BANGKOK A daily bowl of "Tom Yum Gung", Thailand's renowned spicy shrimp soup, might be as effective as an apple in keeping the doctor away.

According to the preliminary results of a Thai-Japanese study into the medicinal qualities of Thai cuisine, Tom Yum Gung contains several anticancer properties that are more effective than other antioxidants, including vitamin C and the vitamin precursor betacarotene, the Bangkok Post newspaper said.

The study concluded that substances found in galangal, lemon grass and Kaffir lime leaves -- the main ingredients in the spicy soup -- are 100 times more effective in inhibiting tumors than those found in other foods.

"It's a major and solid confirmation of our folk knowledge," said Suratwadee Jiwajinda, a researcher at Thailand's Kasetsart University, which conducted the study with Kyoto and Kinki universities in Japan.

She noted that traditional Thai cuisine, famed for its heavy use of herbs and spices, has long been known to have health benefits.

Research on Tom Yum Gung and other well-known Thai dishes began in 1993 after a discovery by Japanese researchers that Thais have a much lower rate of cancer of the digestive tract than Japanese, Filipinos and Westerners.

Japanese researcher Hajime Ohigashi of Kyoto University said the Tom Yum Gung team had discovered a type of antioxidant, called 1'- acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA), in the soup's ingredients, which was 100 times more effective in blocking cancer growths than betacarotene -- currently deemed the substance with the best cancer- fighting properties.

(DPA)