{"id":10740,"date":"2014-12-12T19:05:49","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T17:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=10740"},"modified":"2014-12-12T15:48:29","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T13:48:29","slug":"10740","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=10740","title":{"rendered":"Fields In Israel Become Mecca For Cancer Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Fields In Israel Become Mecca For Cancer Patients<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Allison Kaplan Sommer<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\nA drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube according to new Israeli research. At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows greenhouses<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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 according to new Israeli research. 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\u2019t understand why so many cancer patients from around the country were showing up on his doorstep asking for fresh lemon grass.<\/span><\/p>\n

It turned out that their doctors had sent them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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,\u201d Zabidov told ISRAEL21c. \u201cAnd this is the place you go to in Israel for fresh lemon grass.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.)<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Ofir, the study found that citral causes cancer cells to \u201ccommit suicide: using apoptosis, a mechanism called programmed cell death.\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why does it work? Nobody knows for certain, but the BGU scientists have a theory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn 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 \u2013 for example, when it recognizes that a cell contains faulty genetic material following cell division \u2013 it triggers cell death,\u201d explains Weinstein. \u201cThis research may explain the medical benefit of these herbs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

As they learned of the BGU findings in the press, many physicians in Israel began to believe that while the research certainly needed 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Zabidov\u2019s farm \u2013 the only major grower of fresh lemon grass in Israel \u2013 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy father died of cancer, and my wife\u2019s sister died young because of cancer,\u201d said Zabidov. \u201cSo I understand what they are dealing with. And I may not know anything about medicine, but I\u2019m a good listener. And so they tell me about their expensive painful treatments and what they\u2019ve been through. I would never tell them to stop being treated, but it\u2019s great that they are exploring alternatives and drinking the lemon grass tea as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very successful; we raised fruits and vegetables, and,\u201d he notes with a smile, \u201cWe raised some very nice children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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, \u201cwhich was technically illegal,\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201cseveral hundred kilos\u201d of lemon grass per week, and has signed with a distributor to package and put it in health food stores.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more: Fields In Israel…<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Fields In Israel Become Mecca For Cancer Patients Allison Kaplan Sommer 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 according to new Israeli research. At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows greenhouses A drink with as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10740"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10743,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10740\/revisions\/10743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}