Scientists have recently stated that they may have found a way to inhibit the papilloma viruses that usually cause cervical cancer and genital warts. The compound that was found in laboratory tests to be very beneficial against the installation of cervical cancer in our bodies is a rather common compound called carrageenan.

Carrageenan is usually extracted from red algae and can be found as a stabilizer and emulsifier that controls viscosity/ thickening in foods (desserts, milk products, tomatoes sauce, cheese products etc.). As an emulsifier, carrageenan is found in cosmetics, toothpaste and sexual lubricants. No possible toxicity of this compound has been showed up to present.

The extract can be obtained from boiling the seaweeds found along the rocky coasts of North America and Europe has already been proved to play an inhibiting role against the AIDS causing virus, HIV.

Researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland surprisingly found that this cheap product used to thicken yoghurt or chocolate milk can be a powerful inhibitor of sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV). Moreover, used in the same amount as the most effective remedy against HPV known until now, carrageenan proved to be a 100 times more efficient.

The research consisted in the trial of different substances against sexually transmitted papilloma viruses. Of all the substances tested, the red algae extract proved to be extremely potent as it prevents the harmful viruses to interact or enter the cervical cells.

Cervical cancer is especially common among US women. 10000 of them are found to suffer from cancer every year and about 10 women die daily from this form of cancer, according to a report performed by Merck, one of the most important American medicine companies. Until now, a vaccine again human papilloma virus has been developed and it is administered to young girls from 9 to 26 in order to prevent cervical cancer. However, the older ones do not have the chance to benefit from the curing vaccine.

Dr. John Schiller, senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute in whose lab have been developed all the researchers concerning the link between cervical cancer and the potent inhibitor, stated: "Our results do not prove that carrageenan will work as a practical HPV topical microbicide. The potent inhibition of infection of cells in dishes, coupled with the fact that carrageenan-based products are already in use, are promising. But we will need to do a well-controlled clinical trial before use of any of these products as an HPV inhibitor could be recommended."