The “superfood” craze is premised upon the dubious notion…that eating them will bring good health and long life…But the notion that some foods are the secret elixir to youth or the magic cure for disease is hype. Keeping that in mind, it is still worth investigating how food affects our bodies.
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New research from a team of scientists based mostly in Italy suggests that saffron — a spice used in some Asian, Indian, and Mediterranean dishes — may have an intrinsic ability to fight cancer. Specifically, they examined a component of the spice called crocetin, which they synthesized in their laboratory.
The team found that crocetin could block the proliferation of two types of human cancer (cervical carcinoma and lung carcinoma) cells in a test tube, but it did not inhibit the growth of normal lung cells.
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So, You’re Saying Saffron Is a Superfood?
Related on the SLP
No. Lots of different molecules kill cancer in a test tube. Just because a compound shows promise in vitro does not mean it will have any measurable impact in humans. Indeed, a mountain of evidence…suggests that antioxidants should obliterate cancer. However, antioxidants have consistently failed clinical trials.
Thus, there is a long way to go before saffron can be declared as anything more than an expensive spice.
[Read the full study here]
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Does Saffron Fight Cancer? A Plausible Biological Mechanism
