REMEDIES: Cultivating the Anti-Cancer Garden (GARDEN, HERBS, HEALTH)

[Guest guest]

Cultivating the Anti-Cancer Garden

 

There are over 70 million gardeners in the United States, and countless

more worldwide. For many of us, this is the time of year to finally stop

vacillating and decide which seeds and plants are going to go into the

ground. I spend my summers in a cool climate and the growing season is

rather short. I try to make planting choices with one eye on my plants'

anticancer potential. So let's see how a few common garden varieties

stack up, especially in the light of recent scientific studies.

 

Last year, I thinned 50 feet of red raspberries and transplanted the

remaining canes into 30 additional feet in a sunny area behind the

house. Soon I'll find out how well this no-cost maneuver has worked. If

these canes are not productive, I will buy some new plants from the

local nursery and may even put in a row of black raspberries, just for a

change of pace. I need to have a superabundance of berries because the

resident gremlins - my grandchildren, who do most of the picking -

extract a tax in fresh berries whenever they go to work. In addition, a

young lady of the household appropriates the lioness's share for jams

and jellies. (I know, I know – sugar is bad for you, but a little

raspberry jam evokes a Proustian remembrance of summer past on a chilly

winter morning.)

 

What else can berries do for you? They are among the most potent and

readily available sources of antioxidants on the planet. A few years

back, wild blueberries were found to have a super high score on the

antioxidant (ORAC) scale. Mainers crowed – you would have thought the

Black Bears had won the A-10 football conference.

 

But no one has a monopoly in the berry sweepstakes. Scientists at Ohio

State University have now weighed in with favorable reports of their own

on black raspberries, the kind that I generally gather in the sunny

edges of woodland clearings. In 2006, these Buckeye State scientists

studied the cancer preventing effects of black raspberry extracts on a

model of esophageal cancer in mice. Esophageal cancer is difficult to

treat, and so any positive news on this front is most welcome.

Tumor-bearing animals were fed a diet containing 5 percent black

raspberries (more than humans are likely to consume, but good at

bringing out effects in a study). After 25 weeks on this regimen, mice

that ate black raspberries had approximately half as many tumors as

control animals (3.78 vs. 2.23).

 

No one is quite sure exactly how this tumor-suppressing effect works.

Black raspberries are a natural COX-2 inhibitor, and we saw in previous

newsletters how Celebrex, a synthetic COX-2 inhibitor, reduced the

formation of colon polyps. So perhaps the same mechanism is at work –

although I would be dumbfounded if black raspberries also caused

cardiovascular disease, the way Celebrex did in the latest studies.

Raspberries also reduced certain other markers of cancer formation. The

scientists said it had a " novel tumor suppressive role.... " (Chen 2006).

So how's that for a pleasurable way of helping to prevent a deadly disease?

 

Another plant that I have in my garden is horseradish (Armoracia

rusticana). Its leaves grow absolutely huge. Usually once per summer, my

garden helpers, mistaking them for the pesky comfrey that is always

ready, willing and able to invade the planting beds, mow the

horseradishes down to the ground. The redoubtable plant doesn't seem to

mind - the leaves pop right up by the next mowing. Anyway, it is the

roots that you want for making horseradish sauce, not the leaves.

 

Last year, scientists at Michigan State University found that both

common horseradish and the extra-pungent Japanese wasabi (Wasabia

japonica) contained certain ingredients called monogalactosyl

diacylglycerides. These too were found to restrict the growth of cancer

cells. Three active ingredients in horseradish and two from wasabi were

tested. Compound no. 3 from horseradish inhibited the proliferation of

colon cancer cells by as much as 68.4 percent and inhibited lung cancer

cells by as much as 71 percent. Compound no. 4 from wasabi inhibited the

growth of colon, lung and stomach cancer cells by as much as 44 percent

(Weil 2005). These are encouraging results.

 

You can buy reasonably fresh horseradish from the supermarket's dairy

case. (Look for the kind that has nothing but ground root and a little

vinegar.) Alternatively you can make a much better horseradish sauce

yourself if you have a spade to excavate your two-year roots. You will

also need a sturdy vegetable peeler and a blender or food processor. You

can then mix the macerated homegrown horseradish with vinegar or with

sour cream.

 

 

A Surprising Herb

 

In the herb department, I wouldn't be without feverfew. Many readers

know the feverfew plant (Tanacetum parthenium), a member of the

Chrysanthemum family, sometimes called bachelor's buttons. This is a

cheerful-looking perennial, with a profusion of white pompon-like blooms

- like a shower of tiny daisies.

