Surprising Health Benefits from the Most Unexpected Plants

With the big 'boom' of herbal therapies and multiple beneficial effects plants were proven to have on human health, an increasing number of medical experts and scientists orientated their attention from drug treatment towards nature's wealth. They found in lab experiments and tests on animals and humans that plants really have curative properties.

This is why they started to investigate how symptoms of extremely severe conditions, such as various types of cancer, can be reversed with herbal therapy. From common herbs, such as chamomile or green tea, researchers took a step ahead and started to investigate curing potency of less popular plants which have not even been suspected to be efficient in preserving our health or preventing a wide range of disorders.

For instance, a report published in August this year showed that a mushroom that has been used for centuries in the traditional Chinese medicine can boost the effect of an anticancer drug. The mushroom is called Phellinus linteus and doctors used it in combination with the doxorubicin drug in the laboratory against cancerous cells. The effect of the two ingredients was more powerful against prostate cancer as compared with the effect of the drug solely.

The expert team that carried out the study was formed of scholars from the Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts. They added doses extracted from the mushroom to a smaller than usual used amount of the doxorubicin drug.

The results showed that the drug mixed with the mushroom extract worked as efficiently as a larger amount of the drug would work against the cancerous cells. The good news is that the natural extract does not have side effects upon the health and does not destroy healthy cells in the body, like the drug alone does.


"This species of mushroom has been reported to have some degree of activity in cancer patients. Our aim was to study what effect, if any, extracts of Phellinus linteus have, but we also need to know precisely how it produces these effects," stated Dr Chang-Yan Chen, lead researcher of the study.

What makes the mushroom so beneficial against prostate tumor is still unknown by scientists, therefore, the next step would be to track down the miraculous ingredient that could cut in half the damaging effects chemotherapy has on the health of people with severe illnesses.

Another recent research conducted by Italian scientists at Bologna University that the woad "war plant" is overloaded with glucobrassicin compound, known for its beneficial effects against malignant tumors, successfully used especially against breast cancer. Woad comes from the same plant family as cauliflower and broccoli. If until now, broccoli was considered to be the most effective plant in the family against cancer, woad was found to contain 20 times more glucobrassicin than its green fellow.

Dr. Stefania Galletti, who led the study, wrote in the report published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture: "The availability of glucobrassicin in good amounts and at low cost could finally permit studies to be performed in order to clarify the anti-cancer role of glucobrassicin-rich vegetables, like broccoli, in the human diet."

The glucobrassicin compound plays a defensive role in the woad plant, being released by the plant when its leaves are damaged. The anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties of the war paint plant are particularly efficient against the estrogen hormone and the chemical derivatives linked to it. Therefore, the plant can especially be used as a natural medicine against breast cancer, as women who suffer from such tumors usually present higher levels of estrogen and related chemical derivatives. A recent study has also proved that glucobrassicin compound intake reduces the symptoms of cancer-related lung cancer.

Due to the fact that Vindaloo Indian food mainly consists in natural spices, another study found that eating a Vindaloo dish may be more efficient against headaches than taking an aspirin. Vindaloo is a traditional Indian meal prepared with large amounts of spices including garlic, pepper, ginger and chilly, mostly curry, which give this particular food a sharp rich taste.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Rowett Research Institute. They showed that curry is the main ingredient in the Vindaloo dish which protects against colon cancer and is also extremely rich in an active ingredient also present in aspirin. The ingredient which alleviates headache is known as salicylate, the medical term for aspirin being salycilic acid.

Found both in aspirin and curry, it is more recommended to consume the spice rather than the drug, as the former has no side effects. On the contrary, long term use of aspirin may lead to gastro-intestinal bleeding and other quite severe health disorders.

Researchers also found that one portion of the Vindaloo dish contains more salicylate (95 mg) than a low dose aspirin tablet (65 mg.)

"A taste for Indian food increases salicylate intake as spices such as cumin, turmeric and paprika are particularly rich sources. One portion of vindaloo we examined contained 95mg of salicylic acid — more than the amount in an aspirin tablet," wrote the researchers in their report.


Another very interesting study was conducted by researchers at the University of Glasgow and found that a pint of cider is more beneficial than previously thought because it is extremely rich in potent antioxidant compounds. The study aimed at revealing the healthy benefits from English cider apples.

The team involved in the study has found that cider apples are very rich in polyphenol antioxidants or, as the researchers termed them, "phenolic antioxidants." These compounds which occur naturally in the plant protect our bodies against damages caused by free radicals and also prevent heart attacks, strokes and a various range of cancer types.

"Previous research suggests there may be an association between phenolics and protection against some serious diseases, so we are trying to find out how we get phenolics from our diet. The more information we can get about phenolics in cider and what happens to them in the body, the more chance we have of positively influencing the phenolic content of English cider, for example, helping manufacturers chose varieties of cider apple which have naturally higher levels of phenolics. This could mean that drinking a glass of cider is not only enjoyable, but a great way for people to naturally increase the amount of phenolics in their diet," noted Serena Marks, leader of the research.

Antioxidant properties of the natural occurring compounds in plants fight against molecular oxidation by the free radicals; this is why they are called anti-oxidants. In our body, an infinite number of chemical reactions take place every day. A part of the chemical changes in the cells that use oxygen give birth to free radicals, which are harmful for the cells and the organism. An excessive amount of free radicals interact with the DNA or parts of the other cells in the body and may damage them. But the antioxidants counteract and neutralize these organic "enemies."

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