Cancer and spices.

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Anonymous asked: "Do ginger, curry powder and cumin powder help reduce risk of any cancers? "

Disclaimer:  I am a food chemist and any medical comments are those of a food chemist.
 
Will anything prevent cancer?

No, probably not.  Cancer is not one disease but a diverse group of illnesses, all characterised by uncontrolled cell growth.  Cancerous cells are being produced all the time and the body deals with them.  The problems arise when the body can no longer deal with them.  This will be partly why cancers are more prevalent in the elderly; the body’s defences get weak, lazy or ineffective.

I believe that pretty much anything will cause cancer – if the body gets swamped with any chemical, systems can go awry.

But will anything prevent cancer?   I don’t believe so.  At least not any one thing.

Good diet and good health seem to be part of the cancer preventative thing :  be healthy, give your body a chance.  Let your body function as it should, defences work properly, cell reproduction work reliably.

I have little doubt that the individual components of ginger, cumin and curry powder will trigger cancers if taken in excess.  Anything taken at a level that distresses the body increases the likelihood of the body malfunctioning and cancers being the result.

But I really have no knowledge on compounds, natural or synthetic, that may directly work to prevent cancers.  And I think it unwise to pin your hopes on a 'silver bullet'.
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Done to a tea.

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Interesting story about tea recently:

A 44-year-old man presented in May, 2001, with muscle cramps. He had recently switched to drinking Earl Grey tea in preference to his regular black tea.

One week after the change, he noticed repeated muscle cramps for some seconds in his right foot. The longer he drank Earl Grey tea, the more intense the muscle cramps became. After 3 weeks, they also occurred in the left foot...

Earl Grey tea is composed of black tea and the essence of bergamot oil, an extract from the rind of bergamot orange (Citrus aurantium ssp bergamia), which has a pleasant, refreshing scent.

(You can skip this paragraph, if you wish) The adverse effects of bergamot oil in this patient are explained by the effect of bergapten as a largely selective axolemmal potassium channel blocker, reducing potassium permeability at the nodes of Ranvier in a time-dependent manner. This may lead to hyperexcitability of the axonal membrane and phasic alterations of potassium currents, causing fasciculations and muscle cramps.

In other words, it disrupts the way chemicals flow through the membrane of the nerve fibres, causing the neurons that connect to the muscles to malfunction.

I should add he was drinking four litres (a gallon, say) a day.

But it plays into my constant refrain: too much of anything is bad for you.

Food-wise, at least.
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