Sambar! A regular dish in every south Indian house is not as ordinary as you think. It has the potential to prevent colon cancer. The world will no longer treat it like any other dish because of the discovery of some unique health benefits associated with this simple household dish.
The fact that colon cancer is the third largest cause of mortality in the United States and that 70 percent of the cases are diet-related led the Americans on a journey to find out why its occurrence is so rare in India.
They figured that the answer to their question lies in our food. To be more precise vegetarian food and the spices used in them are being held responsible for the reduced occurrence of colon cancer in India. Research reveals that spices used in this popular south Indian dish contain antitumorigenic properties.
Researchers have come to this conclusion only after testing it on Wistar albino rats induced with colon cancer. The experiment was conducted on 6 rats in a controlled environment, where they were divided into three groups- control, DMH, and sambar.
The rats were killed using anesthesia to examine their colon and liver. Upon examination, it was found that only the sambar group showed a significant change in colonic GSH, liver GSH and liver catalase levels when compared to the controlled or DMH groups. The sambar-treated rats also exhibited a significant rise in liver nitrate levels.
If you are wondering how reliable this research is, you must know that the data is being analyzed by a one-way analysis of variance [ANOVA], and the treatment groups were evaluated by the post-hoc turkey test. The statistical analysis was done with a fully functional demo of Prism version 5.03 (GraphPad Software Inc., San Diego, CA, USA).
Who knew that the prevention of colon cancer will be so easy one day? With this, we may witness a day when sambar will become an important part of the meal not only in India but all over the world. Enjoy the taste and health benefits of Sambar.
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