One of the most common treatments for the symptoms of menopause, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), has been shown to increase the probability of breast cancer. Yet, a recent study by researchers at the University of Missouri seems to have found a way to reduce this life-endangering risk for women who have been exposed to such therapy. The answer to the problems of the nearly 6 million women in the United States who use this treatment option has been found in curcumin, a popular Indian spice derived from the turmeric root.

The study showed that curcumin was able to delay the first appearance, decrease the incidence and reduce the multiplicity of progestin-accelerated tumors in an animal model. Without the existence of progestin, the blood supply and thus existence of the tumor will be greatly limited. Curcumin also prevented the appearance of dangerous morphological abnormalities in the mammary glands.

Salman Hyder, the lead researcher in the study and the Zalk Endowed Professorship in Tumor Angiogenesis and professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, hopes that the women already exposed to hormone replacement therapy will try curcumin and other potential anti-angiogenic (Note) compounds "in an effort to decrease or delay the risk of breast cancer" as quickly as possible.

For more information check out the" detailed article.

For expanded facts and analysis, read the original journal article, Curcumin Delays Development of MPA-accelerated DMBA-induced Mammary Tumors." Menopause, (in press)

Note: Angiogenesis refers to one the growth of new blood vessels, one of the primary ways that cancer cells proliferate.