Today I received an e-mail from a U.S. blog reader who would like, if possible!, to have curcumin capsules from two different sources tested by a laboratory. More specifically, he would like to have the capsules analyzed for volume/quality of curcumin and the quality/identity of other ingredients. Does anybody know where in the U.S. he might have this performed? Thanks!
Another blog reader pointed out (please read the comment she left me on yesterday’s post) that myeloma patients are currently discussing the possible connection between myeloma and celiac disease on the Cancer Compass message board. This is not the first time I have read about this connection, and I really hope my friend Paul will have time to post a comment about it. Another item goes on my to-be-researched-soon list! Here is the direct link to the celiac disease myeloma discussion: http://tinyurl.com/2cvftx Coincidentally, just the other day I became a member of the Cancer Compass website and now receive its newsletter! Well, well.
I would also like to point out Art’s experiment with a self-made curcumin patch, which you can read about in the comment section of my November 1st post. Thank you, Art!
I didn’t have time to do any research today. ARGH! I have two half-finished posts on the back burner that I should finish in the next couple of days, though. Oh, and I just couldn’t resist uploading a photo taken last night of Peekaboo on the kitchen counter, even though it has nothing to do with the title of this post. But I couldn’t resist: she looks so adorably triumphant, indeed, a bit defiant (along the lines of: “No, no, no, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t get down, and you can’t MAKE me!”)! Hehe. Time for dinner!
Hi Margaret.
I like your blog as well as your approach to this subject and your openess to knew ideas. This post is somewhat off topic and I would have sent it in an em to you, but I don’t have an em address for you, so I’ll post it here and then you can decide what if anything to do with it. There are actually two things I wanted to mention and in a sense they aren’t far off topic as one concerns curcumin and the other concerns telomerase activity and cancer. I hope this has not already been covered here.
I recently joined a yahoo group that supposedly discussed standard as well as alternative ideas for treating psoriasis which I feel has some similarities to cancer in terms of increased telomerase activity, elevated inflammatory mediators and rampant cell growth. I tried to make a post on that group regarding an experiment I was thinking of doing with curcumin and I was banned from the group with no explanation given. After reading more posts from the group, I realized that if you were not going to discuss remicade or humira or other biologics, then you were not going to be greeted with open arms. I realize the experiment carried some risk, but I was not advocating that anyone else try it, just that I was willing to experiment on myself and would post the results………positive or negative.
I had planned to take a form of curcumin that used to be discussed at GrouppeKurosawa, called Curcumisyn. This curcumin starts out with 95% curcumin, but I believe the supplier adds rutin to the curcumin until the mix is about half curcumin and half rutin. The supplier claims that the rutin increases the bioavailability of the curcumin, but does not explain by how much. They also claim that their process makes the curcumin more palatable. I can’t really discuss the palatabillity issue because I have only taken curcumin in capsules that also contained bioperine, but from what I hear from others, I would have to say that this mix is probably a little easier on the tastebuds. The label on their jug does not even list rutin as an ingredient. I believe this company has a patent on their method of mixing in the rutin. In any case, my plan was to take a teaspoon full and when I say full, I mean the absolute maximum amount of this curcumin powder that would fit on a teaspoon by carefully running the teaspoon through the jug and lifting it out carefully at an akward angle in order to make sure that none fell off the spoon. I guessed that this would amount to a rounded teaspoon of actual curcumin………possibly in the area of 7 grams. My plan was to take this with a capsule of bioperine(10 mgs) mixed in an extra creamy vanilla ice cream, using just enough ice cream to get the curcumin to dissolve. I took one of these mixes three times a day so I imagine I was ingesting upwards of 20 grams of curcumin per day and using three methods of bioavailabity enhancement (fat from ice cream, rutin and bioperine) to see if this mix would have any action against my psoriasis.
Unfortunatelly, after taking this regimen for about a month, at best, I could only say that my psoriasis was unchanged or only slightly improved, but definitely not worsened.
The good news was that, like some others who take curcumin in larger doses, my aches and pains of arthritis were just about non existent.
I did not continue to take the bioperine, because I was concerned about any potential damage it could cause at 30mgs per day.
That was it for that experiment. My next experiment will involve egcg which I just ordered in a 94% standardized concentration which I plan to experimnet with topically since I think oral bioavailability is down around the 4 to 5% range.
I’m hoping to see some synergy between the curcumin and egcg as has been mentioned in other experiments. I believe both are telomerase inhibitors also, which may be of interest here and which I wanted to talk about next.
I wanted to post this link for you to review and then you could decide if the information is relevant to this blog or is possibly old news that you have already discussed, and then you could post the link or not.
I would appreciate your take on DCA, mentioned near the bottom of the page.
http://www.geocities.com/prime3end/
If this link works, it takes you to a page that discusses the inhibition of teleromase activity by natural and other substances and the relationship of telomerase to different types of cancer. I though it was a very interesting page overall.
Art
This page seems to take an opposing view to telomerase inhibition.
http://www.telomerase.org/serendipity/
I did a quick Medine (OVID) search for keyword “Curcumin” publications by year. As we should suspect the quantity of publications has increased from 79 in 2000 to 250 last year and almost that many in 2007. Since 2000 there have been 11 papers on the bioavailability of curcumin. A review article on “Clinical Studies with curcumin” published a few months ago nicely concluded “It is imperative that well-designed clinical trials, supported by better formulations of curcumin or novel routes of administration, be conducted in the near future.”
You are doing cutting edge research, albeit a bit anecdotal.
I’m working on lecithin and β-cyclodextrin curcumin compounds. (Cyclodextrins are able to form host-guest complexes with hydrophobic molecules like curcumin and are used in a variety of drug delivery compounds) The fats, topical, C3 and bioperine angles are already in vogue here and elsewhere. I’ll let you know when I get the raw materials together…
Margaret-
Re a possible celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and mm connection. There was Margaret’s Corner discussing the issue, acor mm list recently discussing the issue, cancercompass discussing the issue and beating-myeloma.org also discussing this issue. I think that I read 10 current mmers who have been dx also with celiac disease.
First and foremost, I think there is a link. Secondly, can anyone think of a way to coordinate the efforts of the different lists/blogs in an effort to help mmers communicate more effectively? David
Loving your precious Kitty pictures as always.
Still enjoying the benefits of your wonderful mind and personality! I am wondering if you know of anyone who has questioned an allergy-cancer (MM specifically) connection? I have fought allergies (airborne, not food) since moving to good old clean air Houston. My only health problem outside MM.
And we at the ChooseHope MGUS forum have also been discussing the link between celiac disease and paraproteinemia. One of our members there recently found out that she was gluten-sensitive (fecal antibodies to gluten) and had some minor genes associated sometimes with gluten sensitivity, even though her blood antibodies to gluten were negative.
As for me, I have MGUS, and have the DQ8 gene, which is one of the two genes which can definitely cause celiac disease. I also have most of the autoimmune problems that also go with DQ8. So even though I have negative blood antibodies (fecal antibodies have not been checked) two doctors have recommended I stay on a gluten-free diet.
I have recommended to my oncologist that he refer new patients with paraproteinemia to Dr. Fasano (of celiac research fame) who fortuitously happens to practice in the same building. I think everyone with MGUS or MM should receive celiac gene testing, and celiac antibody testing. Probably the reverse is also true.