Who would have thought that the cheap vinegar in the kitchen can help save thousands of women from cervical cancer? A recent study has proved that a vinegar cancer test may help prevent about 22,000 deaths in India and roughly 72,000 deaths in other developing countries annually.
The results of a study conducted in Mumbai focusing on the effects of using vinegar for screening cervical cancer were presented during the annual convention of cancer doctors in Chicago.
The proponents of the study reported that the cervical cancer screening using a swab of vinegar can cut the mortality rate of women due to cervical cancer in India by one third.
Primary health workers started screening for cervical cancer using a swab of acetic acid and visual inspection in 1998. They recruited more than 150,000 women from Mumbai for the study and achieved around 89 percent of participation and 79 percent of compliance among subjects. The subjects were between 35 to 64-years old.
Application of vinegar to the cervix turns pre-cancerous tissues white after a minute and will not require any specialized equipment. This is a method that is very cheap and can be made accessible to a greater number of women in areas where the infrastructure of healthcare is poor.
The researchers concluded that using vinegar during visual inspection reduced the mortality rate of women due to cervical cancer by 31 percent.
A related research on visual inspection with acetic acid in 2006 said that the women did not report of pain but only of slight discomfort during screening.
"That's amazing. That's remarkable. It's a very exciting result," exclaimed Dr. Ted Trimble, who works for the main sponsor of the study, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, in an interview with Fox News.
"Many women refused to get screened. Some of them died of cancer later. Now I feel everyone should get tested. I got my life back because of these tests," said Usha Devi who felt that her life was saved when she participated in the study. The idea of getting screened for cervical cancer is not that welcome in some cultures where most women give birth at home and where disrobing to get tested by a doctor is seen as taboo.
While women in developed countries like the U.S. can go for Pap smear to screen for cervical cancer, many women in developing countries such as India cannot afford it.
Authorities in India are now considering a bigger program to use vinegar cancer screening for its population.
Dr. Surendra Shastri of the Tata Memorial Care Center in Mumbai led the team of researchers.
