You may know Kaempferia galanga (kencur) as an aromatic spice to add flavour to your dishes or as a soothing herbal remedy to use for upset stomachs. But researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University have uncovered promising findings that kencur, a tropical plant in the ginger family native to Southeast Asia, possesses anti-cancer effects.

Led by Associate Professor Akiko Kojima of the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology, the researchers demonstrated that kencur extract and its main active component, ethyl p-methoxycinnamate (EMC), significantly suppressed cancer cell growth at the cellular and animal levels.

While previous studies on EMC indicated its anti-cancer potential by decreasing the expression of mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), which is associated with cancer cell proliferation, the exact mechanism remained unclear until now.

“The results of this study confirm the anti-cancer effects of kencur extract and its main active ingredient, EMC. It is highly expected that TFAM will become a new marker for anti-cancer effects in the future as research advances in related fields,” Professor Kojima stated.

Their findings were published in Heliyon.