A PROTEIN found in garlic kills tumour cells while leaving healthy cells
unharmed, scientists in Japan have discovered.
Yuji Karasaki at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in
Kitakyushu and colleagues incubated healthy tissue and tumour cells with a
protein called lectin extracted from garlic. “The lectin had a strong
growth-inhibitory effect on human tumour cells,” says Karasaki. The lectin
induced cell death, or “apoptosis”, in the tumour cells (Food Research
International, vol 34, p 7).
