A blog reader (thanks!) alerted me to the existence of a recently-published study on Brassica rapa, which is more commonly known as field mustard or turnip mustard. In Italian, cima di rapa. Luckily, it happens to be in season now, so yesterday I bought some (see photo showing Piccolo munching on one of the stems…) at a farm cooperative conveniently located close to the company where I teach English…

We ate it last night, tender leaves and all–lightly steamed, with the addition of garlic, red pepper (capsaicin!), olive oil and lemon juice. Yummy!

Okay, let’s get back to our study. Here is the link to the abstract: http://goo.gl/rlMHN Now, there is no mention of myeloma in the abstract or the full study, but, as the title of today’s post states, arvelexin, which is extracted from Brassica rapa, inhibits many of the main survival (etc.) mechanisms of myeloma cells, including IL-6, TNF-alpha, NF-kappaB and IL-1beta. Speaking of which, let’s not forget that IL-1beta is closely involved in the progression from SMM to MM, which is why we (smolderers) must closely monitor our CRP levels…According to my most recent tests, my CRP is the lowest it has been in ages…much lower than it was in 2005 (=the pre-curcumin period)… 🙂

Okay, I am looking at the full study now. The introduction tells us that Brassica rapa has been traditionally used to treat hepatitis, jaundice, furuncle and sore throats. Oh, and one of the flavonoids contained in B. rapa is quercetin, which is part of my daily protocol…not coincidentally, I would like to add!

Well, well, well, and lookie here: arvelexin has antifungal activity. Hah!

Without going into too much detail, the main point of this study is that arvelexin inhibits many of the pro-inflammatory genes that are regulated by NF-kappaB, one of myeloma’s bestbestbest buddies. And that is why I predict that a few years from now (at the most) we will come across a study showing that arvelexin kills myeloma cells…Mark my words…

In conclusion…Eat turnips! 🙂