From Woad Warrior To Cancer-Buster

New Scientist ^ | 8-14-2006 | Phil Cohen

[blam]

From woad warriors to cancer-buster

13:09 14 August 2006 Z
NewScientist.com news service
Phil Cohen

The medieval Scottish rebels made famous in the movie Braveheart used dye from the woad plant to paint their faces blue for battle. Now Italian biochemists say this plant could become a promising weapon in the fight against cancer.

The researchers have demonstrated that under the right growth conditions woad (Isatis tinctoria) produces astonishing amounts of glucobrassicin (GBS), a biochemical which may account for some of the cancer-fighting properties of related plants, such as broccoli.

“It can make more than 60 times the amount found in broccoli, and in a much purer form,” says Stefania Galletti at the Experimental Institute for Industrial Crops in Bologna, who carried out the study with colleagues at the University of Bologna in Italy.

Glucobrassicin is a natural component of broccoli, cabbage and other members of the Brassicaceae plant family. It is a highly reactive chemical and at least one of its by-products, indole-3-carbonyl, is a well known tumour-busting compound.

But the exact fate of GBS in the diet has been difficult to determine because such studies would require large samples of the pure compound and it is difficult and expensive to purify or synthesise.

"Bug" damage Although woad is a Brassicaceae member and was known to contain GBS, it was not an obvious source of the chemical. “Until recently, it had almost disappeared from cultivation,” says Galletti. For thousands of years, woad had been treasured as a source of blue dye, but in the past century it was displaced by less expensive dyes, such as indigo.

[LibWhacker]

Did a google search... Doesn't look like it'd be very good in a salad! Guess we'll have to wait until scientists can do something with it.

BTW, did you know that the English word 'weed' comes from 'woad?' Apparently, farmers will love growing this stuff.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Of course, this assumes that carcinogenic mutagens are responsible for causing cancer.