There’s more good news on preventative cancer measures.

Onions and various spices may be hazardous to your breath, but according to new research, the assemblage of ingredients found in curry may help prevent precancerous growths and decrease the number and size of malignant polyps.

If you happen to be a curry fan, you know that it is an international food staple, particularly in Asian Pacific countries like Japan (where it’s eaten two to three times a week per person, according to some surveys), China, India and Thailand. Each country adds their own special panache to the curry melting pot, all in an attempt to set their curry apart from other countries’ recipes.

For example, Japan ingredients typically include some kind of beef product, potatoes, onions and carrots; Malaysian and Thai-style recipes include coconut milk, fish and chills; while Chinese curry dishes—perhaps the most popular variety in America—uses soy sauce, potatoes, fish, chicken, beef and a variety of spices like turmeric, which gives the curry its yellow color.

And it is this turmeric spice that scientists believe is the reason for curry’s healing properties.

The study done by John Hopkins Medicine investigators has been reported by several news outlets, including CBS News, detailing how the consumption of curcumin, the yellow pigment that is derived from turmeric, affected patients with conditions known as Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP).

FAP is a rare genetic condition that is usually inherited, which afflicts the intestines when precancerous polyps form along the intestinal wall. If the colon is not surgically removed, at least some of the polyps will become malignant by the age of 40.

The participants in the study had most of their colon removed before the testing began, but there were a number of polyps that remained on what was left of their intestinal wall.

That being the case, researchers gave the five people participating in the study 480 milligrams of curcumin and 20 milligrams of something called quercetin—an antioxidant found in onions (onions are found in most curry recipes), green tea and red wine—and to take the compound three times a day for a period of six months (Previous studies have determined that quercetin, in concert with curcumin, have helped curb the growth of colorectal cancer cells in rodents and colon cancer cell lines in humans).

At the six month conclusion, results indicated that the average number of polyps was reduced to 60 percent and the size of the polyps was half of what they were before.

Researchers said future studies on curcumin’s effectiveness are being hashed out as the amount of curcumin—the key ingredient—consumed by participants was many times the average person consumes in a day, indicating that there may not be enough curcumin in foods like curry to ward off cancerous polyps. Still, the results are promising.

“This study showed for the first time that curcumin treatment was efficacious in decreasing the number of polyps in patients with FAP,” said Dr. Marcia Cruz-Correa of the John Hopkins School of Medicine in a press release.

A finding like this is good news for curry lovers, but for FAP sufferers in particular. Not only because the polyp count and size were reduced, but also because it offers an alternative treatment that is virtually void of side-effects.

According to Cruz-Correa’s partner in the study, Dr. Francis Giardello, FAP sufferers were given non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for treatment, which brought along with it some nasty side effects such as gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers.

Thanks to this recent research, FAP and colon cancer sufferers have a new hope that can be found on top of a bed of rice.

The study is published in the journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Frank Mangano is a natural health expert and best selling author who teaches you how to dramatically improve your health naturally, without expensive and potentially dangerous prescription drugs. Here’s a special F-R-E-E 38 page report titled, “The Best Natural Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure, Reduce Your Waistline and Take Back Your Health:”