Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
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Skin Health, Curcumin & the Multiple Myeloma Survivor?
“Overall, there is early evidence that turmeric/curcumin products and supplements, both oral and topical, may provide therapeutic benefits for skin health… (NSMC prevention?)”
A diagnosis of multiple myeloma let to lots of local radiation, induction chemotherapy and an autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) in December of 1995. Studies confirm the increased aging caused by chemo and radiation toxicity, and the increased risk of a number of treatment-related secondary cancers. Specifically, one of the many documented long-term side effects of an ASCT is the increased risk of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Curcumin to the rescue?
My long-term challenge then is to reduce my risk of not only my primary cancer, multiple myeloma, but possible
- bladder cancer (cyclophosphamide),
- Myelodisplastic syndrome, as well as
- non-melanoma skin cancer.
In previous blog posts I’ve referred to curcumin as a wonder drug (even though it is not a drug…). Research for this post has taken my rave reviews of curcumin further.
As the studies linked and excerpted below explain, curcumin reduces my risk of NMSC and may even make my skin look better. Almost as important is the fact that curcumin also reduces my risk of bladder cancer as well as multiple myeloma (my original incurable blood cancer).
I don’t mean for this post to sound like some sort of advertisement for curcumin. I am calling attention to the long-term use of this anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic, anti-oxidant nutritional supplement. I’ve been taking a relatively low-dose of it for years now. And I indent to continue curcumin supplementation until…well, forever.
This would be the point in the post where I would list any possible side effects from curcumin supplementation. I have read that large doses can cause stomach upset for some people. But when I say “large doses” I’m talking about grams daily not the miligram doses I take.
Conventional therapies such as chemo and radiation can be essential therapy tools for the newly diagnosed MM patient. However long-term and late stage side effects such as treatment-related secondary cancer is rarely discussed with the patient. As I often say knowledge is power.
If you’d like to learn more about side effect management, scroll down the page, ask me any and all questions. Thanks and hang in there,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director Galen Foundation
Recommended Reading-
- Clearing Actinic Keratosis-Photodynamic + Topical Therapies
- Esophageal cancer- Reduce Risk of Relapse with Cruciferous Veggies-
- Clearing Actinic Keratosis-Photodynamic + Topical Therapies
Effects of Turmeric (Curcuma longa) on Skin Health: A Systematic Review of the Clinical Evidence
“Turmeric (Curcuma longa), a commonly used spice throughout the world, has been shown to exhibit antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-neoplastic properties. Growing evidence shows that an active component of turmeric, curcumin, may be used medically to treat a variety of dermatologic diseases.
This systematic review was conducted to examine the evidence for the use of both topical and ingested turmeric/curcumin to modulate skin health and function.
The PubMed and Embase databases were systematically searched for clinical studies involving humans that examined the relationship between products containing turmeric, curcumin, and skin health.
A total of 234 articles were uncovered, and a total of 18 studies met inclusion criteria. Nine studies evaluated the effects of ingestion, eight studies evaluated the effects of topical, and one study evaluated the effects of both ingested and topical application of turmeric/curcumin.
Skin conditions examined include
- acne,
- alopecia,
- atopic dermatitis,
- facial photoaging,
- oral lichen planus,
- pruritus,
- psoriasis,
- radiodermatitis,
- and vitiligo.
Ten studies noted statistically significant improvement in skin disease severity in the turmeric/curcumin treatment groups compared with control groups. Overall, there is early evidence that turmeric/curcumin products and supplements, both oral and topical, may provide therapeutic benefits for skin health…”
Curcumin inhibits skin squamous cell carcinoma tumor growth in vivo
“Squamous cell carcinoma (SCCa) has increased from 4% to 10% over 4 decades, stimulating interest in developing novel agents that slow sun-damaged skin progression. This is the first study evaluating the naturally occurring bioactive food compound curcumin on skin cancer xenografts…
It is hypothesized that curcumin has growth-inhibitory effects through the TOR pathway and chemopreventive potential in skin SCCa where local application could bypass bioavailability problems…
Results: Tumor volume increased 2.3 times faster in control mice compared with the group receiving 15 mg of curcumin…A significant difference in average tumor volumes was seen, especially with treatment of 15 mg of curcumin compared with control…. Curcumin inhibited S6 phosphorylation, suggest-ing inhibition of the MTOR pathway.
Conclusion: Curcumin appears to inhibit skin SCCa growth and blocks tumor progression by inhibiting pS6 even when gavage is used to deliver curcumin, indicating even more significant effects in future experiments with local application.”
Skin regenerative potentials of curcumin
“CU, an active constituent of the spice turmeric, is well known for its chemopreventive properties and is found to be beneficial in treating various disorders including skin diseases. Curcumin protects skin by quenching free radicals and reducing inflammation through the inhibition of nuclear factor-kappa B…
CU also modulates the phase II detoxification enzymes which are crucial in detoxification reactions and for protection against oxidative stress.
In the present review, the biological mechanisms of the chemopreventive potential of CU in various skin diseases like psoriasis, vitiligo, and melanoma is discussed.
The application of CU in skin regeneration and wound healing is also elucidated. We also explored the recent innovations and advances involved in the development of transdermal delivery systems to enhance the bioavailability of CU, particularly in the skin…”