Curcumin, turmeric's active polyphenol, has been credited with over 150 potentially therapeutic activities and crosses the blood-brain barrier. Mercola points to preliminary work on Parkinson's disease, where dopamine agonists lose effect over time and can worsen tremor and cognition.
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Herbs
Herbal remedies and botanicals, from turmeric to green tea.
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Herbs
Breast Cancer News: Curcumin relieves radiation dermatitis
In a 30-patient trial reported in Radiation Research, breast cancer patients taking 2 grams of curcumin three times a day during radiotherapy had lower radiation dermatitis severity scores, 2.6 versus 3.4, and far less moist desquamation than controls.
Herbs
Fluoride damages your brain, ginkgo biloba extract may help
Rats exposed to fluoride plus a Ginkgo biloba extract for three months had better learning and memory, higher superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activity and less malondialdehyde than rats exposed to fluoride alone, a Chinese study reports.
Herbs
Amygdalin fights kidney disease
In rats with obstructive nephropathy, amygdalin curbed kidney fibroblast activation and TGF-beta1 production and eased renal injury by day 21, leading the authors to call it a potent antifibrotic agent with possible therapeutic potential for fibrotic kidney disease.
Herbs
People Seek High-Calorie Foods in Tough Times
In a Psychological Science study, people subconsciously primed with tough-times messages ate nearly 40% more than a control group, but about 25% less when told the food was low-calorie. The researchers read it as a survival-driven live-for-today impulse.
Herbs
Garlic oil offsets effect of cardiac cell apoptosis induced by high cholesterol
Hamsters fed a 2 percent cholesterol diet for eight weeks showed cardiac cell death, but adding 1 percent garlic oil significantly cut apoptotic proteins and reversed the inhibited IGF-I receptor survival pathway, according to a study in Food Chemistry.
Herbs
10 Spices, Herbs That Aid Weight Loss
Mercola lists herbs and spices he says support weight loss, beginning with ginseng, which helped obese diabetic mice shed weight in one study, cayenne, whose capsaicin may raise thermogenesis and cut calorie intake, and cinnamon.
Herbs
Curcumin may help prevent triple negative breast cancer
In a laboratory study, curcumin at 30 umol/mL slowed growth of MDA-MB-231 triple negative breast cancer cells, raised apoptosis from 2.76% to 26.34%, and lowered pERK1/2 and pEGFR levels. The work was done in cells, not in people.
Herbs
Curcumin helps prevent skin cancer
Mice pre-treated with oral or topical curcumin for 14 days before repeated UVB exposure developed significantly fewer skin tumors and took longer to develop them, though tumor size was unchanged. The authors say human studies are needed.
Herbs
Chinese herbal medicine helps menopause symptoms
In a phase II trial of 60 postmenopausal women with severe hot flashes and night sweats, Dang Gui Buxue Tang at 3.0 and 6.0 grams a day significantly reduced both over 12 weeks, with the 6.0 gram dose improving psychological scores most.
Herbs
Cinnamon helps fight type 2 diabetes mellitus
In a small Iranian trial, 37 people with type 2 diabetes took 3 grams of cinnamon or a placebo daily for eight weeks. The cinnamon group saw fasting glucose, HbA1c, triglycerides, weight, BMI and body fat drop from baseline. The authors call the effect moderate.
Herbs
Rosemary extract alone or with curcumin fight ER-negative breast cancer
In lab tests on human ER-negative breast cancer cells, carnosic acid from rosemary extract switched on antioxidant and apoptosis genes at higher doses and acted synergistically with curcumin. The researchers say the pair may prove useful to prevent and treat ER-negative breast cancer.
Herbs
Curry spice turmeric may help prevent Alzheimer's disease
Reviewing the evidence in Expert Opinions on Investigational Drugs, Darvesh and colleagues found animal studies suggesting curcumin protects against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's by countering oxidative stress and inflammation, but said more research is needed on its therapeutic value.
Herbs
New cancer treatment may be available soon?
A University of Kansas team reports in the Journal of Natural Products that wild tomatillo (Physalis longifolia), a common Midwestern weed, holds at least 14 distinct anti-cancer compounds. Most, the researchers say, proved more potent than the South American compound they set out to find.
Herbs
Make Mincemeat of Cancer Cells With This Breakthrough Spice
Mercola argues that resveratrol and curcumin act as chemosensitizers, helping overcome tumors' resistance to chemotherapy drugs, and that resveratrol may also ease treatment side effects such as wasting, fatigue and neuropathic pain. Both are said to induce epigenetic changes.
Herbs
The Hidden Food in Your Yard - You May Walk by It Every Day...
Mercola points to edible weeds including dandelion, purslane, lamb's-quarters, plantain and stinging nettles, with purslane named as perhaps the richest plant source of omega-3 fats. He warns that even nutritious wild plants can provoke reactions, so try them singly in small amounts.
Herbs
Ancient Herb Proven to be a Potential Cure for Alzheimer's
Studies in mice suggest ashwagandha extract may reverse memory loss and improve cognition in Alzheimer's disease by boosting a liver protein that helps clear amyloid from the brain. Past research also points to the herb's antioxidant activity against brain cell damage.
Herbs
Curcumin fights Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease
Michigan State researchers report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry that curcumin binds strongly to alpha-synuclein and prevents the protein clumping seen in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease at body temperature. They tracked protein folding using precise lasers.
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