Excerpts from a TV interview of 3 Quarks Daily editor Azra Raza, by The Boston Channel (WCVB):
Raza said cooking spices that kill bacteria — like ginger, tumeric, onion and garlic — could be a powerful weapon to fight certain pathogens that can cause cancer.
“At least 15 percent of the world’s cancer globally has been linked to pathogens, including cervical cancer and (human papillomavirus),” Raza said. “Who would have believed stomach cancer would be related to a bacteria? Now we know it’s related to H. pylori.”
The idea comes from warm-climate cultures, like Asia and Raza’s native Pakistan, that heavily use the spices to preserve food and meats. The cancer rates in these counties are dramatically lower than in the United States.
“For example, in America the incidence of breast cancer now is 660 per million. In India, it’s 79 per million,” said Raza.
Raza thinks spices may also interrupt the pathways that allow cancer cells to thrive. She’s been given a donation of $1 million from a former patient to start her research. She said she feels major discoveries are not far away.
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