Medical practitioners from as early as 600 AD have used cloves and clove oil in China. Unlike turmeric, which is only now being recognised by the west for its medicinal value, cloves have been in vogue for medicinal uses in the folk tradition almost the world over for some time.In modern medical science, the clove is being investigated for possible use against cancer. A study conducted in 2006 suggests that cloves contain a chemical that has the ability to reduce lung cancer in mice. Human studies are underway. The anti-oxidant properties of clove have been confirmed by two lab studies. If this effect is established in human studies as well, then its role as a free radical scavenger is bound to be a popular one. An interesting study conducted on several herbs for their ability to stop the growth of germs on laboratory culture plates found that cloves are effective not only against bacteria but also against moulds and yeast. Blood thinning due to platelet activity is also a known property of cloves.
