Do bees have the answer to cancer?

Starve Prostate Cancer with Beehive Extract

    Could honeybees hold the cure to prostate cancer, and maybe other types of cancer, too? Possibly, according to recent findings from the University of Chicago.


    Beehive propolis is used by honeybees to patch up cracks in the hive. It's made up of amino acids, waxes, resins, and fatty acids and boasts hundreds of complex chemical properties.


    Commonly called "bee glue," propolis is easily purchased in capsule form or as a liquid extract at any good health food store. Companies also sell the extract as an ointment, cream, lotion, powder, or in other cosmetic form. Now comes evidence it stops prostate cancer cells dead in their tracks...


Continued below. . .

EXPOSED: Mainstream Medicine's Deadliest Conspiracy     Can you believe this video? It's a phenomenon. In fact, it was sent to more than 289,000 people in just the first 24 hours!     But you might not see it at all.     Why? Because, for the first time, mainstream medicine's deadliest conspiracy has been EXPOSED. Finally, this video is the 'shot heard around the world' the establishment prayed would never come.     There are powerful interests hell-bent on minimizing the damage it is doing to corporate medicine's profit machine.     Before it's banned, watch it here.

    According to some sources, propolis has been used for centuries to treat allergies and infections. It's sometimes even used as a natural antibiotic. In fact, bees use it as their own kind of antibiotic to help protect them from disease. This is partly because it seals out foreign substances that would otherwise pollute the hive.


    As a natural remedy, propolis has long been used to heal cuts and protect them against bacteria and other microorganisms. Propolis also appears to have anti-microbial action on both gram-positive and gram-negative micro-organisms.


    From a chemical standpoint, propolis is particularly complex. This helps explain why no attempts have been made to create a manufactured version of the substance. But at the same time, because it can't be patented, very little research has been conducted on the clinical benefits of propolis -- till now.

Propolis stops prostate cancer cells in their tracks

    The active compound in beehive propolis is called caffeic acid phenethyl ester, or CAPE. Chih-Pin Chuu, a lead researcher on the project at the University of Chicago, wanted to see if CAPE was effective when it came to killing prostate cancer cells.

    Chuu tested the amount of CAPE concentration that would be in a person's blood following ingestion of a propolis capsule.

    Results from early culture dish experiments showed CAPE successfully halted growth of early-stage prostate cancer cells. Later experiments on mice implanted with human prostate cancer cells repeated the effect. The tumors in the mice stopped growing if they received CAPE twice a day. But if the treatment stopped, the tumors began to grow again.

    Researchers concluded that beehive propolis doesn't kill prostate cancer, but at least it stops proliferation. The question was, why?

How to starve a cancer cell

    The fact that propolis stops cancer cell proliferation hints at the idea that CAPE might someday cross over from holistic treatment to clinical therapy. And from there, CAPE might even prove to be a good co-treatment in conjunction with chemotherapy — according to clinical scientists, that is.

    But for that to happen, scientists needed to first prove how CAPE stops cancer cell proliferation.

    And that's where a new breakthrough from the University of Chicago people comes into play. The team was led by Richard Jones, assistant professor in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research and the Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology.

    Traditionally, lab tools known as Western blots are used to assess changes in cell proteins after being exposed to different circumstances. But, these tools only allow for a few proteins to be assessed at a time.

    The Chicago researchers came up with a new technique, called the micro-western array, for monitoring proteins. It's groundbreaking, because — unlike previous methods — the technique lets the scientists observe the activity of hundreds of proteins at once. That means there's finally a way to assess the anti-cancer potential of natural remedies.

    Because that's usually the problem scientists have with natural medicine, isn't it? They want to assess the effect of just one thing at a time, but most natural remedies are active in multiple ways at the same time. And it's hard for scientists not to want to break things down to minute detail — which is sometimes important, and often not.

    The Chicago researchers have been using their new micro-western array to explain how cell physiology is affected by natural compounds, focusing their efforts on propolis.

    They've been able to look at the effect of CAPE, the bee propolis extract, on about a hundred different proteins at once, while at the same time assessing a wide spectrum of cellular signaling pathways associated with multiple different outcomes.

    They say this gives them a "global landscape view" of all the pathways affected, which wasn't possible before — that is, to the extent that it would have required hundreds of researchers and an extraordinary amount of money.

