Herbs, spices and cancer 139
world’s plant population has been used for medicinal purposes at one time or another.
Most of the traditional health care systems of the world, like Egypt, the Middle East,
India and China developed from 3000 BC onwards. India’s use of herbal health care
dates back close to 5000 years.
Scientific evidence has shown that many of these herbs and spices do have medicinal
properties. A growing body of research has demonstrated that the commonly used
herbs and spices such as garlic, black cumin, cloves, cinnamon, thyme, allspice, bay
leaves, mustard, and rosemary, possess antimicrobial properties that, in some cases,
can be used therapeutically. Other spices, such as saffron, a food colorant; turmeric,
a yellow colored spice; tea, either green or black, and flaxseed do contain potent
phytochemicals, including carotenoids, curcumins, catechins and lignan respectively,
which provide significant protection against cancer.
9.2 What is cancer?..............................................................................
Cancer is a complex disease which may be caused by a toxic environment, devitalized
food, lifestyle and lack of spiritual purpose in life, which in turn causes accumulation
of toxic material that disturbs the balance of the basic elements. Each cancer is
unique, the way it grows and develops, its chances of spreading, the way it affects the
body and the symptoms produced. Several factors, including the organs it affects and
how the cancerous cells grow determine the types of cancer.
All cancers, however, fall into four broad categories such as carcinoma, sarcoma,
leukaemia and lymphoma. Carcinoma is a malignant neoplasm of epithelial origin
and arises in the tissues of the body’s organs like nose, colon, penis, breasts, prostate
gland, urinary bladder and ureter. About 80% of all cancer cases are carcinomas.
Sarcomas are tumors that originate in bone, muscle, cartilage, fibrous tissue or fat.
Leukaemia is cancer of the blood or blood-forming organs. Lymphomas affect the
lymphatic system, a network of vessels and nodes that acts as the body’s filter.
9.3 Cancer therapy in modern medicine..............................................
In modern medicine cancers are treated by chemotherapy, radiation, surgical excision,
biological therapy or by bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Chemotherapy is the
use of certain drugs that treat the disease. At present chemotherapeutic drugs affect
other normal fast dividing cells also such as those responsible for hair growth
and replacement of epithelium cells in the intestine thereby causing adverse side-
effects.
In radiation treatment, high doses of radiation are used that can kill cells or keep
them from growing and dividing. Radiation therapy is a useful tool for treating
cancer because cancer cells grow and divide more rapidly than many of the normal
cells around them.
Surgery is the oldest form of treatment for cancer to remove the solid mass of a
tumor along with a healthy margin of tissue. In addition to the tumor, other structures
such as lymph nodes or blood vessels in close proximity to the tumor will be removed
to aid in identifying the extent of the cancer and to remove optimally all cancerous
tissues.