Dr. Juliet Penrod (left) and Patrice Williams Gordon, lecturers at Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, prepare samples for their sorrel and garlic research. - Contributed IT MAY not be Christmas but sorrel is in the air. That's because preliminary research is showing that the simple sorrel seed and calyces may cure some cancers. This could turn out to be quiet a treat(ment) for the millions of people who are suffering from the disease.
Cancer kills about 2,000 Jamaicans each year. It is the second highest cause of death in the Caribbean and remains one of the leading causes of death in the world.
Both Patrice Williams Gordon, who did the study, and Dr. Juliet Penrod, who supervised her, say they have lost family members to the disease.
"Several of my family members are struggling with it right now," Mrs. Williams Gordon told Flair. "My mother often says she knows she has her passport and visa for cancer. But I hope we can cancel that passport and visa soon," she added.
When they started research on the sorrel calyx (the part used to make the drink), the seed and garlic they had no idea they would have found "visa-cancelling" possibilities.
"We were expecting something, but it was like wow! We were amazed," Mrs. Williams Gordon said. Their amazement was heightened when they observed the dramatic destructive effect of the sorrel seed on liver cancer cells.
They were equally struck by the way garlic targeted and destroyed lung cancer cells.
A FIRST
Previous research had never tested sorrel in this way. Studies tended to focus on the culinary and nutritional value of the herb and limited work had been done on the anti-neoplastic effects of the garlic.
Mrs. Williams Gordon, a lecturer of almost 10 years at Northern Caribbean University (NCU), got involved in sorrel research two years ago. She was pursuing her Master's degree at the University.
A wife and mother of two, she had been looking for a research project that would allow her to study at NCU in Mandeville. That way she could stay with her family instead of going overseas, as was the norm.
It was then that she was introduced to the sorrel research project which her colleague Dr. Penrod had started. Dr. Penrod was a seasoned cancer researcher who had already done substantial studies on cervical and breast cancer between 1993 and 1999. She knew it was time to get back to work when the newly-upgraded university challenged its faculty to get more involved in research.
"I'd been paying keen attention to a body of work which showed a connection between the high levels of soya consumption and the low levels of cancer among Asian women," she said.
"I began to wonder if there was anything that we are eating that might be increasing our risk for cancer or was there anything that we are eating that could protect us?
She thought of focusing her research on other common Jamaican herbs, but none of them seemed right.
"Sorrel was not on my mind at the time," she said, "because it wasn't an obvious part of the folklore. But it came as an inspiration. And straight off I thought that being a pigmented herb it was really possible that it had medical value." The head of her department, Dr. Gyles also joined her. His focus was garlic.
When Mrs. Williams Gordon joined them, they concluded that the project would research the effects of garlic, and the sorrel seed and calyx on lung cancer and liver cancer cells. Dr. Penrod was to be the primary
investigator.
JUGGLING FAMILY AND RESEARCH
The lab soon became Mrs. Williams Gordon's second home. She was kept busy procuring and growing cells in culture, obtaining various extracts, treating cells and recording her observations.
Along with that, Mrs. Williams Gordon continued to carry her full workload in the department. Plus, there was course work for her degree, which was to be done simultaneously with her research. She also had a two-year-old and a four-year-old to care for. But she knew the work was to be done and she did.
"It meant coming in earlier to prepare for classes for my Master's programme, which ran from about 9:00 a.m. to 12:00. Then I taught from 12:30 to 6:30, and in between I had to monitor what I had in the lab," she said.
"I remember there were nights when I had to check on the cells and my husband and children would wait in the car while I made trips in and out of the lab," she said.
She remembers when she sometimes had to pull herself away and take refuge at her friends homes "because how do you explain to a two-year-old that you have to study now?"
But she made the sacrifices and completed and defended her thesis in December of last year.
She also presented her findings to members of the faculty and press at a forum last month and the response has been tremendous.
"I've been getting calls from people who are so excited that we are on to something," Mrs. Williams Gordon said.
She says the research has also impacted on her students. "I'm stopped in the corridor and asked loads and loads of questions," she said, "because they see that research can be life changing. Not just something you do in an exam."
Meanwhile, Mrs. Williams Gordon and Dr. Penrod say the project has changed their lives, whetting their appetite for more sorrel and cancer research.
"I would really like to see cancer research take off here in Jamaica," Dr. Penrod said. "Researchers need to see it as an area that they can pursue, which will benefit Jamaica," she said.
Mrs. Williams Gordon has worked out a way to continue her research. Although she has no immediate plans to enrol in a formal programme, this morning will find her in the lab doing more sorrel research.
And when she's not peering at it under a microscope, she'll be in the kitchen with it. For sorrel squash, tea, chutney and jelly already have a permanent place in her home. As for garlic it will continue to be her all-purpose herb.