    At the end of the day, this "landscape view" allowed the scientists to pinpoint exactly what happens at the protein level when chemically-complex CAPE is used to treat prostate cancer. In technical terms, they found that CAPE suppresses protein activity in the p70S6 kinase and Akt pathways.

    What's interesting is that both pathways are nutrition sensors. When activated, they give cancer cells the green light to proliferate. When deactivated, they stop cell growth in its tracks.

Could be the beginning of something big...

    As Jones puts it, "CAPE basically stops the ability of prostate cancer cells to sense that there's nutrition available." Meaning cancer cells think they're starving, so they halt growth.

    Sounds like a pretty good deal — and all this from a completely natural remedy!

    As usual, scientists say a lot more studies are needed, including human trials, before the medical community will recommend CAPE as a legitimate treatment for prostate cancer. And sadly, there's a concern that nobody will fund the clinical trials needed to prove safety in humans since CAPE/propolis can't be patented by a money-hungry drug company.

    Still, it's a step in the right direction to know some scientists are starting to welcome natural remedies into their labs for testing and that they're starting to understand the mechanisms behind alternative therapy.

    Does this mean you should add bee propolis supplements to your anti-cancer protocol? I don't have enough information at this point. Since this newsletter is read by people with a lot of experience at cancer treatment, send me an email (newsletter@cancerdefeated.com) and let me know if you've seen it used clinically.

    Last issue we identified a particular group of Americans who are likely to see their cancer rate DOUBLE in the next 18 years. If you missed this news, please scroll down and read it now.

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Government report predicts cancer risk
for one group will DOUBLE
in the next 20 years!

    WHOA! This warning issued by the President's Cancer Panel in its 2009-2010 report concluded that "cancer incidence among minority populations is projected to nearly double between 2010 and 2030, while increasing 31 percent among the non-Hispanic white population."

    Why are cancer rates soaring among African-Americans and Hispanics? Let's take a look.

Continued below...

Weight Loss Research Finally Proves it If You're Overweight, It's Not Your Fault!     Scientists discovered that when you're overweight your body might be storing more fat than it's supposed to. Researchers reporting in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine say it's all because of a change in metabolism that can happen to anyone.     For the first time ever, leading doctors have discovered a safe, natural solution to the metabolic problem that's left millions of people around the world overweight and in dangerous health.     To learn more about this breakthrough discovery that has helped some people lose up to 28 lbs in just 10 weeks, watch this presentation now.

    The President's Cancer Panel report cited three primary reasons for soaring cancer rates among minorities:

1. They're disproportionately affected by certain cancers,
2. They're often diagnosed at later stages of disease, and
3. They frequently have lower survival rates.

    How important is it to address cancer risk by ethnicity? Well, recent population projections show that minorities, who currently make up one-third of the U.S. population, are expected to become the collective majority before the middle of the century!

    Let's take a look at just two examples of how ethnicity impacts cancer risk...

Breast and prostate cancer are tough
on non-white Americans

    According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), white, non-Hispanic women have the highest incidence for breast cancer among all racial groups in the U.S.

    But among women aged 40-50, black women actually have a higher incidence of breast cancer than white women. And black women also have the highest death rate from breast cancer.

    Why the disparity? For one thing, NCI said the higher death rate may be linked to how advanced the cancer is at the time of diagnosis.

    Given that non-Hispanic whites are at greater overall risk of breast cancer but at lower risk of death from that cancer, the problem appears to be one of detection and treatment, rather than actual risk of getting the disease. Studies show that black women often seek treatment when their cancer has advanced to a less treatable stage.

    The President's Cancer Panel says a higher percentage of black Americans and Hispanics lack sufficient health care.

     Having a primary care provider increases your chances for receiving the type of routine check-ups and screenings that can detect disorders at an early stage.

    So is it all about early detection? More on that in a moment.

    Meanwhile, you'll notice similar findings if you examine the rates for prostate cancer...

Some groups are more likely to die of prostate cancer

    According to WebMD, about one man in six will face a prostate cancer diagnosis during his lifetime. But the odds for survival are better than for breast cancer. Only one man in 36 actually dies from the disease.

    So which ethnic group is most likely to contain that unfortunate guy?

    The answer can be found in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics for annual prostate cancer incidence among 100,000 men during the years 1999-2008.

    The results—which are grouped by race and ethnicity—reveal that black men had the highest rate for prostate cancer.

