Foodomics approach is used to analyze and establish the links between several substances presented in rosemary and the ability to cure colon cancer cells. There are thousands of chemical compounds in rosemary, but the ones that are able to help cure such disease are Carnosic acid (CA) and Carnosol (CS), which can be obtained by extracting rosemary via SFE. They have the potential to fight against and reduce the proliferation of human HT-29 colon cancer cells.
The experiment done by inserting rosemary extracts to the mice and collecting RNA and metabolites from each controlled and treated individual indicated that there is a correlation between the compounds used and the percentage of recovery from the cancer. This information is however never achievable without the help of foodomics knowledge as it was used to process data, analyze statistic, and identify biomarkers. Foodomics, coupled with transcriptomic data, shows that Carnosic acid leads to the accumulation of an antioxidant, glutothione (GSH). The chemical can be broken down to Cysteinylglycine, a naturally occurring dipeptide and an intermediate in the gamma glutamyl cycle. Moreover, the result from an integration of foodomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics reveals that provoking colon cancer cell compounds, such as N‐acetylputrescine, N‐acetylcadaverine, 5’MTA and γ‐aminobutyric acid, can also be lowered by CA treatment.
Thus, foodomics plays an important role in explaining the relationship between deadly disease, like colon cancer, and natural compounds existing in rosemary. Data obtained is useful in reaching another approach for tackling proliferation against cancer cells.