 

As the name implies, this is a traditional remedy for fevers. It also

has a long association with the relief of migraines. (I keep some

feverfew pills in the medicine chest in case any of my summer visitors

are plagued with that mysterious form of torture.) But feverfew is

particularly interesting for its anticancer potential.

 

You may remember from my earlier newsletters that scientists are now

reevaluating all cancer drugs for their effect on malignant stem cells.

These are the primitive cells that appear to be fundamentally

responsible for the malignant dimensions of cancer. Many conventional

cancer drugs are turning out to have a limited ability to kill these

cells. That is why feverfew is so interesting.

 

Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found that

an extract of feverfew is effective against a type of human leukemia.

Monica L. Guzman, PhD, and Craig T. Jordan, PhD, reported that feverfew

extracts kill malignant stem cells like no other single therapy they

have tested. The active ingredient is derived from parthenolide, one of

a class of sesquiterpene lactones found in the plant. The US National

Cancer Institute (NCI) has been sufficiently excited by this work to

accept it into the rapid access program, which aims to move experimental

drugs from the laboratory to human clinical trials as quickly as possible.

 

" This research is a very important step in setting the stage for future

development of a new therapy for leukemia, " said Dr. Jordan. " We have

proof that we can kill leukemia stem cells with this type of agent, and

that is good news. "

 

What is particularly exciting is that this feverfew extract is the first

agent known to destroy myeloid leukemia at the level of the stem cells.

Increasingly, cancer research is homing in on these primordial cells as

the source of cancer. An increasing number of scientists believe that

unless cancer is attacked at this level it can rarely be controlled,

much less cured.

 

A 2006 study from Clemson University in North Carolina showed that

parthenolide, considered the primary bioactive compound in golden

feverfew, has anti-tumor activity. The scientists studied it against two

human breast cancer and one human cervical cancer cell line.

" Feverfew...extract inhibited the growth of all three types of cancer

cells, " they wrote. Of four feverfew components, parthenolide showed the

highest inhibitory effect, although the other compounds work in concert

with it in inhibiting cancer.

 

A 2004 phase I clinical trial from Purdue University in Indiana gave

patients oral doses of feverfew, with up to 4 milligrams (mg) of

parthenolide. The daily oral tablet was " well tolerated without

dose-limiting toxicity. " However, curiously, it did not provide

detectable concentrations in the blood. So its exact mode of action

remains a mystery (Currey 2004).

 

You can buy feverfew capsules in the health food store or over the

Internet. For instance, one popular preparation of feverfew leaf sells

for around 5¢ per 380 mg capsule. The manufacturer recommends one

capsule three times per day, which brings the cost to around 15¢ to 20¢

per day. (This is considerably less expensive than many poorly

documented anticancer drugs, such as Avastin, now selling for $100,000

per year.) The extract, Tanacet, used in the above-mentioned phase I

clinical trial, is sometimes available over the Internet, as well.

 

You can also grow feverfew yourself. Johnny's Selected Seeds of Winslow,

Maine, one of my favorite providers, offers 500 organically grown

feverfew seeds for just $3.20. This cheerful plant is a perennial in

temperate climates and will self-seed in colder climates. So a $3.20

investment can provide you with all the feverfew you are ever likely to

need. No one can guarantee this herb will have any clinical anticancer

effects. But, at the very least, these little charmers will adorn your

kitchen table with a bouquet that is, to me, the very essence of summer.

 

--Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

 

 

 

References:

 

Chen T, Hwang H, Rose ME, Nines RG, Stoner GD. Chemopreventive

properties of black raspberries in N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine-induced

rat esophageal tumorigenesis: down-regulation of cyclooxygenase-2,

inducible nitric oxide synthase, and c-Jun. Cancer Res. 2006;66:2853-2859.

 

Curry EA 3rd, Murry DJ, Yoder C, et al. Phase I dose escalation trial of

feverfew with standardized doses of parthenolide in patients with

cancer. Invest New Drugs. 2004;22:299-305.

 

Weil MJ, Zhang Y, Nair MG. Tumor cell proliferation and cyclooxygenase

inhibitory constituents in horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) and Wasabi

(Wasabia japonica). J Agric Food Chem. 2005;53:1440-1444.

 

 

http://www.cancerdecisions.com/051406.html

 

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[Guest guest]

Thanks, Wildmouse!

 

I find myself obsessed with the urge to collect

more and more healing herbs, as well as learning

more about the ones growing here freely without

my help.

Plenty of Berberine-containing ones too.

 

Alas, the birds have beaten me to the totally luscious

and abundant hawthorne berries. I noticed them,

but figured we could share. They had other ideas and

cleaned the bush out in 2 days.

 

Ien in the Kootenays

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Stop. Breathe. Smile!

~Padma ( my TV yoga teacher)

http://freegreenliving.com

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