Can certain foods really protect you against cancer? RealAge thinks so and reports that turmeric is just the spice for the prevention of pancreatic cancer, the very disease that just took the life of The Last Lecture guy Randy Pausch and is giving actor Patrick Swayze a run for his money.

It's curcumin, the yellow stuff found in turmeric, that works wonders on tumor cells. When researchers added the substance to cancerous pancreatic cells, production practically shut down. Thumbs up, then, for the spice that gives curry and other Far Eastern dishes it's strong and distinctive flavor.

These foods also keep pancreas happy: Onions, arugula, fish, eggs, poultry, D-fortified cereal, and dairy.

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A few months ago, Patrick Swayze announced that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is one of the deadliest forms of the disease. As we all knew he would, he's been fighting it aggressively, and this past weekend the world saw a healthy and happy looking Swayze at LAX airport.

Smiling and giving a thumbs up sign, the actor told photographers, "I'm a miracle, dude. I don't know why." He's been undergoing chemotherapy, and was at the airport to catch a flight to Chicago to work on a new drama for A&E called The Beast.

The battle certainly isn't over, but it sure is heartwarming to see our favorite dirty dancer looking so good!

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When I learn of a new cancer diagnosis -- my own or someone else's -- it makes me start contemplating life. I admit the thought of death does surface somewhere in my mind but life -- how to approach it, how to best live it, how to appreciate it -- is what mostly consumes my thoughts. That's what's happening now, now that I've heard actor Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with one of the deadliest forms of the disease: Pancreatic cancer.

The media may want us to believe death is imminent for Swayze -- they give him just weeks to live -- but his doctors tell us otherwise. They say the Dirty Dancing star is receiving aggressive treatment, that he's pressing forward with projects, that he has a limited amount of disease in his body, that his life is not in fact over.

Swayze, 55, may be no closer to death than any one of us who might possibly fall victim to a car accident or a medical trauma. So I say he should make the most of his life, despite -- or in spite of -- his cancer diagnosis. I think you should make the most of yours too. I know I plan to.

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