The Asian plant galangal, often used to flavour Thai curries, appears to both kill cancer cells and boost the cancer-fighting capacity of healthy cells, say researchers in the UK. The findings, based on laboratory research, were initially presented at a conference in 2002. However they have not gained widespread media attention until this week, following a spotlight on leading medicinal plants researcher Professor Peter Houghton based at King’s College London. The researcher says the work, which lends support to the traditional use of galangal in Indo-China and the Malay Peninsula against stomach cancer, could be published in a journal in the future.
