A CURRY said to have been invented in Glasgow could hold the key to curing cancer, according to new research.

Asian immigrants in a Glasgow kitchen are thought to have created chicken tikka masala decades ago in a bid to cater to western palates.

Now the Indian spice curcumin – found in turmeric, which gives the popular dish its distinctive yellow hue – is being used to destroy skin and breast cancer cells.

The breakthrough came after scientists in the US managed to make the ingredient soluble in water for the first time.

Its anti-cancer properties have been known for some time but achieving absorption by the body has been a problem to get it to flow through the bloodstream.

Professor Dipanjan Pan, of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said: “Until now, curcumin is what we call in pharmaceutical science a ‘false lead’. It is therapeutic, but the full effect can’t be utilised because it is poorly soluble in water.”

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, claiming 11,500 lives annually, with more than 2,000 people dying of skin cancer, or melanoma, each year.

Co-author Dr Santosh Misra said when you deliver a drug it requires solubility in water, otherwise it won’t flow through the bloodstream.

The researchers managed to make it soluble by adding the expensive metal platinum – normally found in jewellery, reported Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.