What Women Must Know – The Healing Power of Curcumin with Dr. Ajay Goel, PhD – 02.18.16

Ajay Goel PhD is  the Director of Epigenetics, Cancer Prevention, and Cancer Genomics at Baylor University Medical Center in Texas. 

Dr. Goel has spent 20 years researching cancer and has been the lead author or contributor to over 100 scientific articles published in peer reviewed international journals and several book chapters. He is currently researching the prevention of gastrointestinal cancers using integrative and alternative approaches, including botanical products. Two of the primary botanicals he is investigating are curcumin (from turmeric) and boswellia.

His published clinical trial on major depressive disorder (MDD) showed that a highly potent curcumin extract equaled the effects of the prescription drug fluoxetine (Prozac) without the adverse effects. And his studies on rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis showed potent botanicals to be better for relieving pain and lowering joint line tenderness than the commonly prescribed prescription medications.

Another recent cancer study by Dr. Goel shows the benefits of combining chemotherapy with a special form of highly-absorbable curcumin to improve treatment. The curcumin not only sensitized the cancer cells to the effects of but also protected healthy cells. "Our research found that curcumin was able to ignite the body's own tumor suppression activity to keep a cancerous tumor from growing and spreading," said Dr. Goel. On a cellular level, the curcumin kills DNA MMR defective cells that promote cancer growth.

Goel’s research has applications for other diseases. At the cellular level, inflammation is the cause of virtually every disease state in the body. His research with depression and arthritis shows that targeting inflammation has huge benefits for people with these conditions.

Dr. Goel is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Gastroenterology Association and is on the international editorial boards of World Journal of Gastroenterology and World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology. He also performs peer-reviewing activities for almost 50 scientific journals, as well serves on various grant funding committees of the National Institutes of Health.