Saffron has anti-cancer potentials: Study
Researchers at the United Arab Emirates University have found that food seasoning and yellow spice acts as an antioxidant and can inhibit certain cancers.
The team discovered that the spice suppresses a large number of cancer-related compounds and develops several beneficial ones, Science Daily reported.
”Although the exact mechanism of the anticancer effect of saffron is unclear, studies in animals and in human cells have even suggested that saffron can inhibit certain cancers,” said molecular biologist Amr Amin.
Amin and his colleagues fed saffron to 24 rats daily for 24 weeks and injected the animals with liver cancer inducing compounds after two weeks.
Biologists kept eight other rats getting a similar injection but receiving distilled water instead of saffron.
Results showed that only four of the 24 saffron-getting rats developed cancerous growths called nodules on the liver whereas six of the other rats boosted nodules during the studying period.
Amin also noted that none of the rats that got the highest dose of saffron developed nodules.
As an expensive spice made from the Crocus sativus flower, Saffron is identified as an herbal drug against depression, inflammation, memory loss and as an antioxidant. The valuable spice has been used as a folk remedy for centuries.
The team plans to examine the spice in patients with liver cancer in near future, Amin announced.
Source: presstv.ir
