This type of ginger could have powerful anti-cancer properties

By Jim Leffman via SWNS

A type of ginger could have powerful anti-cancer properties, according to a new study.

Kencur, a plant in the ginger family, grows in the tropics and is especially popular in Indonesia where it is used in food and drinks.

Now scientists from Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan have discovered its main active ingredient, known as EMC, suppresses cancer growth.

They had set out to try and find an alternative to breast cancer treatments that had fewer side effects than current drugs or chemotherapy.

Using EMC, or ethyl p-methoxycinnamate, extracted from the ginger, they discovered it works at a cellular level to regulate protein expression in cancer.

It decreased the expression of mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), which is associated with cancer cell proliferation.

The explanation into how it works was not known until the study, published in the journal Heliyon.

The team then tried administering the drug to a mouse model with Ehrlich ascites tumor cell for 13 days and found it worked successfully.

Associate Professor Akiko Kojima of the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology said: “The results of this study confirm the anti-cancer effects of Kencur extract and its main active ingredient, EMC.

"It is highly expected that TFAM will become a new marker for anti-cancer effects in the future as research advances in related fields."