Vegetarians, carnivores and multiple myeloma

A myeloma list friend (thanks!) sent me the link to an interesting BBC article (see: http://tinyurl.com/nb77ux) on the possible connection between meat-eating and some forms of cancer, such as stomach cancer. But, my oh my, read this: In the case of multiple myeloma, a relatively rare cancer of the bone marrow, vegetarians were 75% less likely to develop the disease than meat-eaters. The reduction was less notable for fish-eaters with these cancers. The reasons, researchers said, were unclear, but potential mechanisms could include viruses and mutation-causing compounds in meat – or alternatively that vegetables confer special protection. By the way, this was based on a study involving 61,566 British men and women…

Well, well…well. I don’t really know what to think about all this…except now I guess I won’t be packing a hamburger or a steak in my suitcase…!

Curcumin and melphalan together against multiple myeloma

I have at least a gazillion of things to do today…get stuff ready and pack, mainly. But I can’t help posting quickly about a study that Google Alerts plopped into my mailbox earlier this morning: http://tinyurl.com/mxctkr The full study is in Chinese, so I won’t bother asking my dear Sherlock to get it for me…but the gist is: Curcumin combined with melphalan results in synergistic effects and reverses multiple drug resistance of MOLP-2/R cells effectively. (This MOLP thingie, by the way, is bad news: a multidrug-resistant myeloma cell line.)

Yet another example of how curcumin can increase the effectiveness of some chemo drugs. Okay, I have to go now. See y’all on Monday or Tuesday! Ciao!