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“The risk for death of lung cancer patients is halved in patients who stop smoking, say the researchers”
A cancer diagnosis causes a host of negative feelings in patients. If you are a smoker you may believe that your situation is so bleak that you can continue smoking. And you would be wrong.
By all measures lung cancer (LC) is a complicated, aggressive cancer. If you are diagnosed with end stage LC then there is little you can do. But if you are diagnosed with early stage LC then you have many therapy options available to you from both conventional to evidence-based, non-conventional therapies.
For example, it is common for early stage LC to be treated initially with surgery. If you hear your surgeon tell you “I think we got it all!” then your next decision will be to think about those therapies that you can do on your own that research shows can reduce your risk of LC relapse. Two articles linked and excerpted below talk about non-conventional therapies. Quitting smoking is a lifestyle therapy and curcumin is what I consider an non-toxic chemotherapy. Both of these therapies reduce the risk of lung cancer relapse, both are inexpensive therapies and both are evidence-based.
I am a long-term survivor of an incurable cancer called multiple myeloma. MM is a completely different kind of cancer compared to LC but the two are similar in that conventional oncology can’t cure either cancer. Early stage LC and MM patients live better, longer lives if the pursue evidence-based, non-toxic therapies for both types of cancer.
Have you been diagnosed with LC? What stage? Please scroll down the page, post a question or comment and I will reply to you ASAP.
“Discussion- Our results, for the first time, demonstrate that curcumin induces apoptosis in human lung cancer cells. Curcumin is a hydrophobic molecule and passes easily through the plasma membrane into the cytosol [14]. The results of this study demonstrate that this phenolic substance has the ability to reduce the viability of lung cancer cells through induction of apoptosis.
Forty to fifty micromoles of curcumin decreased the cell viability to 50%, whereas 160 mM Curcumin reduced the viability by 95%. It is known that curcumin is poorly absorbed and it will not be possible to achieve these high levels of curcumin in blood [15]. Therefore, the studies should also be concentrated on increasing the bioavailability of curcumin [15]. This induction of apoptosis occurred within several hours; consistent with the view that curcumin induces apoptosis by activating the pre- existing apoptosis machinery. The cell line, H1299, is p53 deficient and A 549 is p53 proficient. Inhibition of growth of both cell lines (p53 deficient and proficient) suggest that growth inhibitory effect of curcumin is independent of p53 expression. Induction of apoptosis in both the cell lines also suggest that a p53 independent pathway is operative in this system.
“It is never too late for people to stop [smoking], even when they have lung cancer,” proclaims an editorial published online January 21 in the BMJ…
The editorial accompanies a meta-analysis that provides “preliminary evidence that smoking cessation after diagnosis of early-stage lung cancer improves prognostic outcomes,” according to its authors…
The adjusted estimates suggest that the risk for death is halved in patients who stop smoking, say the researchers, led by Amanda Parsons, research fellow at the UK Center for Tobacco Control Studies at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom…
Does Not Pertain to Advanced Disease
The situation is quite different for patients with advanced disease — and they form the majority of patients diagnosed with lung cancer…
The Most BioAvailable Curcumin Formulas
“Based on a review of these studies, it is evident that better bioavailability of formulated curcumin (CU) products is mostly attributed to improved solubility, stability, and possibly low first-pass metabolism”
A search of the Pubmed database for the word curcumin yields 601 studies spaning health topics from multiple myeloma and colorectal cancer, to chemotherapies that synergizes with CU, to Alzheimer’s Disease, arthritis and more. Based on years of reading studies and personal accounts, I think it is safe to say that CU supplementation is safe and relatively inexpensive.
I have read about myeloma patients taking daily doses of CU from 400 milligrams to 8 grams (1000 milligrams = 1 gram). By almost any measure, CU is a safe, inexpensive wonder drug.
The only challenge is that CU is famously difficult to absorb in the body. In other words, a person has to mix curcumin with some sort of fat (coconut oil, chocolate, etc.) or take a brand of curcumin capsule that is already formulated to be more “bioavailable” in order to derive the full benefit of CU.
The study linked and exerpted below reviews different formulations of CU. The study itself lists the three most bioavailable formulation/brand of CU and I’ve added an excerpt from a further review from Consumerlab.com that lists four additional bioavailable brands of CU.
“Curcumin is a widely studied natural compound which has shown tremendous in vitro therapeutic potential. Despite that, the clinical efficacy of the native CU is weak due to its low bioavailability and high metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract. During the last decade, researchers have come up with different formulations with a focus on improving the bioavailability of curcumin. As a result, a significant number of bioavailable curcumin-based formulations were introduced with the varying range of enhanced bioavailability.
The purpose of this review is to collate the published clinical studies of CU products with improved bioavailability over conventional (unformulated) CU. Based on the literature search, 11 curcumin formulations with available human bioavailability and pharmacokinetics data were included in this review. Further, the data on clinical study design, analytical method, pharmacokinetic parameters and other relevant details of each formulation were extracted.
Based on a review of these studies, it is evident that better bioavailability of formulated curcumin products is mostly attributed to improved solubility, stability, and possibly low first-pass metabolism. The review hopes to provide a quick reference guide for anyone looking information on these bioavailable curcumin formulations.
exhibited over 100-fold higher bioavailability relative to reference unformulated CU. Suggested mechanisms accounting for improved bioavailability of the formulations and details on the bioanalysis methods are also discussed.”
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