Regarding the curcumin case- I took a look at the case study (Zaidi et al, BMJ Case Reports 2017;). Indeed, her disease seems to be controlled by the curcumin, when standard chemotherapy did not work. Yet, if you read the discussion of the case study- they say that this is the only known case of myeloma being cured by curcumin. In the one phase I/II clinical trial conducted with multiple myeloma patients, no positive results were seen. The authors of the paper say more research is needed. Indeed, there are many clinical trials testing curcumin’s effectiveness as an anti-cancer agent, due to very promising results in preclinical research- ie cell culture and mouse cancer models. It remains to be seen whether it will prove effective in large scale clinical trials, The fact that it helped one mm patient means nothing if it doesn’t help another 99. That’s why clinical research is important. Also, curcumin has poor bioavailability (meaning it doesn’t get to where it needs to get very well), so researchers are developing and studying its derivatives are being studied. It can also have negative interactions with other drugs, so it’s not necessarily safe to take the supplement.
However, if the current studies do show good results, and a curcuminn derivative gets FDA approval and is marketed as an anti-cancer drug, the anti-conventional medicine people will shun it as a product of the “propaganda filled pharmaceutical industry-medical professional-FDA establishment.”