Ginger Could Help
Prevent Cancer
Reported
by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist
Experiments suggest that the active ingredient of ginger can
help block the growth of cancer cells.
Many herbs and spices have been credited with medicinal properties. Ginger has
long been valued for the treatment of nausea and other ailments. Now
researchers at the
They worked with mice who had been
injected with human colo-rectal cancer cells. Normally
they would be expected to develop many tumors as a result. One group of mice
was injected with gingerol, the compound that makes
ginger hot, the other with water, as a control.
The animals treated with gingerol
developed fewer tumors, and they were slower to appear. This suggests that
ginger has some kind of protective effect. There was also evidence that the
tumors that did develop might have been less aggressive. Further research
should show whether ginger can also prevent colo-rectal
cancer in humans.
Source
American Association for Cancer Research Meeting