Curry and Cauliflower

[andiesenji]

Findings at Rutgers University loom large.

So all you guys who have avoided the cruciferous veggies, now there is some word that it IS good for you, especially when teamed with curry.

[piazzola]

Rather than tinkering with genetics and pesticides humanity has to strive for self sufficiency and clean produce this would be the best way to reduce cancer incidence.

Myself and my wife we grew up in different environments she a country girl loves fruits and vegies that herself pulled off trees. Myself grew up in an industrial environment always sick and aple skin was sent to rehab 30 kms away at the age of 14 because of health due to pollution.

The irony was she contracted a virulent cancer stage four only three weeks to live and me nothing still alive and kicking

Luckliy and a miracle she survived with many scars of course.

We always say eat everything but in moderation

[Milagai]

I wish the headlines of these articles would

stop using the word "curry"!

The body of the article is clear that the

specific ingredient in question is turmeric,

that's a perfectly good word, why not use that?

Turmeric has been a folk remedy in South Asia for

centuries ....

The scientific question I have had for a while

is that I've read the claims that the incidence / prevalence

of Alzheimer's etc (and now they say prostate cancer)

in India is low.

How do they know? I'm a researcher myself, and I know

that the surveillance coverage is very poor in developing regions,

particularly in rural areas (where most people live).

The second difficulty is that India is not yet far enough along

the "epidemiological transition" (where the disease profile

and cause of death profile in a society moves from

infectious diseases to degenerative diseases as you see in

more industrialized societies today).

So more people are dying earlier, of infectious diseases,

and are not surviving enough to be awarded the consolation

prize of conditions like cancer or AZ. So saying that

such diseases are rare in India is missing an important point.....

This is not really a food related question I guess.....

If someone knows they could answer me off line....

Milagai

[Patrick S]

The scientific question I have had for a while

is that I've read the claims that the incidence / prevalence

of Alzheimer's etc (and now they say prostate cancer)

in India is low. 

How do they know?  I'm a researcher myself, and I know

that the surveillance coverage is very poor in developing regions,

particularly in rural areas (where most people live).

←

Usually these estimates are based on some kind of cluster sampling. Researchers will divide the area of interest, say a whole country, into a set of clusters, randomly select a subset of those clusters to sample (by door-to-door survey, for instance), and then extrapolate the results from those clusters to the whole area of interest.

The second difficulty is that India is not yet far enough along

the "epidemiological transition" (where the disease profile

and cause of death profile in a society moves from

infectious diseases to degenerative diseases as you see in

more industrialized societies today).

So more people are dying earlier, of infectious diseases,

and are not surviving enough to be awarded the consolation

prize of conditions like cancer or AZ.  So saying that

such diseases are rare in India is missing an important point.....

←

Well, you are exactly right -- you have to take into account of the age distributions before you can compare incidence of of disease like Alzheimer's, which are strongly age-related. This is why, when you compare incidence rates between populations, the rates for each have to be age-adjusted rates. So, you couldn't just compare the Alzheimer's rate per 100,000 persons from Kerala to New York, for instance, but in theory you could compare the Alzheimer's rates per 100,000 person's 65-70 years old.

Age-adjustment has to be done not only when you compare one geographic population to another, but also if you compare one population to itself at a different point in time.

Edited January 19, 2006 by Patrick S (log)

[Milagai]

Thank you Patrick S!

That explanation helps a lot.

I do have more questions but won't hijack this

thread further so may query you off line later.

Thanks again

Milagai

[anzu]

In the study cited, the turmeric and the substance derived from cruciferous vegetables were being injected, not orally ingested.

So, based on that study alone, I would not start cooking and eating huge amounts of cauliflower, etc. with turmeric with the idea in mind that it would protect me from cancer.

On the other hand, I would most certainly (continue to ) cook it and eat it because it tastes good.

[BarbaraY]

Yes! Yes! My favorite way to prepare cauliflower is with black mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric. All steamed together and some baby green peas tossed in at the end with a dash of lemon juice. Mmmm! Mmm!

May not be life or mind extending but it surely tastes delicious.