Hot on the heels of reports suggesting that curcumin, a compound present in the curry spice turmeric, can help to treat cancer researchers have now found that it may stop the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS). Dr Chandramohan Natarajan of Vanderbilt University discovered that mice with an MS-like disease developed little or no signs of disease symptoms after receiving injections of curcumin. Natarajan and his colleagues found that untreated mice developed full-blown experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) – an autoimmune condition used as a model for multiple sclerosis – and severe paralysis within just 15 days. However, mice treated with thrice-weekly 50-micrograms injections of curcumin only developed minor disease symptoms, and mice given a 100-microgram dose of the compound presented with no symptoms at all.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 24th April 2002