Chicory -- An herb for lung cancer?

(This is a guest blog entry by James Duke, Ph.D., author of "Green Farmacy" and the upcoming "Handbook of Biblical Herbs.")

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) — A Biblical Bitter Herb

Lung cancer is on everybody’s mind this week, including mine. With 90 pack years of cigarettes (30 years at 3 packs a day) smoking behind me (but abstinent for the last 33 years), I too am thinking about lung cancer. But I must also concern myself with colon cancer because of my genes, and prostate cancer because of my sex and genes (One maternal uncle, closing in on a hundred years, died of complications from prostate surgery. He should have played the game I play, the least intrusive of the options: Wait and See! His son, my first cousin, is undergoing chemotherapy now for prostate cancer.) That’s why I nibble on three brazil nuts a day, because they’ll on average contain between them some 200 ug selenium, epidemiologically would lower the risk of those three cancers. Yes, I’ll gamble on epidemiological odds.

Could a bitter herb of the Bible have prevented some of those lung cancers we’re hearing so much about this month. Well there was an epidemiological study, albeit in Chile, showing that epidemiologically, "winter vegetables," like chard, beet, chicory, spinach and cabbage were associated, with lowered risks of lung cancer. And this year, we read that inulin-type fructans from chicory can reduce colon cancer risk. In the gut lumen these compounds are fermented to lactic acid and SCFA. Studies report the fructans prevent induced pre-neoplastic lesions or tumors in the colon of rats and mice. In human cells, inulin-derived fermentation products inhibit cell growth, modulate differentiation and reduced metastasis activities, hence reducing risks for colon cancer, the one most likely to get me. Last year studies showed that lactucin and lactucopicrin were the antimalarial compounds in chicory, folklorically regarded for malaria in Afghanistan. The guaianolide 8-deoxylactucin, is a key inhibitor of COX-2 expression. And remember, the pharmaceutical COX-2-I’s were being promoted off label as chemopreventive against colon cancer. That’s why I’ve dug some of this copious weed in my meadow, scrubbed the roots, world’s richest source of inulin, and added them to my soups, if not my coffees. If you want to see a whole lot of other uses for inulin, go to the USDA phytochemical database.

NOTES (CHICORY): ...And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened breads; and with "bitter herbs" they shall eat it.... Exodus 12

The children of Israel may have learned to eat bitter herbs from the Egyptians. Ancient Egyptians used to place healthy green herbs on the table, mixed with mustard, and then dunk their healthy whole-grain bread in the mixture. Moldenke and Moldenke believed that Cichorium endivia, Cichorium intybus, Lactuca sativa, Nasturtium officinale, Rumex acetosella, and Taraxacum officinale were among the green herbs of the Bible. By contrast local Israeli botanist, Michael Zohary lists none of these in his Plants of the Bible (ZOH) and only the watercress is listed as occurring in the Flora of Palestine. Zohary figures instead chicory and the poppy-leaved Reichardia( which looks like dandelion) as more promising candidates. Re bitter herbs, Zohary says "Many plants, especially those belonging to the Mustard and Daisy families, are frequently collected and used as pot-herbs and salad plants." (ZOH. p. 100)