Chemopreventive action of oriental food-seasoning spices mixture Garam masala on DMBA-induced transplacental and translactational carcinogenesis in mice.

The present study deals with the chemopreventive action of the food-seasoning spices mixture Garam masala on dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced translactational and transplacental carcinogenesis in mice. When pregnant mice were given 10 and 30 mg of Garam masala per day from Days 13-19 of gestation in addition to DMBA (5 mg/day) on Days 15-17 of gestation, the multiple-site tumor incidence declined significantly from control level of 62% to 19% and 10%, respectively, in F1 progeny. Furthermore the mean numbers of tumors per effective F1 mouse were reduced from the control value of 1.27 to 0.64 at the lower dose level (10 mg) and 0.23 at the higher dose level (30 mg) of Garam masala. Likewise, when lactating mice were given Garam masala at 10 and 30 mg/day for the first 15 days of lactation in addition to DMBA (3 mg/day) on Days 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 of lactation, the multiple-site tumor incidence was reduced significantly from control level of 66% to 23% and 14%, respectively, in F1 progeny. The mean numbers of tumors per effective F1 mouse declined from control value of 1.43 to 0.46 at the lower dose and 0.25 at the higher dose of Garam masala. Further studies are required to analyze the nature of active chemical components and the manner in which they achieve chemoprevention in these complex model systems.