Lemon Grass Serai to Malaysian

> Lemon Grass prompt cancer cells to commit suicide! Fresh lemon grass
> fields in Israel become Mecca for cancer patients
>
> by Allison Kaplan Sommer - April 02, 2006
> A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough
> citral to prompt cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube.
> Israeli researchers find way to make cancer cells self-destruct -
> Ben Gurion University
> At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows
> greenhouses full of lush spices on a pastoral farm in Kfar Yedidya in
> the Sharon region, couldn't understand why so many cancer patients
> from around the country were showing up on his doorstep asking for
> fresh lemon grass. It turned out that their doctors had sent them.
> 'They had been told to drink eight glasses of hot water with fresh
> lemon grass steeped in it on the days that they went for their
> radiation and chemotherapy treatments ,' Zabidov told ISRAEL21c. 'And
> this is the place you go to in Israel for fresh lemon grass.'
> It all began when researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev
> discovered last year that the lemon aroma in herbs like lemon grass
> kills cancer cells in vitro, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
> The research team was led by Dr. Rivka Ofir and Prof. Yakov Weinstein
> incumbent of the Albert Katz Chair in Cell-Differentiation and
> Malignant Diseases, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology
> at BGU.
> Citral is the key component that gives the lemony aroma and taste in
> several herbal plants such as lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus),
> Melissa (Melissa officinalis) and verbena (Verbena officinalis.)
> According to Ofir, the study found that Citral causes cancer cells
> to 'commit suicide: using apoptosis, a mechanism called programmed
> cell death.' A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass
> contains enough Citral to prompt the cancer cells to commit suicide in
> the test tube.
> The BGU investigators checked the influence of the Citral on
> cancerous cells by adding them to both cancerous cells and normal
> cells that were grown in a petri dish. The quantity added in the
> concentrate was equivalent to the amount contained in a cup of regular
> tea using one gram of lemon herbs in hot water. While the Citral
> killed the cancerous cells, the normal cells remained unharmed.
> The findings were published in the scientific journal *Planta Medica*
> , which highlights research on alternative and herbal remedies.
> Shortly afterwards, the discovery was featured in the popular Israeli
> press.
> Why does it work? Nobody knows for certain, but the BGU scientists
> have a theory.
> In each cell in our body, there is a genetic program which causes
> programmed cell death. When something goes wrong, the cells divide
> with no control and become cancer cells. In normal cells, when the
> cell discovers that the control system is not operating correctly for
> example, when it recognizes that a cell contains faulty genetic
> material following cell division - it triggers cell death, ' explains
> Weinstein. 'This research may explain the medical benefit of these
> herbs.'
> The success of their research led them to the conclusion that herbs
> containing Citral may be consumed as a preventative measure against
> certain cancerous cells.
> As they learned of the BGU findings in the press, many physicians in
> Israel began to believe that while the research certainly needs to be
> explored further. In the meantime it would be advisable for their
> patients, who were looking for any possible tool to fight their
> condition, to try to harness the cancer-destroying properties of
> Citral.
> That's why Zabidov's farm - the only major grower of fresh lemon
> grass in Israel - has become a pilgrimage destination for these
> patients. Luckily, they found themselves in sympathetic hands. Zabidov
> greets visitors with a large kettle of aromatic lemon grass tea, a
> plate of cookies, and a supportive attitude.
> 'My father died of cancer, and my wife's sister died young because of
> cancer,' said Zabidov. 'So I understand what they are dealing with.
> And I may not know anything about medicine, but I'm a good listener.
> And so they tell me about their expensive painful treatments and what
> they've been through. I would never tell them to stop being treated,
> but it's great that they are exploring alternatives and drinking the
> lemon grass tea as well.'
> Zabidov knew from a young age that agriculture was his calling. At
> age 14, he enrolled in the Kfar Hayarok Agricultural high school.
> After his army service, he joined an idealistic group, which headed
> south, in the Arava desert region, to found a new moshav (agricultural
> settlement) called Tsofar.
> 'We were very successful; we raised fruits and vegetables, and,' he
> notes with a smile, 'We raised some very nice children.'
> On a trip to Europe in the mid-80s, he began to become interested in
> herbs. Israel, at the time, was nothing like the trend-conscious
> cuisine-oriented country it is today, and the only spices being grown
> commercially were basics like parsley, dill, and coriander.
> Wandering in the Paris market, looking at the variety of herbs and
> spices, Zabidov realized that there was a great export potential in
> this niche. He brought samples back home with him, 'which was
> technically illegal,' he says with a guilty smile, to see how they
> would grow in his desert greenhouses. Soon, he was growing basil,
> oregano, tarragon, chives, sage, marjoram and melissa, and mint just
> to name a few.
> His business began to outgrow his desert facilities, and so he
> decided to move north, settling in the moshav of Kfar Yedidya, an hour
> and a half north of Tel Aviv. He is now selling 'several hundred
> kilos' of lemon grass per week, and has signed with a distributor to
> package and put it in health food stores.
> Zabidov has taken it upon himself to learn more about the properties
> of Citral, and help his customers learn more, and has invited medical
> experts to his farm to give lectures about how the Citral works and
> why.
> He also felt a responsibility to know what to tell his customers
> about its use. 'When I realized what was happening, I picked up the
> phone and called Dr. Weinstein at Ben-Gurion University, because these
> people were asking me exactly the best way to consume the Citral. He
> said to put the loose grass in hot water, and drink about eight
> glasses each day.'
> Zabidov is pleased by the findings, not simply because it means
> business for his farm, but because it might influence his own health.
> Even before the news of its benefits was demonstrated, he and his
> family had been drinking lemon grass in hot water for years, 'just
> because it tastes good.'