Today I thought I would gather together a few more of my blog reader suggestions (if I have forgotten anyone, please let me know!), and also show a few photos documenting how I am currently taking curcumin (see explanation below). The curcumin powder here depicted (see photo on the left) is the C3 Complex curcumin, without bioperine, that I order from the Italian distributor for the Sabinsa Corporation. I keep it in a hermetically sealed ceramic jar so no air and light will make it deteriorate.
A blog reader with a plasmacytoma (diagnosed three years ago) is currently stable. He takes curcumin together with a product called Barley Green, which, from what I gathered on Internet, is composed mainly of organic barley grass containing active enzymes, minerals, B-vitamins, amino acids, essential fatty acids, carotenoids, bioflavonoids, and chlorophyll. This mix allegedly gives a boost to the immune system and reduces inflammation. I have never tried it, but I HAVE been curious to try wheatgrass, which is not readily available here in Italy, though. I love what this blog reader says about myeloma cells, i.e., that they don’t like green. When I visualize, I focus sometimes on things that my myeloma cells don’t like, and it makes sense that they don’t care for healthful diets full of green veggies. So this is interesting. Does anybody else here take a similar green product?
Another blog reader suggests letting curcumin rest in the flaxseed or liquid preparation for about a half hour before drinking it in order to give it time to go through and finish its chemical processes. This is analogous, I suppose, to letting fresh homemade pasta dough “rest” before rolling it out. An interesting idea. The only thing that would concern me is that curcumin is not happy when exposed to air and light. But perhaps mixed in a liquid would lessen its chances of losing any of its healthful properties. Any thoughts on this?
Blog reader number three dissolves curcumin powder in very warm milk and then adds the omega 3 oil from a capsule (Omega 3-6-9 lemon flavor from Nordic Natural). She says this makes it very palatable. When she mixed it with coconut milk (as yours truly used to do), she did not like it (neither did I). It was the smell from the milk what make her sick (no kidding! Me, too!). Sometimes she adds coconut oil to her concoction, which tastes very good, too, she reports.
A fourth blog reader does the following: I mix the caps of curcumin in a teaspoon or two of organic flax seed oil – it dissolves easily. Then I add about 1/3 cup of organic fruit yoghurt and stir it up. Next I add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries (or other small frozen fruit). Stirring this turns it into a kind of frozen yoghurt “ice cream” which doesn’t taste wonderful but is palatable due to the fruit flavour and the cold (which reduces the flavour). This is also an interesting method. I tried mixing curcumin powder in organic fruit yoghurt in the winter of 2006, between November and January 2007, and my IgG numbers didn’t decline at all. I just checked, though, and my monoclonal component did indeed decrease, which is important. So, that method might work after all, even though there is no heat involved (remember the abstract on increasing the bioavailability of curcumin by heating it up?). At any rate, in January 2007 I switched to curcumin capsules with bioperine, and my subsequent tests showed a decline in my IgG count, the first decline since November 2006, but also a slight increase in the monoclonal component. Sigh, this is SO hard to figure out.
Here are three not-so-great photos documenting my now daily chocolate curcumin preparation (two preparations/day). The photo at the top shows a full teaspoonful of curcumin, about four grams; the second photo shows four grams of curcumin powder sprinkled over the warm, almost hot, chocolate, butter and milk mixture, and the third shows what I actually drink, which is lighter in colour compared to the mixture in photo 2, obviously. The taste is not bad at all. And this is also not a bad way to get my chocolate hit for the day! 😉
Hi Margaret,
I hope you are feeling much better.
Regarding the greens, I took Barley Greens years ago because a friend of mine told me that it was good for my health. I had not been diagnosed with MM at the time. I only took it for a little while. I know that lots of cancer patients drink it. At Hallelujiah Acres, barley green is a staple.
What I have been drinking for years now is wheatgrass. At one point in time, I grew it myselt. Now, I am lazy, so I get it from a local guy or from Hippocrates Health Institute whose founder in Boston, Ann Wigmore, was the one that introduced the idea of raw foods and wheatgrass for healing.
I am waiting for the weather to cool down to start growing it again.
Hi Margaret,
Concerning heating curcumin, the Grouppe Kurosawa site has gotten a hold of the paper you mentioned earlier (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17767425&itool=pubmed_docsum)
and according to their report boiling curcumin in water improves its solubility in water and that heat treatment actually stabilizes the curcumin.
Thought you would be interested if you haven’t already seen it.
Take care,
Don
Hi, Margaret.
I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better. I took Barley Max for several years until Dr. Ralph Moss told me to avoid taking anything that would boost my immune system. MM patients already have overactive immune systems, he explained, so they should avoid boosting it more (no mushrooms, no melatonin, no Barley Max, etc.). As for wheatgrass, I’ve stopped taking that as well since I’ve started working with Dr. Gonzalez, who tells me that I should avoid eating green veggies, etc. because they are too alkalinizing. Gonzalez thinks MM patients should eat acidic foods to achieve balance, because they are already naturally alkaline. This is all new to me, so time will tell if this theory works.
Margaret’s Myeloma Musings, I am not currently taking curcumin, but did take about 8 g (3, 3x/day away from food) of NSI Turmeric Extract (standardized for 95% curcuminoids) with BioPerine for most of 2006. Unfortunately my plasma cells just continued to party, laughing away everything I threw at them. Of course that doesn’t really mean anything with regards to curcumin efficacy, especially in light of the fact that I did all kinds of other “remedies” so the water got pretty muddy. A round of Thal/dex squashed the party, but the laughing resumed quickly after I stopped.
So I have taken on that old motto “first do no harm” and added a bit of inquisition “all else is fair game”. Financial harm is of course a factor… When you switch to an alkalinizing all organic diet , high in fresh & raw, your food budget and prep time will probably double. Then add a few supplements with documented anti-cancer or better yet anti-myeloma efficacy, do a whole being quest for spiritual, emotional and physical well being you might just be over doing it.
Being a biomedical researcher (in an unrelated field) I have learned that keeping it simple is a key to success. I also learned that is cheap talk when you are the experiment and you’re feeling a bit desperate.
Stick with the curcumin and add in common sense and you have a recipe for learning and hopefully success. You have noticed that a significant portion of the anti-myeloma success is immune system modulation. Curcumin is clearly an immune modulator. Keep up the modulation! May your musings find profound success and many friends as well.
margaret,
another ?, i have tried but may have missed reading why the discussion re curcumin and how it is taken is “on the table” 🙂
is the warming in a “fat” substance (coconut milk) not the most “bioavailable” thing to do now or has the smell just turned people off?
re barley green and the reader who mixed the curcumin, did he say what brand he uses (there are several co. now that call it barley green)
and how was the one where curcumin did not work taking it?
(sorry so many ?’s)
the gerson tx. that gearin-toth followed drank several green drinks a day.
do you recall any mm pt. being on the Hallelujiah Acres diet?
for thewriter of laughing plasma cells: if they have any ideas re the preparing of the organic fruits and veg. my husband would love them.
after his intro to wheatgrass and carrot/green veg.juicing he has all but bolted re my fixing food!!
GET WELL SOON
pat