Ah, how the times have changed! In January of 2006, apart from the main curcumin-myeloma studies, I found very little information about curcumin online…Just brief mentions here and there. But now it seems that every single newspaper in the world has published at least one article on the amazing, healthful and anticancer properties of curcumin AND also the benefits of cooking with spices, especially turmeric, from which curcumin is extracted. There is so much information out there now, in fact, that I just can’t keep up with it. I do try to keep a record of the most interesting articles, but I’m sure that for every single article in my collection, there are at least twenty more. This is just one of many: http://goo.gl/uLPnV

This morning, a Facebook multiple myeloma support group member posted this link to an article titled “Multiple myeloma advocacy shows the problem of ‘patient advocacy'”: http://goo.gl/m4dLu Precisely. I’ve always been horrified at the fact that our multiple myeloma organizations (check out the homepages of the MMRF and the IMF) get heaaaaaaaps of money from big pharma, and I’ve written, or, most likely, ranted about it here on the blog. However, until I’d read this article, I didn’t know HOW MUCH MONEY was being shoveled into their coffers…well, into the MMRF’s coffers, anyway. While I find this, er, knowledge a bit depressing, I’m not at all surprised. And in fact that is why I’ve never bothered contacting the above-mentioned organizations about supporting promising research on natural, non-toxic treatments that might also be helpful in an integrative treatment context. I just knew (and know) that, at best, I’d get a polite “ah yes, how interesting.” So why waste my breath/time? I’d rather do my own research and write posts (or rants 🙂 ) for my blog…

This is an interview with Prof. Aggarwal on his fabbbbbulous “Healing Spices” book, which (I just found out) has been translated into Italian, too: http://goo.gl/eKYSU Very exciting. 

A fascinating and amusing (e.g., the “Olive Garden-Italian” comment, hehe) TED talk, titled “How healthy living nearly killed me,” which lasts less than 9 minutes: http://goo.gl/Cd0eK In the second part, writer A. J. Jacobs makes some really good points—for example, at one point he says: “joy is so important for your health.” I couldn’t agree more. And here is another gem (in a nutshell): don’t obsess too much about having THE healthiest diet as possible if it means neglecting your “strong social network.” Yes indeedie! (Today, in fact, I’m spending the afternoon and evening with a bunch of friends.) Let’s see, what else? Ah yes, he calls “noise” a health hazard…so true. Anyway, this video provides lots of food for thought. I highly recommend that you watch it.

A fascinating article about placebos: http://goo.gl/mrda6

A recent study on cancer-fighting broccoli: http://goo.gl/NRv57

I’m also thinking about a couple of older issues:

• A blog reader, thanks!, posted a link about prunes that is a bit disconcerting (remember my recent post about prunes and bone density?): http://goo.gl/Bym1z Bummer. So I suppose we need to be a bit cautious about eating prunes…probably a good idea anyway, because of their other…effects! 😉 For the record, after writing that post, I bought myself some organic prunes…eh.
• Immunomodulatory therapy for multiple myeloma: http://goo.gl/2Qpx5
• Fish oil compound kills leukemic stem cells: http://goo.gl/XryFa

Okay, time to get ready to go out. Have a great rest-of-day/evening, everyone! 🙂