Saffron takes on cancer
The yellow spice inhibits liver cancer growth in rats
By Nathan Seppa
Best known as a food seasoning and dye, saffron can also stifle liver cancer in rats, tests show. In a report in the September Hepatology, researchers find that the spice suppresses a slew of known cancer-related compounds and boosts several beneficial ones.
Saffron is an expensive spice made from the Crocus sativus flower. Past studies have hinted it has benefits against depression, inflammation, memory loss and as an antioxidant. Studies in animals and in human cells have even suggested that saffron can inhibit certain cancers. “But the exact mechanism of the anticancer effect of saffron is unclear,” says Amr Amin, a molecular biologist at United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain.
Although the spice has been used as a folk remedy for centuries, only in recent decades has its value been tested in the laboratory. In the new study, Amin and his colleagues fed saffron to 24 rats daily for 24 weeks. Two weeks into the regimen the researchers injected the animals with diethylnitrosamine and 2-acetylaminofluorene, a chemical combination known to cause liver cancer.