Questions About Cancer

Graviola has a long and rich history of use in herbal medicine as well as a broad and recorded indigenous use.

Graviola is a small tree, native to tropical areas including the Amazon. Its fruit is sold in local markets in the tropics, where it is called soursop and graviola. The fruit pulp is excellent for making drinks and sherbets and, though it is slightly acidic, can be eaten by hand.

In the Peruvian Amazon the bark, roots, leaves are used for diabetes and as a sedative and antispasmodic. Indigenous tribes in Guyana use a leaf tea and/or bark as a sedative and cardiac tonic.

In the Brazilian Amazon a leaf tea is used for kidney problems, and oil from the leaves and unripe fruit is mixed with olive oil and used externally for neuralgia, rheumatism and arthritis pain.

In Jamaica, Haiti and the West Indies the fruit and/or fruit juice is used for fevers, parasites, and diarrhea, the bark or leaf is used as an antispasmodic, sedative, and for the nervous system for heart conditions, coughs , flu, difficult childbirth, asthma, hypertension and parasites.

Studies and Plant Components

Many active compounds and chemicals have been found in graviola, as scientists have been studying its properties since the early ’40s. The majority of research on graviola focuses on a novel set of chemicals called Annonaceous acetogenins.

Graviola produces these natural compounds in its leaf and its stem, bark and seeds of fruits. Three separate research groups have confirmed that these chemicals have significant anti-tumor properties and selective toxicity against various types of cancer cells (without harming healthy cells) publishing eight clinical studies on their findings.

Many of the acetogenins have demonstrated selective toxicity to tumor cells at very low dose – as little as 1 part per million. Four studies published in 1998 that further specifies the chemicals and acetogenins in graviola which are demonstrating the strongest properties such as anticancer, antitumor, and antiviral.

The modes of action studies in three separate laboratories have recently determined that these acetogenins are superb inhibitors of enzyme processes that are only found in the membranes of cancerous tumor cells. This is because they are toxic to cancer cells but have no toxicity to healthy cells. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, has conducted much research on the acetogenins, much of which has been funded by the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Health (NIH). So far, Purdue University has completed at least nine patents for his work on antitumor and insecticidal properties and uses of acetogenins.

In 1997, information was published with promising news that many of the Annonaceous acetogenins were “… Not only be effective in killing tumors that had proven resistant to anticancer agents, but also seem to have a special affinity for such resistant cells.” In several interviews after this information was published, the head pharmacologist in Purdue’s research explained how this works.

As he explains it, cancer cells that survive chemotherapy can develop resistance to the agent originally used as well as other drugs, even unrelated. This phenomenon is called multi-drug resistance (MDR). One of the many ways in which cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs is by creating an intercellular pump which is capable of pushing anticancer agents out of the cell before they can kill him.

On average, only about 2% of cancer cells can develop in anyone this pump – but they are the 2% that can grow and expand and develop tumors eventually a multi-drug resistant. Some of the latest research on acetogenins reported that they were able to close this pumping intercellular therefore these tumors killing multi-drug resistant.

Purdue researchers reported that the acetogenins preferentially killed the cancer cells to multi-drug resistant blocking the transfer of ATP – the primary source of cellular energy – into them. A tumor cell needs energy to grow and reproduce, and more to carry out pumping and expel attacking agents.

By inhibiting energy to the cell can no longer pumping. When acetogenins block ATP to the tumor cell over time, the cell no longer has enough power to operate essential processes – and dies. Normal cells seldom develop such a pump and therefore do not require large amounts of energy for pumping and, generally, are not adversely affected by ATP inhibitors.

The Purdue researchers reported that 14 different acetogenins tested thus far demonstrate potent ATP blocking properties (including many that are found only in the graviola). They also reported that 13 of these 14 acetogenins tested were more potent against breast cancer cells with MDR that all three standard drugs (adriamycin, vincristine and vinblastine) they used as control.

Source: http://www.alimentacion-sana.com.ar/Portal%20nuevo/actualizaciones/graviola1.htm
image source: www.acai-berry.co.uk/images/graviola1.jpg

Tags: cancer, graviola, Graviola - Enemy of Cancer, multi-drug resistance, Studies and Plant Components,