N.C. State studying cancer-fighting compounds in ginger

From N.C. State PHHI: N.C. State University’s Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI), located at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis, has partnered with the University of Surrey in England to conduct research involving plants and potential cancer treatments. At the root of the research is ginger, which scientists are studying for its potential cancer-fighting properties.

Dr. Mary Grace, senior researcher with PHHI, and Akram Aloqbi, a visiting Ph.D. candidate in oncology from the University of Surrey, are collaborating to search for anti-cancer compounds in several ginger varieties. Ginger is a rhizome (an underground plant stem or rootstock) long utilized for its medicinal and culinary properties.

Akram Aloqbi, a visiting Ph.D. candidate from the University of Surrey in England, is working with Dr. Mary Grace, senior researcher with PHHI, to identify cancer-fighting compounds in ginger.

Grace and Aloqbi are targeting zerumbone, a phytochemical in ginger that is known to possess anti-inflammatory properties and counter HIV activity. The compound has also shown promise as a potential treatment for some cancers, so N.C. State and the University of Surrey are digging deeper for answers.

The collaborating researchers are working to determine whether quantities and activity levels of zerumbone differ among several types of ginger, including Chinese ginger (commonly called “fingerroot”) as well as U.K. and U.S. cultivars. Chinese ginger is not widely available in the United States, but may be found at some Asian specialty food stores. The United States produced about 1.8 million pounds of ginger in 2010, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

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