Don’t forget the parsley!

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Last April I ran a pair of posts about the benefits of certain herbs–especially parsley and basil–for multiple myeloma patients:

Diet and Multiple Myeloma: Healing Herbs: Parsley, Sage, Basil and Holy Basil

 

Diet and Multiple Myeloma: Healing Herbs: Parsley, Sage, Basil and Holy Basil (Part Two)

 

I would like to share some follow-up information, prompted by comments from Ron, one of our more knowledgeable readers.

Ron asked:

Sources I can find show fresh parsley to have about 300 mg apigenin per 100g and dried parsley to have about 13,000 mg per 100g.  In the above article, Danny wrote that fresh parsley has 2.5 mg apigenin per 100g. This is a big difference from 300 mg/100g…

Danny was kind enough to email me a detailed response yesterday:

Pat,

Apologies to my readers.

I must have made an error somewhere in my transcription of the content of apigenin in foods.

http://nutrition.merschat.com/foods-by-nutrient.cgi?Nutr_No=770

mg Apigenin per 100 grams of food:

Parsley is 300 mg/100 grams.  A bunch of parsley weights about a quarter pound– just about 100 grams.  However, about half of that stems, so a bunch of parsley has about 150 mg of apigenin.

Note that celery has some– particularly the leaves which have about 56 mg/100 grams.

Value	Per	Nutrient	Food
13506.20 mg	100 grams	Apigenin	Spices, parsley, dried
302.00 mg	100 grams	Apigenin	Parsley, raw
8.71 mg	100 grams	Apigenin	Peppermint, fresh
5.00 mg	100 grams	Apigenin	Thyme, fresh
4.61 mg	100 grams	Apigenin	Celery, raw
3.85 mg	100 grams	Apigenin	Rutabagas, raw
2.41 mg	100 grams	Apigenin	Celeriac, raw
0.38 mg	100 grams	Apigenin	crisphead types), raw" href="http://nutrition.merschat.com/food-nutrition-facts.cgi?NDB_No=11252" target="_blank">Lettuce, iceberg (includes crisphead types), raw

 

Reason apigenin is important:
http://www.molecular-cancer.com/content/10/1/104

Although the bioavailability is limited (~0.2% of that ingested gets into the blood stream), the half-life of its concentration in the body is quite long:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16407641

Lots of ways to eat parsley, but here is a tasty one…

Easy Tabouli

1 bunch of flat leaf parsley chopped finely (food processors mangle the chop; do it by hand)
2 tomatoes cut into small pieces
1 bunch green onions, chopped
juice of 2 fresh-squeezed lemons
olive oil (I Coat the ingredients….1/4-1/2 C., maybe?)
1 cup bulgar
1/2 bunch of chopped mint
pinch sea salt
(You can add finely chopped cucumbers)

Wash bulghur thoroughly, drain, and soak in fresh hot water for about 1 hour.
Drain and squeeze as dry as possible, and combine with vegetables.
Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil. 
Add salt and pepper to taste, and toss thoroughly.
You can be quite generous with the pepper.
Refrigerate for about an hour, taste, and adjust salt and pepper.
Serve

Sounds delicious!   Should I should ask Danny if he makes “cooking house-calls?”

I make sure to save celery leaves and use them in my morning and evening vegetable smoothies.  Good to know they have the added benefit of being a good source of apigenin.  And how about including more fresh peppermint in our meal prep?  Helps settle shaky stomachs, too!

Does anyone else out there see a business opportunity?  Preparing and packaging nutritionally beneficial and chemotherapy friendly dishes for multiple myeloma and other cancer patients that don’t have the time or energy to do it themselves.

Feel good and keep smiling!  Pat