One study focuses on mistletoe and pancreatic
cancer. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with a
mortality rate of around 80% during the first years after diagnosis. It strikes
44,000 Americans each and every year and conventional treatments haven’t been
able to do much to prolong their lives.
This latest research, however, indicates it could
offer assistance to those diagnosed with a deadly disease.
Carried out in Serbia and published in the European Journal
of Cancer, the study began with 220
patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. All participants received supportive
care. The treatment group also received subcutaneous injections of mistletoe
extract three times each week, with doses starting at 0.01 mg and increasing to
10 mg.
Those patients who started the study with a “good”
prognosis and received no mistletoe extract lived 3.2 months, on average. Those with a
good prognosis and mistletoe extract had twice the life expectancy, 6.6 months. Study participants who received a “poor”
diagnosis averaged 2 months without mistletoe extract and 3.4 months with
the treatment. Further, the
participants treated with mistletoe extracts had feweradverse
events than the others. They had only 16 events where those not treated with the plant had
an average of 53!
This is far from the first study implicating
mistletoe as a potential cancer treatment. It has also been linked to
improvement in cancers of the breast, cervix, uterus, ovaries, stomach, colon,
lung, and skin.
In addition to these cancer studies of modern
time, folk medicine applications have indicated mistletoe in the use of
treating strained muscles, toothaches, sores, itching, impetigo, ulcers, animal
bites, and intestinal parasites.
One research with another study points out how
the most effective extract comes from a species called Fraxini, which was
extremely potent and safer than chemotherapy. Researcher Zahra Lotfollahi said:
“This is an important result because we know that chemotherapy is effective at killing healthy cells as well as cancer cells. This can result in severe side effects for the patient, such as oral mucositis (ulcers in the mouth) and hair loss. Our laboratory studies have shown Fraxini mistletoe extract by itself to be highly effective at reducing the viability of colon cancer cells. At certain concentrations,Fraxini also increased the potency of chemotherapy against the cancer cells.”
This initial study mentioned is important,
though, as it is specific to this particularly deadly form of cancer. The
researchers conclude:
“VaL (Ciscum album, mistletoe) therapy showed a significant and clinically relevant prolongation of OS. The study findings suggest VaL to be a non-toxic and effective second-line therapy that offers a prolongation of OS (overall survival) as well as less disease-related symptoms for patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.”Source: NaturalSociety
