Nature - Lemon Grass

Received this useful knowledge from my friend and I would like to share it. Lemon Grass plant can do a wonder for us.

A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube. 

At first, Benny Zabidov, who grows greenhouses full of lush spices on a pastoral farm in Kfar Yedidya in the Sharon region, couldn't understand why so many cancer patients from around the country were showing up on his doorstep asking for fresh lemon grass (Malay name: serai, Cantonese called it heong mao). 

It turned out that their doctors had sent them. 'They had been told to drink eight glasses of hot water with fresh lemon grass steeped in it on the days that they went for their radiation and chemotherapy treatments,'

It all began when researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev discovered last year that the lemon aroma in herbs like lemon grass kills cancer cells in vitro, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

Citral is the key component that gives the lemony aroma and taste in several herbal plants such as lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus). The study found that citral causes cancer cells to 'commit suicide: using apoptosis, a mechanism called programmed cell death.' A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt the cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube. While the citral killed the cancerous cells, the normal cells remained unharmed.

Put the loose grass in hot water, and drink about eight glasses each day.' 

Put the loose grass in hot water, and drink about eight glasses each day.' 

Enjoy trying this healthy drink.