Ginger compound prevents growth of colorectal cancer cells Research results presented on October 28, 2003 at the American Association for Cancer Research's Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research showed that gingerol, a compound found in ginger that gives the spice its flavor, slowed the growth of human colorectal cancer cells. Ann Bode and Zigang Dong of the University of Minnesota's Hormel Institute in Austin, Minnesota fed 500 micrograms [6]-gingerol three times weekly to a group of twenty mice before and after injecting them with human colorectal tumor cells. Control mice injected with the cancerous cells received no [6]-gingerol . Tumors began to appear fifteen days after the mice received the cancer cells, with 13 tumors appearing in the control mice compared to four in the group that received [6]-gingerol . Twenty-eight days after receiving the injections, all the mice in the control group had measurable tumors, compared to thirty-eight days for the treatment group. After forty-nine days, 12 of the 20 treated mice still did not have tumors that had reached the size of one cubic centimeter, with tumors averaging half this size, while all of the control mice had already reached this point. Dr Bode summarized, “Plants of the ginger family have been credited with therapeutic and preventive powers and have been reported to have anticancer activity. The substance called [6]-gingerol is the main active compound in ginger root and the one that gives ginger its distinctive flavor . . . These results strongly suggest that ginger compounds may be effective chemopreventive and/or chemotherapeutic agents for colorectal carcinomas. It's difficult to know if the ginger-treated mice would have lived longer if left to die of their tumors, but it looks that way.” A new study is being planned that will administer ginger to mice after their tumors have progressed to a certain size. -D Dye Life Extension Foundation www.lef.org Anaesthesia, 8/93 Am J Ob & Gyn, 11/03 Abstract #2981 AACR, 3/04 J Med Assoc Thai, 2006; 89(4): 130-6. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.