Posted on April 25th 2012. Written by Loren Grush. Featured on Fox News Health.

Oregano has long since been a popular seasonal herb for various pizza and pasta dishes, as well as a powerful antioxidant.  But its benefits may extend beyond just enhancing flavor and fighting bacteria: An ingredient in the spice may actually kill prostate cancer cells.

A new study published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology highlights the cancer fighting effects of one of the main components of oregano called carvacrol.  While some research has been done previously on the herb’s medicinal properties, this is the first study of its kind to study the effects of carvacrol on prostate cancer.

“Oregano has been studied quite a bit,” said lead investigator Supriya Bavadekar, assistant professor of Pharmacology at Long Island University’s Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.  “There are so many beneficial effects such as antibacterial properties and anti-inflammatory properties.  There is also some literature that shows this compound has some effects against breast cancer and other cancer cells.  But nobody knows how it’s working and it hasn’t been tested on prostate cancer.”

Bavadekar’s team is still running tests on carvacrol, but preliminary reports have revealed that the compound is an extremely potent anti-cancer agent – eliminating nearly all the prostate cancer cells it was tested against.

“We used various concentrations of this drug and we were happy to see that caused complete inhibition of cell growth,” Bavadekar said.  “We did these experiments in three different time periods – 24 hours, 48 hours and 96 hours.  The drug produced almost 100 percent inhibition, but it was the most potent at the 96 hour treatment period.  We are hoping that tells us something about how it may be acting.”

From the early reports, the team was able to deduce that carvacrol stimulated apoptosis – or “cell suicide” – in the prostate cancer cells.  While these initial results provide significant insight into oregano’s benefits, Bavadekar is hard at work trying to understand how exactly the compound triggers this programmed cell death.

“The really challenging part is to find out how this is working,” Bavadekar said.  “So it’s causing these cells to commit suicide, but how is this signal being passed on to result in apoptosis?  What are the components in the prostate cancer cells that contribute to the cells’ death?  It’s about understanding the mechanism of action.”

Figuring out why carvacrol is so effective against prostate cancer could have a significant impact on the future of cancer drugs and research.  According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for men in the United States, with more than 240,000 new cases expected to be diagnosed in 2012.

For those suffering from prostate cancer, the treatment options range from radiation treatments to surgeries – such as a radical prostatectomy.  But if Bavadekar and her team are able to develop a better knowledge of carvacrol’s anti-cancer properties, they could potentially aid in developing less intense cancer therapy treatments.

“We have to remember that this is from oregano which is considered to be a safe food component,” Bavadekar said.   “So we’re hoping this translates into a drug with lesser adverse effects in patients.  The conventional chemotherapy has all of those really horrible side effects – many of them severe. We’re thinking this compound could be used by itself or in combination with other agents.”

Bavadekar said she is optimistic about what they will uncover.  But in the meantime, the research thus far gives pizza lovers an excuse to keep ordering their favorite Italian dishes.

Posted on September 3rd, 2012. Written by Elizabeth Renter. Featured on Natural Society Website.

Looking to lose weight? New research shows that oregano oil could  be a promising solution to help reduce the chances of obesity and weight gain. According to Wellness Resources, the study involved feeding mice a high fat diet to induce obesity. But, the mice who were also given oregano oil saw a smaller weight gain than those who weren’t.

The active component of oregano oil, carvacrol, was given to half of the mice. They were fed 0.1 percent carvacrol as part of their diet while the other mice received none. The mice not receiving the carvacrol saw significantly more weight gain. In addition, those who did receive the carvacrol had lower levels of blood lips, including cholesterol and triglycerides.

According to researchers, the carvacrol reduces inflammation, and since obesity is caused, in part, by inflammation in the white adipose tissue, this reduces or eliminates that contributing factor.

In humans, the rate at which carvacrol would be effective is equal to 1.5 calories for every 1,500 calories in the daily diet. For those who use supplements, this would equal three to four capsules of oregano oil each day.

In other research, coconut oil has been shown to aid in the loss of visceral fat (health-destroying fat within the abdomen). While coconut oil used to be shunned for containing a higher saturated fat content, human studies have shown that coconut oil actually helps reduce abdominal fat. In one instance, one group of women received 2 tablespoons of coconut oil daily for 12 weeks while the other received none. Coconut oil is just one solution for how to lose visceral fat.

Oregano oil has also been shown, in previous studies, to have other anti-inflammatory benefits, including in the treatment of arthritis. It’s also had promising effects on mood swings and cravings by increasing dopamine levels. Even the USDA has promoted benefits of this herb, saying that it offered “notable antimicrobial effects against both Salmonella and E. coli.”

In addition, it may improve biological functions of the liver and colon.

You can find oregano oil in health food stores and online. Look for those with an organic source of the herb. And to get it even more naturally, add the herb itself to your cooking. Oregano is a very versatile herb and goes well with nearly any savory dish.

By Bhushankumar Patel, Vichiksha R. Shah and Supriya A. Bavadekar
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY

Carvacrol, a monoterpene phenol, is known to be present in the volatile oils of Thymus vulgaris, Carum copticum and Origanum vulgare, and has been shown to have anti-proliferative effects on various human cancer cell lines, such as breast cancer, hepatoma, leukemia, non-small cell lung cancer, and cervical cancer. However, its effect on prostate cancer cells has not yet been determined. The objective of this research was to investigate the anti-proliferative effects of carvacrol on an androgen-sensitive, metastatic human prostate cancer cell line, LNCaP. In this study, cells were treated with increasing concentrations of carvacrol, ranging from 10–7M to 3×10–3M, and viability was determined after 48 and 96 hr using the XTT cell proliferation assay. Carvacrol inhibited cell viability in a dose-dependent manner, and the resultant IC50 values were found to be 135 ?M and 11 ?M, respectively. Data from phosphatidylserine externalization assays suggest that carvacrol causes induction of apoptosis* in these cells. This is the first study that has identified the anti-proliferative effects of carvacrol in prostate cancer cells, and results suggest that the compound may be valuable as a potential therapeutic agent for prostate cancer. This study is supported by the Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY.

The FASEB Journal. 2012;26:1037.5

*In case you are not familiar with the word “apoptosis” it means that it stimulates cell death.