India: Turmeric may help offer treatments for colon cancer, psoriasis, alzheimer's

Curcumin, an ingredient commonly found in yellow curry, is being viewed as a promising disease-fighter. Scientists are working on developing nano-sized capsules containing the curry ingredient in an effort to improve its absorption and effectiveness in the body.

Curcumin is a potent antioxidant found in the Indian spice called turmeric.

The research team is developing nano-size capsule that would boost the body's uptake of curcumin and help fight several diseases.

Trials are underway to test its safety and effectiveness in fighting colon cancer, psoriasis, and alzheimer's disease.

The digestive juice in the gastrointestinal tract quickly destroys curcumin so that little actually gets into the blood.

It is already known that encapsulating insulin and certain other drugs into structures called liposomes can boost absorption.

The scientists prepared the liposomes encapsulating curcumin and fed them to laboratory rats.

They found that encapsulating more than quadrupled absorption of curcumin, and also boosted antioxidant levels in the blood.

The researchers said that encapsulating process could be an answer to the problem of increasing curcumin's absorption in the digestive environment of the gastrointestinal tract.

The study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.


Source: expressindia.com

Publication date: 11/6/2009

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