Is tumeric good or bad?

Ask our Nurses your questions
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Please can you help us with this question. A group of us at various stages in our treatment have been considering taking tumeric supplements, or have already started.

I personally finished chemo 18 months ago, and am on letrozol, and have 6 monthly zometa. I am having a lot of joint problems and someone suggested trying tumeric supplements. I thought I might as well. After a few weeks, I am feeling better, and have started cycling again. I have no idea if this is because of the tumeric or not.

However, when I mentioned it to my group of breast cancer friends, there was a deluge of different and contradictory information from all sides.

Some people take it and love it.

Some people have been warned not to take it as it is likely to nurish cancer cells. I hear that it is anti immflammatroy, that it causes cell porifieration, (including cancer cells) that it can boost eostrogen, which is a bad thing with a eostrogen positive cancer, that it works against letrozol,ths it can immrove immune respnse, etc etc etc.

My main question is - is it dangerous or harmless? I don’t know if your are able to say if iti is activvely beneficial or not, but it would be something just to know there is nothing to lose by taking it. It did seem to be helping me, but if it is helping just by making the letrozol less effective, then obviously, I won’t take any more!

Thank you for your help

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Following as I’ve also been taking turmeric as I’d heard all good…but now I’m on blood thinners so I can’t but was keen to start back up as soon as I got off them. Hopefully someone has some clarity on this

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I’m following too now as the joint pain from Letrazole and some mild osteoarthritis is an issue now in my hands, knees and hips. Considering starting curcumin (turmeric) supplements but don’t want make a mistake ( on Letrazole for 2 and a half years now ).

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Hi Spider Rose

Thank you for your post about turmeric supplements.

Many people ask about vitamin and herb supplements like turmeric as they want to do as much as possible to be healthy. Some people also are experiencing side effects such as joint pains as a result of their treatment and are looking for natural products to help relieve them. There is often the belief that vitamins and herbs are safe as they are considered natural.

We are unable to say if turmeric is dangerous or harmless for you to take and whether it will work against letrozole, boost oestrogen or nourish cancer cells as some of your friends have suggested. There is much we don’t know about supplements and herbal remedies. Herbal treatments don’t have to comply with the same regulations or rigorous testing that conventional medicines do. For many products there is a lack of research to support their use, and some can interfere with conventional medicines including cancer treatments.

The American website, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, has information about individual herbs and vitamins. Each has sections on existing evidence and what known interaction there is with other medications. You may find that that some herbs have different names in America. Memorial Sloan Kettering advise that turmeric may stop some breast cancer chemotherapy drugs working effectively. They also state that it can increase your risk of bleeding if you are on blood thinners as @sunshineandunicorns mentions. You can also search herbal products and supplements on the European website Complementary and Alternative Medicine for cancer and on the American website Medicine Plus

Do speak to your breast care nurse, treatment team, GP, or a pharmacist before taking any supplements.

Do call our helpline if you would like to talk this through or have any further questions. The helpline team have time to listen, talk things through and signpost you to more support and information if necessary. Your call will be confidential, and the number is free from UK landlines and all mobile networks. The number is 0808 800 6000. If you have hearing or speech difficulties prefix our number with 18001 and the call will go through Relay UK. Our helpline has access to telephone interpreters if language translation is required.

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Wendy

Breast Care Nurse

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