Assessment of anticancer potential of several commonly used herbal seasonings by antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

Abstract

Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities are extensively used to screen chemopreventive foods. However, the real efficacies of these activities in evaluating anti-cancer potential remain unclear. Five well-known anti-cancer herbs, ginger, red pepper, garlic, green onion and leek, were selected and assessed in this study. Antioxidant function was evaluated based on the scavenging ability of the cation radical. Moreover, anti-inflammatory activity was determined based on inhibitory effect of nitric oxide (NO) production by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages. The antioxidant activity of the five herbs followed the order: ginger> red pepper> leek> green onion and garlic. All of the subject herbs had a strict inhibitory effect on NO production. The anti-inflammatory activity could be ranked based on the IC50 of the herbs, as garlic> ginger> green onion> leek and red pepper. The anti-inflammatory activities of these five herbal seasonings reflect well with the anti-cancer potencies established by the national cancer institute of America. Thus, this study proposed that anti-inflammation was a better indicator than anti-oxidation for screening chemopreventive agents.