FEND OFF LYMPHOMA BY SEA TREASURE

THE OCEAN'S greatest treasure has nothing to do with pirates... Or sunken ships. It's not even made of gold. It's a compound found in brown seaweed.

You've heard of seaweed. You might even eat it: seaweed salad, sushi rolls. But most people aren't aware of its power.

The research comes from Mohammad Irhimeh. He's an assistant professor of hematoncology and stem cells at Hashemite University in Jordan. He's also a research fellow at Sydney Hospital in Australia. And he's dedicated his work to the health benefits of seaweed.

"New therapies are desperately needed because some forms of B-cell lymphoma are especially resistant to standard treatment," says Irhimeh.

For this study, he partnered with colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley and Royal Hobart Hospital in Australia. They found that a seaweed extract inhibited the growth of lymphoma cells. Because this approach was so innovative, Irhimeh was invited to present the results at the AACR Dead Sea International Conference on Advances in Cancer Research.

Seaweed's Hidden Treasure

Lymphomas are blood cancers in the lymph glands. They develop when white blood cells act abnormally. B-cell lymphomas include both Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin.

B-cell lymphoma originates in the immune system. It's responsible for most non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

"In this study," says Irhimeh, "we looked at a new treatment strategy using novel active compounds derived from a natural source - seaweed."