Cancer Awareness: Oriya scientist proves garlic’s curative potency

Cancer Awareness

CANCER AWARENESS : CANCER IS CURABLE

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Oriya scientist proves garlic’s curative potency

Thursday September 20 2007 09:15 IST
BIBHUTI BARIK

BHUBANESWAR: A US-based Oriya scientist has found out that garlic can indeed fight deadly brain cancer or ‘glioblastoma’.

South Carolina-based scientist Arabinda Das has identified three chemical compounds containing sulphur from garlic which might effectively control malignant or uncontrolled growth of cells causing brain tumour.

Das, a post-doctoral fellow in neuroscience/ neurology at the prestigious Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) along with his professors Naren Banik and Swapan Ray, has studied these organo-sulphur compounds and their effects on human brain tumour cells.

These compounds i.e. diallyl sulphide (DAS), diallyl disulphide (DADS) and diallyl trisulphide (DATS) provide significant protection against cancer, but DATS with three sulphur atoms provides the most effective control as compared to others, the scientists found out.

These findings published in the September issue of ‘Cancer’, the premier journal of American Cancer Society, prove the great promise of plant-derived compounds as natural medicine for controlling the malignant growth of human brain tumour cells.

Garlic derived compounds are tiny molecules and perhaps will not need complicated methods of delivery for treating brain tumour patients, he says adding for those who seek to take advantage of any potential anti-cancer benefits, however, have to go by certain regulations.

‘‘People should cut and peel a piece of fresh garlic and let it remain in the open for 15 minutes before eating or cooking. This amount of time is needed to release an enzyme called ‘allinase’ that produces these anti-cancer chemicals,’’ Das says. However, eating too much of garlic can cause diarrhoea, allergies, internal bleeding and body odour among other problems. So it is better to monitor its intake, he advises.

Das, a native of Daitapada Sahi in Puri town says the findings will finally trickle down to the clinics for patient care.

‘‘But we have to wait for a few more years before its application is quantified through several clinical investigations,’’ he feels.

Earlier, he worked under professors like AC Dash and Prakash Mohanty during his research work at Utkal University before moving to the US for the post-doctoral studies at MUSC

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posted by Bhavya @ 4:41 PM

1 Comments:

At September 22, 2007 at 4:50 PM, Anonymous said…

Bibhuti, this is really interesting. One knew about garlic and BP, but this is certainly a new twist in the tale.
Good story. Benita