$6 Million Bets Ginseng Will Cure Colon Cancer

Honestly, I have really only heard of ginseng because I have seen it on bottles of tea in the refrigerated section of my local grocery store. Sure I have had ginseng before but it always seems to conjure up images of barefoot Berkeley residents of the natural food movement trying to cure what ails them. However it seems we might be able to learn something from them soon if the upcoming new experiments prove to be true. Highlighted in a recent press release is a five-year-long plan to find the anti-cancer properties of the American ginseng plant.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) announced last week that they are giving a grant of 6 million dollars to help breakdown the restorative elements of the American ginseng plant. American ginseng plant is part of the ivy family and has been found growing in Pennsylvania and New York State as well as the Appalachians and among the Ozark mountain ranges. The American ginseng has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries and is a favorite among Native Americans. Having been grown commercially in fields in Wisconsin and Minnesota, American ginseng has been in high demand for its use as a stimulant or an aphrodisiac and as treatment for type 2 diabetes and sexual dysfunction in men.

Part of NCCAM’s funding for this project is going to the opening of one of four new research centers across the United States. The first is the Wisconsin Center for the Neuroscience and Psychophysiology of Meditation which will focus on meditation’s effects on the brain as well as the body using emotion and emotional reactivity in order to help relieve stress and depression. The second clinic is at the University of California at San Francisco focusing on the meditation and the effects of metabolism and immunology through studying obesity and hormonal response therapy. Montana State University in Bozeman gets the third research center using CAM through botanical extracts against inflammatory disease and infection. The researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center have been given the final opportunity to explore the hidden healing properties of the American ginseng in the hopes that it holds the key to defeating deadly cancer. Their research center, called the Center for Herbal Research on Colorectal Cancer, will delve into ginseng’s anti-tumor effects through lab and animal trials.

This isn’t the first time ginseng has been linked to helping cancer patients, but it was specifically aimed at aiding fatigue symptoms.

Josephine Briggs, the director of NCCAM comments on these four new clinics and what their research means, “[they are] all based on strong preliminary work, apply natural-product and mind-body CAM approaches across a range of health conditions that affect the American public….Their multidisciplinary, collaborative structure increases opportunities for improving health and discovering insights into important aspects of human biology."

The University of Chicago will be applying scientific research tools and techniques to natural medicine. Using different preparations of American ginseng—known scientifically as Panax quinquefolius—to hopefully reduce the number of patients with colon cancer or prevent it altogether.

Chun-Su Yuan, M.D., Ph.D., University of Chicago’s Cyrus Tang Professor of anesthesia and critical care says that while one third of adults in America use a supplement like ginseng everyday in lieu of traditional pharmacy cures that there is still a lot of research to be done because herbal medicine investigation is, "still in its infancy," and he continues, "…we know very little about how, when or even if these products are beneficial."

Even though herbal remedies have been used by many cultures over centuries, no one has tried to use a western approach to conventional drug testing against these techniques before so it will be hard to undertake but hopefully beneficial in the long run. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States and the third most common cancer.

American ginseng will be studied in three different projects. The first will study ginseng’s cancer cell killing abilities. Project number two will isolate the ginseng extracts that change gene expression within the cells of cancer tumors. The third research experiment will show ginseng’s internal communication skills that activate cell re-growth or cell death. Even without the official approval to cure cancer, I bet ginseng will start to become more of a household name in more than just supermarket teas.