This Vegetable Served Across Jamaica Shows Great Promise at Fighting Cancer!

This flowering plants goes by various names across the world and is instantly recognisable by it’s look and edible green seed pods.

Okra, commonly pronounced “Okro” in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries is a strange little vegetable. Its skin can quite easily irritate your skin and it has a very slimy feel in the mouth.

Despite this, it is regularly consumed with steam fish in Jamaica.

Though research on okra is still in its infancy stages, researches have made some very promising discoveries regarding its ability to inhibit highly metastatic mouse melanoma cells and obliterate human breast cancer cells. Okra is already regared as a  superfood against diabetes but did you know that it also fights at least three different types of cancer?

Men who consume okra have significantly less prostate cancer

A cohort study carried out recently in the United States found that men who had a Southern dietary pattern (characterized by eating okra, grits, cornbread, beans, rice and sweet potatoes) experienced 40% less prostate cancer than those who didn’t. The study followed almost 3,800 men for a decade. Amazingly, the Southern eating pattern is not considered a very healthy diet, as it contains high portions of red meat and bacon which are both known to increase cancer risk. Despite this, the Southern eating pattern shielded men from prostate cancer much more than a vegetable and fruit rich diet did, even though it contained 24% less fruit and vegetables (29 servings weekly on the Southern diet vs. 38 servings weekly on the fruit & vegetable rich diet).

Okra pectin inhibits 75% of highly metastatic melanoma cells in vitro

Okra pectin can be found just beneath the skin of the pods, and scientists have discovered it has very unique compounds which have never before been observed in other pectins.  In a recent study conducted by French and Dutch researchers, the pectin inhibited the proliferation of highly metastatic mouse melanoma cells (B16F10) by 75% after 48 hours of treatment and also increased the rate of programmed cell death (apoptosis) by nearly 23-fold. 

Okra kills over 70% of human breast cancer cells in vitro

A newly discovered lectin in common okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) was shown to kill up to 72% of human breast cancer cells (MCF7) in vitro, mostly by inducing programmed cell death (apoptosis). The okra lectin was also shown to slow the growth of the breast cancer cells by 63%. Note that the lectin is found in okra seeds, and researchers in this study obtained their lectin by water extraction from okra seed meal. This anti-cancer lectin was only discovered in 2012, and interestingly, also possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive (pain relieving) properties which makes it a very interesting compound for future research.

When was the last time you had some okra? 

Source: The Eden Prescription

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