Dr. Johnston looks at a 2019 meta-analysis of 15 randomized trials in 1,410 patients with stage III or IV non-small cell lung cancer, comparing chemotherapy alone with chemotherapy plus elemene injections. Elemene was given by injection and is a different compound from curcumin, so the findings do not apply to turmeric or curcumin supplements.
A compound extracted from a medicinal plant was given alongside chemotherapy in over 1,400 patients with lung cancer. It's called beta-elemene, and it comes from a root used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years. Curcuma.
A 2019 meta-analysis examined 15 randomized clinical trials involving 1,410 patients with stage three or four non-small cell lung cancer, and the trials compared chemotherapy alone with chemotherapy plus elemene injections, and the results favored the combination by far. Disease control was 23% higher with elemene, objective tumor response was 62% higher, and 2-year survival was 73% higher. Perhaps just as interesting, severe chemotherapy toxicities were substantially reduced in the elemene groups.
Now, this was elemene injection, not over-the-counter oral turmeric or curcumin, but it's exactly the kind of evidence I think patients should know exists. Here's the research. You decide.
Educational research summary, not medical advice. Talk with your oncologist and pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any treatment or supplement.