The curry spice turmeric gets its yellow color from curcumin. This same compound kills cancer cells in laboratory tests, researchers report in the Sept. 20 International Journal of Cancer.
When mixed with cells from human head and neck cancers, curcumin stopped proliferation and induced cell suicide, or apoptosis, in the malignant cells, says study coauthor Yasunari Takada, a molecular biologist at M.D.
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