Let food be thy medicine..........

A University of Missouri group of researchers has shown that a molecule called apigenin found in celery and parsley can reverse an aggressive type of breast cancer through multiple mechanisms. The study was done in mice and the apigenin was injected, not consumed in the diet from foods. However, the final statements in the press release by the main author are telling:

Finding funding for clinical testing of apigenin in humans may be difficult, according to Hyder.

“Clinical trials of apigenin with humans could start tomorrow, but we have to wait for medical doctors to carry out that next step,” Hyder said. “One problem is, because apigenin doesn’t have a known specific target in the cancer cell, funding agencies have been reticent to support the research. Also, since apigenin is easily extracted from plants, pharmaceutical companies don’t stand to profit from the treatment; hence the industry won’t put money into studying something you can grow in your garden.”

Of course there is no guarantee at this point that consuming an entire parsley plant or bunch of celery everyday will prevent (let alone reverse) cancer, and nor am I recommending that. However, I am going to plant more parsley this summer and make sure to those plants healthy enough to bring inside all winter. I have also purchase two celery plants to experiment with growing that, too. In addition, chamomile, thyme, and rutabagas (my husband's favorite vegetable!) are also high sources of apigenin. I'm sure there are additional great food sources, too.

Variety, variety, variety of whole foods is the unspoken part of Hippocrates wise advice:

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” ― Hippocrates

Make your morning smoothies even greener and healthier with added parsley, even celery!

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow and eat - leaf by leaf and stalk by stalk, 

Diana Dyer, MS, RD