Ginger Kills Cancer

So then they invented this...

"Hey mom, yes I'm feeling much better!  I had cancer, but the Doctor made me drink 12L of Ginger-ale and I'm cured!"

Obviously this isn't exactly the case, but pay attention because it is important for your health!

For many, ginger is just a spice used in Thai food or eaten with Sushi.  It has such a strong, distinct taste that it's difficult to add ginger in any significant quantity to most dishes without it becoming the focus flavour of the dish.  

Can you imagine everything tasting like gingerbread?  Yuck!  Sure gingerbread is great, but for me it's a little too intense to think of having it outside of Thai or Sushi.

That said, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that there's something in ginger that's good for us.  It almost tastes like "natural" medicine.

Thankfully this is not mere conjecture.  It's actually backed up by science.  It has long been known to have strong anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties, and anti-inflammatory properties. (2)

But there is also substantial research pointing to the ability of certain substances in ginger to kill cancer cells. (1,3,4,5)

Dr J. Rebecca Liu of the University of Michigan medical school found that ginger kills ovarian cancer cells in lab studies.  Results were presented to the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.

Now before you get your pants tied in a knot and run down to the health food store to buy ginger pills, as I've shown you before, it doesn't quite work that way.  You can't harness the power of certain compounds found in foods and put them into pills and get the same benefits as you would if you ate the intact food in it's natural state.

So the big problem is how do you get enough ginger in your diet when it has such a strong and often unwanted flavour.

(Hint: It's not by drinking Ginger-Ale!)

Solution:

Of course you'll think I'm crazy, but this is great!  Trust me!

When you make your morning shake, add some fresh chopped organic ginger (skin and all) into the blender before you blend it all up.  Believe me, that super strong ginger taste turns into a very likeable hint of ginger that you are sure to enjoy.

As an aside, if you think you don't have time for a morning shake it doesn't take long to get it ready.  Check it out: http://tiny.cc/zdxsx (now just imagine me adding some ginger too!)

When we were in Australia in March, staying with some friends, they had a juicer and made us some fresh juice.  I watched as it was being made and I shuddered watching how much ginger was going into the juice.  But knowing how good it is for you, I downed the glass as fast as possible to get it over, expecting my eyes and throat to be burning afterward.  But it never happened.  I was amazed at how the expected sharp pungent bite was much more mellow and tolerable.

The moment we arrived back home I started adding it to my shakes every morning.  Haven't missed a morning yet!

Hope you like it as much as I do!

Supporting Research

1. Katiyar SK, Agarwal R, Mukhtar H. Inhibition of tumor promotion in SENCAR
mouse skin by ethanol extract of Zingiber officinale rhizome. Cancer Res. 1996
Mar 1;56(5):1023-30.

2. Mascolo N, Jain R, Jain SC, Capasso F. Ethnopharmacologic investigation of
ginger (Zingiber officinale). J Ethnopharmacol. 1989 Nov;27(1-2):129-40. 

3. Park KK, Chun KS, Lee JM, Lee SS, Surh YJ. Inhibitory effects of [6]-gingerol,
a major pungent principle of ginger, on phorbol ester-induced inflammation,
epidermal ornithine decarboxylase activity and skin tumor promotion in ICR mice.
Cancer Lett. 1998 Jul 17;129(2):139-44. Erratum in: Cancer Lett 1998 Sep
25;131(2):231.

4. Surh YJ, Lee E, Lee JM. Chemoprotective properties of some pungent ingredients
present in red pepper and ginger. Mutat Res. 1998 Jun 18;402(1-2):259-67.

5. Murakami A, Tanaka T, Lee JY, Surh YJ, Kim HW, Kawabata K, Nakamura Y,
Jiwajinda S, Ohigashi H. Zerumbone, a sesquiterpene in subtropical ginger,
suppresses skin tumor initiation and promotion stages in ICR mice. Int J Cancer.
2004 Jul 1;110(4):481-90.