on placebo. Thirty percent??? Holy cats and dogs! That’s Giovanni Allevi music to my ears…sweet!

 

The Australian researchers favour early intervention in MGUS patients to reduce the paraprotein load. I am in favour of that, too, but only if said intervention is made with non-toxic natural extracts. As in this case.

 

Toward the end of the article, we get to the relevant part: We are conducting a single blind randomized controlled pilot study on 25 patients with paraproteinemia. Entry criteria included patients defined as having MGUS ie, the presence of a serum paraprotein (greater than 8 g/L and less than 40 g/L) with the exclusion of multiple myeloma. These patients are being monitored for a 6 month period of curcumin or placebo therapy.

 

I almost got teary when I read what followed: Curcumin or placebo is being administered orally as a 2 grams twice daily regimen. After one week on curcumin, there has been a drop of between 5% and 30% serum paraprotein in some patients, compared to controls […]. After 3 months of curcumin therapy, these reduced levels have remained suppressed. These exciting findings have prompted a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial. The benefits of the fall in paraprotein is uncertain. How long these reduced levels will remain suppressed and what the clinical benefits are, remain to be seen. As a natural product, it has exciting potential in the treatment of plasma cell dyscrasias. Only TWO grams of curcumin??? YAY!!!

I say, this is very exciting news indeed. Another trial! Plus, the preliminary results are bloody excellent. Hoppity hop! Needless to say, I have a million questions that I hope will be answered soon. For instance, I wonder what type of curcumin these patients are taking, how they are taking it, blablabla. Rest assured, as soon as I have any news, I will post it. Good or bad, as always…but hey, how could it not be good?!!!