Healing Spice Book Receives ABC's Duke Award

AUSTIN, TexasThe American Botanical Council (ABC) gave its James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award in the consumer and popular books category to "Healing Spices: How to Use 50 Everyday and Exotic Spices to Boost Health and Beat Disease." The book was written by Bharat B. Aggarwal, Ph.D., and Debora Yost, and published by Sterling Publishing in 2011. 

"Healing Spices" covers 50 common spices and their beneficial qualities. The book provides historical information, medicinal uses and some recipes. It is organized as a user-friendly guide to the healing properties of spices and offers descriptions of specific ailments and conditions that can benefit from each spice. 

 Aggarwal has been a faculty member at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston  since the late 1980s. Before joining M.D. Anderson, Aggarwal worked for Genentech Inc. In addition to his numerous publications, he is also the lead editor of "Inflammation, Lifestyle and Chronic Diseases: The Silent Link" and "Molecular Targets and Therapeutic Uses of Spices: Modern Uses for Ancient Medicine." Aggarwals current research involve cytokines, which are the signaling molecules secreted by various cells in the human body, the role of inflammation in cancer and other diseases and how chemical components from various herbs can modulate these molecules.  

 Aggarwal was approached by a publisher two years ago to create a book on the health benefits of various spices. At the time, he was assisting McCormicka spice maker in the United Stateswith a website called "Spices for Health."