Tuesday, July 12 2005 10:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: A team of researchers led by an Indian professor in the United States have found fresh evidence that curcumin, a pungent yellow spice in turmeric and curry powders, has potent anti-cancer powers.

Bharat Aggarwal, a professor of cancer medicine in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics in the University of Texas and his team of researchers found that curcimin blocks a key biological pathway needed for development of melanoma and other cancers.

Their research, funded by the National Cancer Institute and the US Department of Defence, will be published in the August 15, 2005 issue of the journal 'Cancer'.

The study demonstrates how curcumin stops laboratory strains of melanoma from proliferating and pushes the cancer cells to self-destruction.

It does this by shutting down nuclear factor-kappa B, a powerful protein known to promote an abnormal inflammatory response that leads to a variety of disorders, including arthritis and cancer.

The study is the latest to suggest that curcumin has potent anticancer powers, says Aggarwal, who studied at the University of Delhi and Benaras Hindu University.

"The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties of curcumin derived from turmeric are undergoing intense research here and at other places worldwide," he said.

Ground from the root of the Curcuma longa plant, curcumin is a member of the ginger family and has long been used in India and other Asian nations as a food-preservative, colouring agent, folk medicine to cleanse the body and spice to flavour food.