Lemon grass, a cure for cancer?

Lemon grass is locally known to us Filipinos as tanglad.  I got this from a friend.  It’s the discovery about lemon grass and its healing effect for cancer patients. It’s quite a long read but if you have cancer or know anyone who has cancer, it can be a great help to you/them.

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Discovery of a Cancer Patient
 
While I was undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, my oncologist,Dr. Cecilia Llave, suggested that I try tanglad (lemon grass) for a drink, a tip she got from one of her patients.

That’s what I have been doing the past three years. I don’t know if tanglad has something to do with it but so far I’m okay.

A few weeks ago, an article on the medicinal powers of tanglad went the rounds of internet. There’s no harm trying this. A bunch of tanglad is ten centavos. Or you can plant it in your backyard for a steady supply.

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The article is by Allison Kaplan Sommer:

‘At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows
 greenhouses full of lush spices on a pastoral farm in Kfar Yedidya in the
 Sharon region, couldn’t understand why so many cancer patients from around
 the country were showing up on his doorstep asking for fresh lemon
 grass.

‘It turned out that their doctors had sent them.

‘’They had been told to drink eight glasses of hot water with fresh
 lemongrass steeped in it on the days that they went for their radiation
 and chemotherapy treatments,’ Zabidov told ISRAEL21c. ‘And this is the
 place you go to in Israel for fresh lemon grass.’

‘It all began when researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev
 discovered last year that the lemon aroma in herbs like lemon grass kills
 cancer cells in vitro, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

‘The research team was led by Dr. Rivka Ofir and Prof. Yakov Weinstein,
 incumbent of the Albert Katz Chair in Cell-Differentiatio n and
 Malignant Diseases, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at
 BGU.

‘Citral is the key component that gives the lemony aroma and taste in
 several herbal plants such as lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), Melissa
 (Melissa officinalis) and verbena (Verbena officinalis. )

‘According to Ofir, the study found that citral causes cancer cells to
 ’commit suicide: using apoptosis, a mechanism called programmed cell
 death.

‘A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough
 citral toprompt the cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube.

‘The BGU investigators checked the influence of the citral on cancerous
 cells by adding them to both cancerous cells and normal cells that
 were grown in a petri dish. The quantity added in the concentrate was
 equivalent to the amount contained in a cup of regular tea using one gram
 of lemon herbs in hot water. While the citral killed the cancerous
 cells, the normal cells remained unharmed.

‘The findings were published in the scientific journal Planta Medica,
 which highlights research on alternative and herbal remedies. Shortly
 afterwards, the discovery was featured in the popular Israeli press.

‘Why does it work? Nobody knows for certain, but the BGU scientists
 have a theory.

‘’In each cell in our body, there is a genetic program which causes
 programmed cell death. When something goes wrong, the cells divide with no
 control and become cancer cells. In normal cells, when the cell
 discovers that the control system is not operating correctly - for example,
 when it recognizes that a cell contains faulty genetic material
 following cell division it triggers cell death,’ explains Weinstein. ‘This
 research may explain the medical benefit of these herbs.’

‘The success of their research led them to the conclusion that herbs
 containing citral may be consumed as a preventative measure against
 certain cancerous cells.

‘As they learned of the BGU findings in the press, many physicians in
 Israel began to believe that while the research certainly needed to be
 explored further, in the meantime it would be advisable for their
 patients, who were looking for any possible tool to fight their condition, to
 try to harness the cancer-destroying properties of citral.

‘That’s why Zabidov’s farm - the only major grower of fresh lemon grass
 in Israel - has become a pilgrimage destination for these patients.
 Luckily, they found themselves in sympathetic hands. Zabidov greets
 visitors with a large kettle of aromatic lemon grass tea, a plate of
 cookies, and a supportive attitude.

‘’My father died of cancer, and my wife’s sister died young because of
 cancer,’ said Zabidov. ‘So I understand what they are dealing with.
And I may not know anything about medicine, but I’m a good listener.
And so they tell me about their expensive painful treatments and what
 they’ve been through. I would never tell them to stop being treated, but
 it’s great that they are exploring alternatives and drinking the lemon
 grass tea as well.’

‘Zabidov knew from a young age that agriculture was his calling. At age
 14, he enrolled in the Kfar Hayarok Agricultural high school.
After his army service, he joined an idealistic group which headed
 south, in the Arava desert region, to found a new moshav (agricultural
settlement) called Tsofar.

‘’We were very successful; we raised fruits and vegetables, and,’ he
 notes with a smile, ‘We raised some very nice children.’

‘On a trip to Europe in the mid-80s, he began to become interested in
 herbs.

Israel , at the time, was nothing like the trend-conscious
 cuisine-oriented country it is today, and the only spices being grown commercially
 were basics like parsley, dill, and coriander.

‘Wandering in the Paris market, looking at the variety of herbs and
 spices, Zabidov realized that there was a great export potential in this
 niche. He brought samples back home with him, ‘which was technically
 illegal,’ he says with a guilty smile, to see how they would grow in his
 desert greenhouses.

Soon, he was growing basil, oregano, tarragon, chives, sage, marjoram
 and melissa, and mint just to name a few.

‘His business began to outgrow his desert facilities, and so he decided
 to move north, settling in the moshav of Kfar Yedidya, an hour and a
 half north of Tel Aviv. He is now selling ’several hundred kilos’ of
 lemon grass per week, and has signed with a distributor to package and put
 it in health food stores.

‘Zabidov has taken it upon himself to learn more about the properties
 of citral, and help his customers learn more, and has invited medical
 experts to his farm to give lectures about how the citral works and why.

‘He also felt a responsibility to know what to tell his customers about
 its see. ‘When I realized what was happening, I picked up the phone
 and called Dr. Weinstein at Ben-Gurion University , because these people
 were asking me exactly the best way to consume the citral. He said to
 put the loose grass in hot water, and drink about eight glasses each
 day.’

‘Zabidov is pleased by the findings, not simply because it means
 business for his farm, but because it might influence his own health.
‘Even before the news of its benefits were demonstrated, he and his
 family had been drinking lemon grass in hot water for years, ‘just because
 it tastes good.'’