 It is estimated that tumors start around the age of 20, yet detection of cancer is normally around the age of 50 or later. Thus it takes cancer decades to incubate. Why does it take so long? Recent studies indicate that in any given type of cancer, hundreds of different genes must be modified to change a normal cell into a cancer cell. Although cancers are characterized by the dysregulation of cell-sickling pathways in multiple steps, most current anticancer therapies involve the modulation of a single target. Chemotherapy has gotten incredibly specific, but the ineffectiveness and lack of safety, high cost of these monotargeted therapies have led to real disappointment, and drug companies are now trying to develop chemo-drugs to take a more multi-targeted approach. As a result, many pharmaceutical companies are increasingly interested in developing multi-targeted therapies. Many plant-based products, however, accomplish multi-targeting naturally, and in addition are inexpensive and safe compared to drugs. However, because drug companies are not usually able to secure intellectual property rights to plants, the development of plant-based anticancer therapies has not been prioritized. They may work, they may work better for all we know. They may be safer, they may actually be safe, period. If you were going to choose one plant-based product to start testing, one might choose curcumin, the pigment in the spice turmeric, if the reason curry powder looks yellow. Well, before you start throwing money at research, I want to start asking some basic questions, like do populations that eat a lot of turmeric have lower cancer rates? The incidence of cancer does appear to be significantly lower in regions where turmeric is heavily consumed. Population-based data indicate that some extremely common cancers in the Western world are much less prevalent in regions where turmeric is widely consumed in the diet. For example, overall cancer rates are much lower in India than in Western countries. Much lower. US men get 23 times more prostate cancer than men in India. Americans get between 8 and 14 times the rate of melanoma, 10 to 11 times more colorectal cancer, 9 times more endometrial cancer, 7 to 17 times more lung cancer, 7 to 8 times more bladder cancer, 5 times more breast cancer, and 9 to 12 times more kidney cancer. This is not like 5, 10, or 20% more, but times more, so hundreds of percent more breast cancer, or thousands of percent more prostate cancer. The difference is even greater than some of those found in the China study. Because Indians account for one sixth of the world's population and have some of the highest spice consumption in the world, epidemiologic studies in this country have great potential for improving our understanding of the relationship between diet and cancer. Of course, it may not be the spices. Several dietary factors may contribute to the low overall rate of cancer in India, among them a relatively low intake of meat, a mostly plant-based diet. In addition to the high intake of spices, 40% of Indians are vegetarians. And even the ones that do eat meat don't eat a lot. And it's not only what they don't eat, but what they do. India is one of the largest producers and consumers of fresh fruits and vegetables. And they eat a lot of pulses, meaning legumes, and beans, chickpeas, and lentils. And it's not just turmeric. There are a wide variety of spices, which constitute by way to the most anti-oxidant-packed class of foods in the world. Population studies can't prove a correlation between dietary turmeric and decreased cancer risk, but certainly inspired a bunch of research. So far, curcumin has been tested against a variety of human cancers, including colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast prostate, multiple myeloma, lung cancer, and head and neck cancer for both prevention and treatment. We'll look at some of that research next.