    But — somewhat contradicting the theory that being non-white puts you at greater risk -- white men had the second highest rate of getting prostate cancer — higher than Hispanic men as well as men from an Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian/Alaska Native background.

    No one fully understands the reasons for these racial differences. But some experts say they could be linked to environmental factors such as high-fat diets, exposure to heavy metals such as cadmium, infectious agents, or smoking.

    One thing for certain is that predictions surrounding future mortality rates for all ethnic groups are troubling…

    Dr. LaSalle D. Lefall, Jr., a professor of surgery at Howard University and Margaret Kripke, PhD, a professor at University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center are the principal members of the President's Cancer Panel.

    In the panel's report, America's Demographic and Cultural Transformation: Implications for Cancer, Lefall and Kripke express concern about how hard it is to determine the impact the increases in non-white cancer rates will have on overall cancer incidence and mortality. They said this is mainly due to limits imposed by current data collection efforts.

The numbers don't lie... or DO THEY?

    Current statistics on cancer incidence are based mainly on social definitions of race and ethnicity. The report says it's well known that these numbers are imprecise because they focus primarily on non-Hispanic white populations.

    Lefall and Kripke contend that risk factors, screening guidelines, and treatment regimens identified for one population are not necessarily appropriate for an increasingly diverse population of Americans who are not of European descent.

    This also means that the medical and scientific communities have a limited understanding of exactly how key factors influence a person's risk of getting cancer.

    And because of this limited understanding—the nation is sorely lacking in medical assistance to help reduce the number of Americans with cancer.

A call to action

    Researchers will continue to dig for answers about why minority groups are disproportionately impacted by some cancers.

    In the meantime, the President's Cancer Panel recommends specific things that should be done to improve cancer care for a changing national demographic.

    For example, the panel recommends:

• Teaching students about culture differences in medical school and other healthcare training curricula
• Conducting more research on genetic ancestry and how specific genes influence cancer risk
• Evaluating cancer screening guidelines to determine if they're accurate when it comes to assessing disease risk in members of different ethnic groups

    The President's Cancer Panel recognizes the need for "effective cancer education and services across the cancer continuum that reach beyond traditional ideas of race, ethnicity, and culture."

    We can only hope that the government and medical establishment will press for pursuit of such goals that could help reduce the burden of cancer for all Americans.

But. . .don't wait for Big Medicine to solve your problems

    No doubt non-Hispanic whites — and higher income people in general — get more mammograms, more PSA tests, more prostate and breast biopsies and more "touch" exams of the breast and prostate.

    Readers of this newsletter know that all this screening is a mixed blessing. Mammograms are inaccurate and the annual mega-dose of radiation actually increasesa woman's risk of cancer. PSA exams are next to worthless. Both tests lead to multiple unnecessary and damaging biopsies and — especially in the case of prostate — unneeded surgeries for unthreatening tumors that might be best left alone.

    My guess is that other ethnic and income groups might benefit from more screeningwhile the white and affluent would almost surely benefit from less. It's a difficult question.

    I don't believe in one-size-fits-all social answers to questions that are essentially personal and individual. The best you can do is be as informed as you can about your options and take an active role in your own health rather than wait for someone in Washington to order up a test or procedure for you.

    Easy to say, I know, for someone like myself who's educated and a compulsive reader. But I simply don't have a better answer. In a couple of hours on our website, a person who can read at a 9^th grade level can garner as much information as he or she needs to make a better cancer decision than the "experts" are likely to make for you. So that's what I recommend.

