Dr. Zhiyuan Wang
Deputy Director, Center of Botanical Science and
Health
American Health Foundation
Dr. Zhi-Yuan Wang is the Deputy Director for the Center of Botanical Science and Health, American Health Foundation. He is also the Scientific Advisor for the President of American Health Foundation. Dr. Wang recently transferred from the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University where he was Research Associate Professor. He also served as an Honorary Professor at the Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. In the past 15 years, Dr. Wang has focused his research on nutrition, diet, botanicals and their effects on cancer. He is the author of more than 80 scientific papers and book chapters and the editor of a book about environmental toxicology. Dr. Wang is a known world pioneer in the field of tea and cancer research. Since the early 1980s, he has explored the effect of tea on cancer in cooperation with scientists at the Case Western Reserve University, Rutgers University, Columbia University and American Health Foundation. He was also one of the pioneers in licorice and cancer research. Currently, Dr. Wang is trying to build a bridge between ancient Eastern philosophy and medical practices and modern Western science and technology.
Abstract: Licorice root is one of the oldest and most frequently employed botanical in Chinese medicine. In the United States licorice products are most often used as flavoring and sweetening agents in food products. A number of pharmaceutical effects of licorice, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-virus, anti-ulcer and anti-carcinogenesis, are known or suspected. It appears that many of its biological activities are due to the combined effects of several licorice constituents rather than a single specific active ingredient.
The combination of naturally occurring chemopreventive agents is a new strategy for modern cancer prevention. Administration of multiple agents may increase efficacy and potency while reducing toxicity. Several drug combinations have been proposed for clinical development based on their synergistic activity. Indeed, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is very rare to use a single herb for disease treatment. Licorice has been called an " Excellent coordinator" and also a "Good servant" in the Chinese herbal formulary in that it serves to harmonize the actions of the other ingredients and promote their rapid absorption into the bloodstream, organs, and related energy meridians. There are 250 popular recipes in the ancient Chinese medicine book. About 120 recipes contain licorice.
It is our hypothesis that the combination of licorice, rich in triterpenoids (non-steroid anti-inflammatory agents), with other chemopreventive botanicals, such as green tea extracts, rich in polyphenols (natural antioxidants), may be synergistic in human cancer chemoprevention studies.