A small but informative clinical trial by Johns Hopkins researchers shows that a pill combining chemicals found in turmeric, a spice used in curries, and onions reduces both the size and number of premalignant lesions in the human intestinal tract. In the study, reported in the recent issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, five patients with an inherited form of premalignant polyps in the lower bowel known as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) were treated with regular doses of curcumin (the chemical found in turmeric) and quercetin, an antioxidant in onions, over an average of six months. The average number of polyps dropped 60.4 percent, and the average size dropped by 50.9 percent, as per a team led by Francis M. Giardiello, M.D., at the Division of Gastroenterology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Marcia Cruz-Correa, M.D., Ph.D., at Johns Hopkins and the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine........