Walk gingerly before declaring ginger a cancer cure

Walk gingerly before declaring ginger a cancer cure

It is not at all unusual to find plant extracts that will kill cancer cells in vitro. There are hundreds of phytochemicals that will do this. Neither is it unusual to find an effect in mice that have implanted tumours. But this is a long way away from demonstrating a viable cancer treatment in humans. In comparison to the number of plant compounds that have shown anti-cancer activity in the lab, the number that have made it through human clinical trials to be adopted into practice have been extremely few. For every taxol (Yew tree) and vincristine (Madagascar periwinkle) there are thousands of compounds that showed efficacy in the lab in early trials but never panned out. A study like this one about ginger is a small stepping stone and just means that further investigation is warranted. It certainly does not justify the concluding remarks in the article that state:

“Further adding to the benefits of ginger, the spice has no toxicity when consumed even in high doses, and does not cause people to endure the very uncomfortable side effects of chemo and radiation treatments. The American Cancer Society admits that more than 15% of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and more than 20,000 American women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. Many of these cases can be helped with ginger root. While Big Pharma would have these men and women endure very invasive treatments, some simple ginger root powder can cause their cancer cells to commit a certain death.”

This is reckless stuff. It implies that ginger is an alternative to chemo. Where does this advice originate? The “Natural Health Society” which seems to be the brainchild of a single guy who describes his mission thus:

“First and foremost, I believe that natural health should be the first option in addressing any of your health concerns. With a nutrient-rich diet that is free of toxic chemical additives and other harmful ingredients like GMOs, you can begin to reclaim your health like never before. Food contaminants like genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are devastating health worldwide, and the corrupt biotech juggernauts responsible for monopolizing the food supply have zero regard for your health. “