Are plants capable of fighting cancer? Turns out, yes! It has been found that thyme and oregano contain a powerful anti-cancer compound. Anti-cancer compounds present in these herbs may prevent the development of tumors. Even then, don’t add a lot of thyme and oregano to your diet just yet.
By enhancing the amount of compound material in the herbs or synthesizing the compound to aid drug development, the anti-cancer properties of these plants can be accessed. The research was conducted by Purdue University researchers. This could lead to the mainstream use of herbal compounds in pharmaceutical products. Phys.org reported that by mapping its biosynthetic pathway, researchers could create a ‘molecular recipe of the ingredients and steps required’.
Purdue’s College of Architecture professor Natalia Dudareva says the plans contain important compounds in extremely small quantities and that simple extraction isn’t enough. With these herb’s anti-cancer properties, scientists could engineer plants to contain a higher concentration of these compounds, which would make their medical use possible.
What causes anti-cancer properties?
Herbs like thyme and oregano contain a number of flavour compounds including thymol, carvacrol, and thymohydroquinone. They are all members of the Lamiaceae family and possess antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that are beneficial to humans.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In light of these findings, scientists could create ‘cultivars’ that produce the beneficial compounds from these plants, or simply incorporate them into microbes like yeast.
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