Modern science is only rediscovering ayurvedic knowledge. Scientists have researched the anti-cancer properties of black pepper, a spice grown in Malaysia as a cash crop. Several studies and research at the Forest Research Institute, our scientists have shown the LDL-lowering ("bad cholesterol-lowering) property and anti-inflammatory properties of black pepper.
There are other studies that show the role of cinnamon in improving glucose metabolism and show that medium chain fatty acids in coconut oil are not converted into lipoproteins (unlike vegetable oils and hydrogenated oils) but instead they are broken down in the liver to produce energy. Hence, coconut oil as a formulation with cinnamon, a spice, improves glucose metabolism and provides energy from a non-glucose source.
Long chain fatty acids from vegetable oils and hydrogenated oils are converted in the body into lipoproteins. Lipoproteins circulate in the blood stream and these molecules can participate in plaque formation and clog the arteries or contribute to heart disease.
Spices, like natural vitamin C are edible substances and are in fact food for our bodies. They are not toxic to our cells but promote the life-giving biochemistry in healthy tissues and cells unlike drugs that may be disruptive to cellular biochemistry or disruptive to the biochemical pathways and they are not harmful to the symbiotic ("good") bacteria in our large intestines. Their mechanism of action againsts pathogens and cancer cells lies in their biochemical breakdown in the pathogen or cancer cells to induce the production of hydrogen peroxide that kills these cells, a process referred to as apoptosis or cell death.
Natural biomolecules in spices also disrupt the (oxygen transferring and hydrogen transferring) enzymes required in the anaerobic respiration that keeps the cancer cells alive just as carcinogens impair aerobic respiration in normal cells directly or indirectly through excess free radicals especially the hydroxyl radicals.
People in Sri Lanka consume the largest amount of turmeric in their daily diet and they have the lowest incidence of cancers. Many ayurvedic doctors know the cancer-inhibiting and tumour inhibiting properties of turmeric and some use it as part of the approach to prevent the spread of cancers in the body of the cancer patient while using other phyto-chemicals and spices to shrink tumours or destroy cancer cells and improve function of the immune system with antioxidants and minerals. We now know that increasing the number of T4 cells helps fight cancers.
Some studies show a link between chronic mineral deficiencies and cancers. Such an association may be biologically linked through disruption in the Krebs cycle and the electron transport system in cells and eventually producing a cellular environment of low oxygen and low aerobic energy which is conducive to cancer cell formation as it makes the switch to anaerobic respiration that uses the sugar-fermentation-alcohol process to generate energy.
Paradoxically, chemotherapy also depletes several minerals in the body and its own toxicity is now being linked to cancer formation and a warning has been issued to health workers who handle these drugs. Also, oxidative stress initiated by chemotherapy can exert oxidative stress on the insulin receptors in cells and/or cause free radical damage to insulin molecules and in both cases, the insulin molecule cannot dock onto its receptors - a situation that can result in low aerobic energy in cells.