Still Embattled over Turmeric (and some words about the black raspberry)

Howard Walfish

Something I read the other day, combined with the advice of a friend who has also researched this spice, made me question my emphasis on it. It seems that curcumin, the most beneficial phytochemical it contains, is in such small quantities that you need 12 gms a day of the stuff if it is to have therapeutic benefits. Not 12 gms of turmeric; 12 gms of curcumin.

Discouraging. At that high dose, they do see promising results in cancer, but am I ready to feed Lindy that much? When he's in chemotherapy? Part of me says YES LET'S GO FOR IT but I'd have to talk him into it and we'd get into that conversation we've had a few times before.

Dig In! Campus Agriculture

Let's talk about black raspberry for a minute. My favorite book, Anti-cancer, mentions that freeze-dried and powdered black raspberry has been shown to fight Lindy's specific tumor, adenocarcinoma of the esophagus. The therapeutic dose is about 40 gms/day. But the stuff costs $24 for 100 gms. (And the stuff in that link isn't even organic.) I'm willing to do that; I was even thinking of starting a Gofundme campaign so we could do some serious black raspberry therapy...but we're not ready to make that commitment.

Which really sounds mad, written down. Lindy reminds me that he IS in chemotherapy, which is ALSO supposed to, you know, reduce the tumor. Personally, I don't care. There's a scene in The Big Easy when John Goodman's character, a crooked cop, is asked to give up all his weapons. So he takes off and throws down a couple of handguns, brass knuckles come out of his pockets, a black-jack, a baton, and a nice big knife strapped to his calf. After tossing it all on the pile he says, "If that don't work I piss on 'em."

That's how I feel. Throw everything at it. And it's hard to see why we're NOT doing it.  It's not like it's claptrap; the studies that I'm looking at are the real thing. And the thing about anti-cancer phytonutrients is....no significant side effects!

Well, stay tuned. We'll see how the chemo is doing in a few weeks. Maybe then we'll consider some of this more pro-active stuff, even look into cancer-fighting dosages of cannabis.

For now, we'll continue with the golden milk -- there are other beneficial phytochemicals in turmeric besides curcumin, including some similar to aspirin, with painkilling effects. And we'll continue to think and talk about what we're willing to do.

ADDENDUM: In the course of writing this post, look what I found!

Lisa