The Anticancer Effects of Turmeric (Jianghuang)
Jianghuang (Curcumae Longae Rhizoma, turmeric) is one of the commonly used Chinese medicines. It was first recorded in China's first official materia medica, the Xinxiu Bencao (Newly Revised Materia Medica, also called the Tang Bencao or Yinggong Bencao), compiled in the Tang Dynasty by Su Jing and 25 others under imperial order. Chinese medicine holds that turmeric breaks qi and moves blood, frees the channels and stops pain. It is used for various pains caused by blood stasis and qi stagnation, pain in the chest, abdomen, and hypochondrium, women's dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea, postpartum abdominal pain due to stasis, rheumatic arthralgia, traumatic injuries, and welling-abscess swellings.
Turmeric is a commonly used anticancer medicinal, often combined with Ezhu (Curcumae Rhizoma) and Sanleng (Sparganii Rhizoma); the combination works better, a pairing known in Chinese medicine as a "paired herb" (dui yao). In a decoction, each may be used at 3–10 g according to the patient's condition. Turmeric may also be ground to an extremely fine powder for use in pills, powders, plasters, and boluses. It can be applied externally for sores, abscesses, swelling pain, and pain from traumatic injury; turmeric is the main ingredient of the patent medicine Ruyi Jinhuang San.
Not only ancient Chinese medicine used turmeric; ancient Indians used it as well. Ayurveda, the traditional herbal medicine of ancient India, also employs turmeric. Indians consider internal use of turmeric to treat many diseases and external use to treat various skin conditions; they even take it daily as a food seasoning. The relatively low rate of cancer among Indians is related in part to this dietary habit.
In addition, records of using turmeric as medicine are found in Siddha Medicine (the ancient Tamil medicine), Unani Medicine (the medicine of the Mughal Empire), and the ancient medical texts of other Asian countries.
The multiple actions of turmeric have also drawn the attention of modern medicine. Modern pharmacology has confirmed that turmeric has anti-inflammatory, choleretic, hepatoprotective, anti-peptic-ulcer, anticoagulant and anti-platelet-aggregation, lipid-lowering, antioxidant, anti-fertility, antitumor, anti-mutagenic, antimicrobial and antiprotozoal, wound-healing-promoting, uterine-excitant, and cardiovascular-protective effects.
Turmeric can inhibit the formation of microvessels within tumor tissue and can improve the inflammatory state of cancer patients, so it has a good cancer-preventing and anticancer effect. Animal experiments have confirmed that the alcoholic extract of turmeric inhibits the growth of Chinese hamster ovary cells and is cytotoxic to lymphocytes and Dalton's lymphoma cells.
Turmeric has no obvious toxic side effects. In feeding experiments in rats at 1.25 to 125 times the human dose, no significant adverse effects were seen. The rats' red blood cells, white blood cells, hemoglobin, total serum protein, albumin, globulin, serum transaminases, and alkaline phosphatase all showed no adverse changes. As an aromatic stomachic, turmeric promotes biliary drainage and disinfects the liver; taking it regularly aids digestion.
Pregnant women and patients with blood deficiency should be cautious with turmeric. Chinese medicine holds that turmeric breaks blood and moves qi, so patients with blood deficiency without qi stagnation and blood stasis, as well as pregnant women, are advised to take it cautiously; patients with low platelets or poor coagulation function should also use it with care.
As a food additive, turmeric is usually taken at about 1–3 g a day, which is sufficient as a common health food. But if it is used to treat tumors, larger doses are needed. Even so, it must not be taken in excess, since overdose easily causes bleeding.
The antitumor effect of turmeric alone is not as strong as when it is combined with other herbs and with Shengjiang (fresh ginger); this is mainly because turmeric is not readily absorbed, but with the help of other pungent, warm, aromatic seasonings such as ginger and cinnamon, the body's absorption of turmeric is greatly improved.
Chinese medicine uses turmeric for pain in the hypochondrium and epigastrium caused by liver-qi stagnation, often combining it with Zhiqiao (Aurantii Fructus) and Rouguixing (cinnamon heart); for epigastric and abdominal pain it is often combined with Muxiang (Aucklandiae Radix), Wuyao (Linderae Radix), and Danggui (Angelicae Sinensis Radix); for women's amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea it is used with blood-activating, stasis-resolving herbs such as Danggui, Chishao (Paeoniae Radix Rubra), and Chuanxiong (Chuanxiong Rhizoma); for postpartum abdominal pain from static blood it may be combined with Moyao (Myrrha) and tongbian (infant's urine) to resolve stasis and stop pain; for traumatic pain it is likewise paired with blood-activating, stasis-dispelling medicinals such as Danggui, Taoren (Persicae Semen), and Niuxi (Cyathulae Radix); for shoulder and arm pain it is used with Qianghuo (Notopterygii Rhizoma), Danggui, and Shaoyao (Paeoniae Radix). For swellings such as welling-abscesses and carbuncles on the back, turmeric is often combined with Dahuang (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma), Baizhi (Angelicae Dahuricae Radix), Tianhuafen (Trichosanthis Radix), Tiannanxing (Arisaematis Rhizoma), and Huangbai (Phellodendri Cortex).