For years, scientists have been looking into different possibilities of cure for cancer. Although medicine and science have advanced more and more over the years, the disease is still a challenge. The hope for this situation to be controlled may be on your everyday lunch plate: potato may be the key against cancer.
Read more: Check out the 7 main benefits obtained from the consumption of potatoes
see more
School director intervenes delicately when noticing a student wearing a cap in…
Mother informs school that 4-year-old daughter, who prepares her lunch, can…
Research presented in Frontiers in Pharmacology suggested that compounds in potatoes may hold the key to fighting cancer. According to scholars, these substances, in the right dose, have potent clinical tools.
Which Potato Substance Can Fight Cancer?
The study focused on potato glycoalkaloids – but tomatoes and eggplants also have the substance in abundance. These compounds can help both in the treatment and avoid side effects of existing therapies against the disease.
The Five Keys and How They Work
Five glycoalkaloids were found: solanine, chaconine, solasonine, solamargine and tomatine. It is good to reinforce that the discoveries below are still theories, since there were no tests in humans to confirm their real action against the cancer.
Solanine has been shown to have the ability to stop potentially carcinogenic chemicals from turning into carcinogens in our bodies. Furthermore, in small doses, the substance was able to kill a specific type of leukemia cell.
Solamargine has been shown to stop liver cancer cells from reproducing. Furthermore, they discovered that chaconine has properties anti-inflammatory and may be key to treating sepsis.
Challenge is to kill cancer cells without harming healthy ones
According to researcher Magdalena Winkiel from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, one of the biggest challenges for scientists in this field of research is to find a drug or substance that can act on cancer cells with focus. That is, attacking cancer without damaging healthy cells.
“That's why it's worth going back to medicinal plants that were used years ago with success in the treatment of various diseases”, said the scientist.
Although everything is still in the theoretical phase, Magdalena sees the findings with optimism. For her, even if the potato substances cannot fight cancer in the same way as today's drugs, a combination therapy may be an effective treatment.
Graduated in Social Communication at the Federal University of Goiás. Passionate about digital media, pop culture, technology, politics and psychoanalysis.