Anti-Cancer Herbs

Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases in modern society and has the ability to occur in almost any region of the body. As normal cells mutate and become cancerous, tumors form that can cause severe pain and lead to weakness and death. Fortunately, many plant-based herbal compounds have been discovered that cause cancerous cells to commit suicide in a process called "apoptosis." There are many powerful herbal medicines that have proven anticancer properties. Research in this area is booming and becoming more and more promising everyday.

History

• Cancer seems to have been around as long as human history, although it is unknown whether it has always been as prevalent as it is now in modern society. Many industrial by-products are known carcinogens and may play a dramatic part in the current epidemic rate of cancer worldwide. Most traditional societies throughout human history used plant-based herbal medications to deal with cancerous tumors and to deal with unexplainable maladies which may have been cancer. Modern scientists are studying many natural remedies that have been traditionally used for cancer with some surprising results.

Reishi

• The mushroom called Ganoderma Lucida, or reishi in Japan, has been used for thousands of years in traditional Asian medicine as the supreme longevity herb. It has been used for hundreds of different ailments and is now under close scrutiny by the scientific community for its apparent ability to fight cancer. A November 2002 study published in the journal "Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications" showed that powdered reishi mushroom was able to stop highly invasive breast and prostate cancer cells from spreading in the human body.

Wormwood

• Wormwood is a strongly aromatic and bitter herb that has a long history of folk medicine use in Europe and is widely known as the main ingredient in the alcoholic beverage absinthe. Wormwood was used to combat hundreds of maladies throughout history and modern science reveals that compounds within this plant are deadly to cancer cells. In a study published by the International Institute of Anticancer Research in Attiki, Greece, in 1980, researchers found that a wormwood extract was able to selectively cause apoptosis in cancer cells and slow the growth of tumors.

Cat's Claw

• Cat's claw is an herbal remedy from South America widely used by the indigenous population to fight off a variety of diseases. It is also used as a natural therapy for cancer. A study published in the July-August 2001 edition of "Anticancer Research" stated that cat's claw possesses cytostatic (suppresses cell growth), anti-inflammatory and anti-mutagenic properties. Researchers tested an extraction of cat's claw on breast cancer cells and found that--at high concentrations--the growth of cancer cells was inhibited by up to 90 percent.

Potential

• The anti-cancer properties of the above herbs are thought to be the result of many different substances toxic to cancer cells. Since there are a large selection of plants that have been used worldwide to fight cancer, many with similar properties to the three listed above, there are potentially numerous different plant-based herbal remedies that may be active against cancer.