Eat curry, reduce chance of cancer

For the longest time, scientists were intrigued that people in the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Srilanka) had practically no instances of skin cancer. Sunscreens are practically unknown, and in a region where home heating is non-existent, the only way to stay warm is to sit in the sun during cold winter months. Initially it was assumed that the low rate of skin cancer was due to their darker skin color. But in this part of the world, not everyone is dark, and still skin cancer is rare. And so are other cancers. The incidence of the top four cancers in the US is ten times lower in India. Scientists may now know the answer and it may provide some natural choices for those who want to avoid skin cancer.

The secret lies in the delicious curries that people in the Indian subcontinent consume every day. And a curry simply cannot be cooked without using turmeric powder which contains a compound called curcumin. Scientists from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center conclude that curcumin stops laboratory strains of melanoma from proliferating and pushes the cancer cells to commit suicide.

Ground from the root of the Curcuma longa plant, curcumin is a member of the ginger family. It has long been utilized for multiple uses: as a food-preservative, a coloring agent, a folk medicine to cleanse the body, and as a spice to flavor food (two to five percent of turmeric is curcumin, for example).

So how can you add turmeric to your diet?

While regular meals at Indian restaurants may provide you with some turmeric, what will really be effective is to make turmeric a regular part of your diet. And in order to do so, you do not have to eat only Indian curries. Since saffron became expensive, Mexican chefs have been using turmeric as a substitute. It gives the color and hardly anyone notices the difference. In other words, no matter what you cook, you may be able to add a little bit of turmeric to some of your dishes.

You may also want to learn to cook some Indian dishes at home. While Indian cuisine sounds very exotic and difficult to cook, the reality is that once you have all the spices, it is easy to make a curry. Curry goes well with rice and almost any type of bread from the supermarket. I personally like to put curry as a spread on Italian or pita bread.

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