toM, I understand that some people in the natural health community believe that you should use whole herbs rather than herb extracts. I prefer to base my treatment on the scientific evidence rather than the beliefs of those people. There is a great deal of scientific evidence that curcumin is medically active, but no evidence that the other components of turmeric are medically active. Some people have speculated that other components in turmeric might help the body to absorb curcumin better, but that isn't an issue if you take curcumin + bioperine.

It is true that MS and Alzheimer's are much less common in India, where they eat a lot of turmeric. The scientific research on how turmeric fights MS and Alzheimer's has found that curcumin is the component of turmeric that fights these diseases. Indians eat turmeric nearly every day, and the small amount of curcumin they get each day over the course of their lifetime appears to be an effective preventative. In general, the amount of a substance needed to treat an established disease is much higher than what is needed to prevent a disease, so I want take much more turmeric than the average Indian diet would provide.

Turmeric extracts are typically 18 times more concentrated than powdered turmeric root. The choice is partly a matter of what quantity of supplements you're willing to take. I currently take 2 capsules of turmeric extract per day. I'd have to take 36 capsules of turmeric to get the same medical activity. I don't think that I would continue to take it if I had to take that much.

By the way, my arthritis has gotten better since I started taking turmeric extract and I've stopped taking the pain killer that the doctor prescribed (Vicodin).

So, since you've been taking this for several years, what have you noticed? Has it had any effect on DC or not?

I can buy turmeric capsules, 400 mg. Is one a day enough?

marilyn, No one knows what the optimal dose of curcumin for DC is. 400 mg is a smaller dose than what has been found effective for treating other problems, and curcumin is nontoxic even in much larger doses, so I take more than that. I have no idea whether ginseng with royal jelly would help.

Michael, I just saw your post and downloaded the article today. I'm going to be very busy for the next couple of weeks and may not have time to read it until after the holidays.

FWIW, there seem to be some similarities between cancer and DC. Like cancer, DC is characterized by abnormal cell growth. You could think of DC nodules and cords as a type of benign tumor. DC and many kinds of cancer have a genetic component. In both cases, people can be genetically predisposed to the disease without getting it. The same kinds of environmental factors (like smoking) may trigger both kinds of disease. The TGF-beta cascade has been implicated in several kinds of cancer as well as in DC. Some chemotherapy drugs that target TGF-beta (tamoxifen, 5-fluorouracil) are now being tried in DC patients. A Phase I clinical trial of curcumin in patients at a high risk for developing malignant tumors concluded that "Our results also suggest a biologic effect of curcumin in the chemoprevention of cancer." (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11712783&dopt=Abstract)

If you are concerned about a possible increased risk of cancer, you might want to consider taking curcumin.