Turmeric is generally used as a spice but it has garnered a reputation as a virtually magical substance when used as a dietary supplement. It is said to treat arthritis, heartburn, Crohn’s disease, diarrhea, intestinal gas, irritable bowel syndrome, bronchitis, Alzheimer’s disease, gum disease, high cholesterol and of course cancer. In general, the more claims made on behalf of a substance, the less likely that any are reliable. In the case of turmeric, there is some laboratory and animal evidence that compounds called curcuminoids have an anti-inflammatory effect but significant human clinical trials are lacking. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop some “alternative practitioners” from making outlandish claims and recommending supplements. In one case, a “holistic healer,” a term that should raise red flags, administered turmeric intravenously to a young California woman who died apparently as the result of the infusion. It isn’t clear exactly what happened, but the medical examiner concluded that she had some sort of adverse reaction to the intravenous turmeric. While IV turmeric is not a common practice, it is employed by some alternative practitioners with no other deaths having been traced to it.
What caught my eye was that the TV news program that broke the story went to Dr. Mark Stengler for an expert opinion. Stengler is a California naturopath who uses homeopathy, which already casts a shadow on his activities, along with numerous questionable treatments. He is a promoter of the Matthew 4 Protocol that claims a cancer cure is to be found in the Bible. You have to listen to a long-winded video that promises to reveal this secret but the only revelation is that you have to order a book that will open one’s eyes to this simple cancer cure. It turns out that the Bible passage in question talks about Jesus going into the desert to fast for 40 days. So the miracle cancer cure turns out to be some sort of fast. Of course the Bible does not talk about any sort of cancer cure. I would conclude that Dr. Stengler is hardly the expert that a TV reporter should go to for an expert opinion. To his credit, Stengler does say that he uses only oral turmeric in his practice and that the intravenous use is experimental. All in all, a tragic story.
