Researched and written by Keith Bishop, Clinical Nutritionist, Cancer Coach, and Retired Pharmacist.

Cloves are the dried flower buds of the evergreen tree Syzygium aromaticum. They are commonly used as a cooking spice and have been used in traditional medicine for centuries.

Anticancer Ingredients in Cloves

Cloves contain several bioactive compounds with potential anticancer properties, including:

• Eugenol: Known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects[i]
• Oleanolic Acid: Demonstrated anticancer activity in studies.
• Flavonoids: Such as kaempferol and eugenitin.

The anticancer effects of eugenol from the clove are accomplished by various mechanisms, such as inducing cell death, cell cycle arrest, migration inhibition, metastasis, and angiogenesis (new blood vessel growth to tumors) on several cancer cell lines.[ii]

Cancers Studied

Laboratory and animal research has explored the effects of cloves on various cancers, including:

• Breast cancer[iii]
• Cervical cancer
...