Fresh Lemon Grass Drink Causes Apoptosis to Cancer Cells

Fresh Lemon Grass Drink Causes Apoptosis to Cancer Cells

The importance of LILY CHAI. Please read.

For your information and Good health!!!
Fresh Lemon Grass Drink Causes Apoptosis to Cancer Cells (apoptosis) noun:
a type of cell death in which the cell uses specialized cellular machinery to kill itself;
a cell suicide mechanism that enables metazoans to control cell number and
eliminate cells that threaten the animal's survival. In other words, cell commits suicide.

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Fresh lemon grass fields in Israel become Mecca for cancer patients
By Allison Kaplan Sommer April 02, 2006

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

Israeli researchers find way to make cancer cells self-destruct
- Ben Gurion University

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 lemon grass 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-Differentiation
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 to prompt
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.
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
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 use.
'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.'