B-cell disorders and curcumin

A few days ago, a very kind and generous blog reader sent me the full study that I’d mentioned in my December 18 2015 post. Here are a few highlights…

First, I’d like to say that what I really like about these researchers, Golombick et al, is that they are looking for NONTOXIC ways to “develop early intervention strategies.” As you know, the conventional myeloma world is looking mostly at TOXIC early intervention strategies, which, as we know, can be very risky (just read my December 7 2014 post about the subpopulations of myeloma…).

Before I go on, this study is really a sort of “summary” that combines the data from previous studies carried out by these researchers on MGUS, SMM, and early-stage CLL patients. So we can actually access all the data on our own…

Since I’ve already posted about the MGUS and SMM patient studies (plus the one on a patient with laryngeal amyloidosis, which you can find by doing a search of my blog…), I wanted instead to focus a bit on a study carried out on early-stage CLL patients, a study published back in June but that I didn’t know about until this morning (it’s not myeloma-related, you see…). And the only reason I found out about it is because it’is discussed in our above-mentioned “summary” study. Here’s the link (to the CLL study): http://goo.gl/IPqo1n You can download and read the entire shebang for free…

Now for a bit of VERY interesting information: these CLL patients, 21 individuals with stage O/1 CLL (that is, early-stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia), took Meriva curcumin. Meriva, non C3 Complex curcumin…

Well, well. For the past three years or so, I’ve actually been curious to try Meriva, and back in 2012 I actually wrote a post about it. I should really test Meriva at some point…In fact, it makes sense to buy some while I’m in the U.S.A. for the holidays (we’re leaving day after tomorrow!). So now it’s on my list of things to buy…funny cat Xmas cartoon

You’re probably curious about dosage, since I was, too. You may find this incredible, but the dose administered to the CLL patients was just two grams a day. No kidding. Two grams…

And at that dose, a small percentage of these CLL patients had a more than 20% decrease in their absolute lymphocyte count, which is very good…this decrease occurred after just a few months in 4 patients out of 21. The rest of the patients didn’t respond to curcumin, apparently.

At least, they apparently had no response to this type of curcumin, and/or to this dosage (this last sentence is my own, by the way…just a thought I had while reading the study…). Hmmm, I wonder what would have happened if those CLL patients had taken a higher dose…just wondering…especially since I can’t even imagine going down to 2 grams a day…nope…no way!

Well, perhaps a dose increase might be an idea for a follow-up study…Anyway, this is an interesting study, and I know it’s not a myeloma-related one, but please go have a look, at least at the Results, Discussion, and Conclusion parts. There are a lot of details that I don’t have the time right now to post about…

Let’s get back to our MGUS, SMM, and CLL study now. It ends by suggesting that curcumin may be beneficial to some folks with MGUS, SMM, or early stage CLL, and that early intervention with curcumin “may lead to prolonged survival and delay in progressive disease in some of these patients.”

Plus, as we know, the obvious advantage of curcumin is that it is not toxic at all  (unless you have gall bladder issues, so please do be careful about that!!!).

I agree with the conclusion reached by these researchers: we need larger studies. The problem is where to find the funding for these larger studies…same old, same old…uff.

In the meantime, I would like to send a message to Dr. Golombick publicly: THANK YOU, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!, for your indefatigable work on behalf of blood cancer patients. 🙂

P.S. I might have asked this in a previous post, but does anybody here take Meriva? If so, with what results? And what dosage? Thanks! 🙂

7 Comments

  1. I am a MM patient (diagnosed in 2004 with IgA lambda) and I take Meriva (since 2012). As it happens I take 2g a day also. I arrived at this dose based cost and on what I know of Meriva – I.e that it is in a liposome and therefore is probably more bio-available than C3 curcumin, therefore you can reduce the dose. When I first started taking it, I looked at blood curcuminoid levels compared to other delivery options to arrive at an appropriate dose.
    My bloods have remained fairly constant in this time paraprotein levels at about 1g/L and good FLC results.

  2. Hi Margaret

    I take meriva-500 mg daily. Prescribed by Dr Hoffman, an MD who practices complementary medicine in NYC. This is one of 3 forms of curcumin I take daily; so hard to evaluate its effectiveness. Also I was diagnosed as having MM this year. Apparently based on my records , I’ve had it for 2 years. It was MGUS but the standard for defining MM was changed at the beginning of 2015; so now it’s MM. But it’s not doing anything to me.

    Based on this study I’m considering increasing my dose of Meriva. Per Dr Hoffman, it is better absorbed.
    Stay well

    Mary

    1. Hi Mary,

      It is the same for me. I will start with curcuma c3. But I have a problem… I can’t take capsule so I want to know if is possible to open it and dissolve in water or some other liquid. Do you think that I can do this?
      Sorry my English is not perfect ?

  3. Sometimes we both take Meriva, interchangeably. Often it is less expensive. Neither of us has ever taken more than a gram or two a day of either – he is SCR myeloma, I sometimes take other formulations made specifically for Blood-brain barrier (Alzheimers prevention, hopefully). But I can’t think of the name at the moment, so maybe that doesn’t work.
    Margaret, please post this on the FB group page, if you would. Thanks. Maybe you already did.

  4. Have been increasing my C3 with bioperine, now taking 1.5g/daily. IGA Smoldering. It has reduced my FLC by over 20% in about 1 year and continues to trend down. Feel much better all the way around. This is my second experiment with curcumin and both times I had very good results. The first time, I stopped it after I got my FLC dropped 40%…won’t make that mistake again. Also, all other blood work in normal area except the Immunoglobulins. I’m looking for a way to decrease my ever rising IGA Immunoglobulins, if anyone has any ideas.

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