Anticancer Spears

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Kevin Bell asked: "Any info on the email going around that Asparagus is good for curing cancer? This also seems incredulous, the pharma industry are not stupid and would be onto it quickly enough if there was any credibility in it."

Well, yes, I think you nailed it yourself, Kevin.

If there was any truth in it, it wouldn't be being sold at $4 a bunch at Woolworths.

As I understand it, cancers are initiated when your body loses the plot with regard to cell regeneration and starts an uncontrolled multiplication. 

I can see no reason why a food, any food, would stop this.  I would be more inclined to believe that eating excessive amounts of asparagus would cause problems rather than the reverse.

Too much of anything is bad.

But moderate amounts of asparagus with a good home-made hollandaise sauce is not bad for you and, indeed, can improve your emotional well-being no end.

By the way, I haven't seen the email that you mention, but I am sure that the miracle chemical in asparagus will be Rutin.  Love the name.  It is a naturally occurring flavonoid found in a number of foods.  As well as in asparagus, it is also in buckwheat, citrus peel, mulberries and cranberries.  In canned asparagus it appears as white or grey flecks in the spears.  Something about the canning process triggers crystallisation.  Quite beautiful crystals under the microscope.
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