At CANCERactive we have long warned you that HRT is dangerous and increases the risk of breast cancer significantly. In 2007 we covered research that a natural compound in olives, artichokes, basil, parsley, celery and chamomile tea could reduce this risk. Now it seems, so can curcumin.
What’s the problem? The problem is that HRT contains synthetic hormones, and while natural progesterone has plenty of research to support it as a breast cancer risk reducer, the same cannot be said of its synthetic sister, progestin. Far from it. And progestin is what is used in the combination HRT pill.
Now University of Missouri researchers have found that curcumin, the common spice derived from turmeric root, could reduce the cancer risk for women after exposure to hormone replacement therapy.
Salman Hyder, the Zalk Endowed Professor in Tumor Angiogenesis and professor of biomedical sciences said, "This exposure to progestin will predispose a large number of post-menopausal women to future development of breast cancer. The results of our study show that women could potentially take curcumin to protect themselves from developing progestin-accelerated tumours".
Synthetic progestin increases VEGF a protein that helps form blood supplies to developing tumours. Curcumin inhibits VEGF and thus reduces the potential of breast cancer to grow.
Go To: Curcumin, or Turmeric, as a natural cancer treatment
"Curcumin and other potential anti-angiogenic compounds should be tested further as dietary chemopreventive agents in women already exposed to hormone replacement therapy containing estrogen and progestin in an effort to decrease or delay the risk of breast cancer associated with combined hormone replacement therapy," Hyder added. (Curcumin delays development of MPA-accelerated DMBA-induced mammary tumors; Menopause)