Fresh lemon grass

While I was undergoing chemotheraphy fro my ovarian cancer, my oncologist, Dr. Cecilia Llave, suggested that I try tanglad (lemon grass) for a drink, a tip she got from one of her patients.

That’s what I have been doing the past three years. I don’t know if tanglad has something to do with it but so far I’m okay.

A few weeks ago, an article on the medicinal powers of tanglad had been going the rounds of internet. There’s no harm trying this. A bunch of tanglad is ten centavos. Or you can plant in your backyard for a steady supply.

The article is by Allison Kaplan Sommer:

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
lemongrass 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
nocontrol 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 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.

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,” hesays
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 were demonstrated, he and his family
had been drinking lemon grass in hot water for years, “just because it
tastes good.”

This article is linked here.