Serial Killer T cells Go on Rampage Against Leukemia

From Lee Euler, Publisher Cancer Defeated

Date Released: 12/05/2011

Serial Killer T cells Go on Rampage Against Leukemia It never occurred to me that a serial killer could be a good thing. But when the killer is an immune system cell called a T cell, and it's programmed to attack thousands of tumor cells at a time, it becomes a wonderful thing. I'm referring to a new gene therapy that recently surfaced from a brand-new, bold approach to killing cancer. The good news is, it's working. In fact, even the researchers behind this treatment admit to being blown away. This one is really exciting. . . Continued below. . . How a Doctor Reversed Her Husband's Alzheimer's Disease in 37 Days New breakthrough improves memory… restores lost brain function … and even revives dying cells! If you've ever known anyone with Alzheimer's disease, you know how heart-breaking it can be. Not only does it destroy a person's mental abilities and dignity … but it wipes out the person's very personality, leaving behind a mere shell of a human being. The body is there for you to see, but the person you know and love no longer exists. That's exactly what happened to my colleague Dr. Mary Newport and her husband Steve. As Mary describes it, "I was watching my husband of 36 years fade away." In Mary's words, it was "Strange to have no short-term memory and yet the information was filed somewhere in his brain. I knew he was locked up in there somewhere, if only there was a key to open up the areas of his brain that he didn't have access to." Little did Mary know that she would soon find that very key. Continue reading to learn more about this amazing story Sensational results from a single shot It started with a highly unusual approach to cancer treatment. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center and Perelmen School of Medicine thought it would be a good idea to treat cancer patients with genetically engineered versions of the patients' own T cells. The pilot study started with a group of only three patients. Each patient had advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and was essentially out of treatment options. The protocol was to remove some T cells from each patient and then modify those same cells in the Penn vaccine production facility. Once removed, those T cells were reprogrammed to attack tumor cells. After being reprogrammed, the modified T cells were infused back into each patient's body. Three weeks after the infusion, all three patients tested in the study experienced a dramatic response to the treatment. Two of them went into complete remission. The third experienced at least a 70% reduction in cancerous cells. The researchers were blown away with the results. Lead researcher Carl June, MD, even enthused, "It worked much better than we thought it would." He went on to describe a 1000-fold increase in the number of modified T cells in each patient. "Drugs don't do that," said June. He also said each infused T cell led to the killing of thousands of tumor cells, destroying at least two pounds of tumor in each patient. Treatment exceeds 'wildest expectations' The T cell "reprogramming" was done with something called a lentivirus vector, which encodes an antibody-like protein (called a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR), on the surface of the T cells. CAR is also designed to bind to a protein called CD19, which is important because it differentiates the good cells from the cancerous cells. Once a T cell successfully expresses the CAR protein, it hunts down and kills other cells that express CD19. This includes CLL tumor cells along with normal B cells. All the other cells in a patient get ignored — important, because this means few side-effects. That's impressive science right there. But even better than that, the research team also inserted a "signaling molecule" into the part of the CAR that exists inside the T cell. After binding to a CD19 protein and initiating cell death for the cancer, this signaling molecule tells the cell to make cytokines. In turn, these cytokines prompt other T cells to multiply. This generates new, good-guy T cells until all the cancer cells are destroyed. Before this, the only real treatment option was a bone marrow transplant that has a 50 to 80 percent long-term success rate. As you can see from that statistic, this type of leukemia is fairly mild and treatable, even without this new T cell breakthrough. What's more exciting is that the T cell therapy may be applicable to other cancers. It's interesting to note modified T cells have been used in previous trials, but with uninspiring results. The researchers involved in this trial describe the process as a "reawakening" of T cells that were suppressed by the leukemia. They also hope the treatment will stimulate something called "memory" T cells to provide protection against a relapse. It's that self-perpetuating aspect of this treatment that is truly amazing. Unlike chemotherapy, which has to be given again and again (often to the detriment of the patient receiving it), this treatment will persist over time, dividing and killing tumors. Bright future for gene transfer therapy The researchers involved say this work essentially provides a roadmap for attacking tumors of other types of cancers, including lung cancer, ovarian cancer, myeloma, and melanoma. They'll start by moving forward with similar tests on other types of CD19-positive tumors, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and acute lymphocytic leukemia. In addition, they've already come up with a CAR vector that binds to mesothelin, which is a protein found on the surface of ovarian, pancreatic, and mesothelioma cancer cells. The findings of this study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine. It's big news on the cancer front because this is the first time researchers have successfully used gene transfer therapy to bring about an attack on cancerous tumors — and it's all thanks to this idea of "serial killer" T cells. The research that almost didn't happen The reason this treatment almost didn't happen was a lack of funding. The National Cancer Institute and multiple pharmaceutical companies all declined to pay for the research. Their reasons are unknown, but a good guess is probably that the concept was too innovative. Interesting, because if you think about it, this approach works with the body's natural defenses instead of dredging up yet another power-drug. In the end, and thank goodness, philanthropic support came through. This included funds from the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. At some point, there will probably be a handoff to a pharmaceutical company, especially as larger trials get underway. Maybe some government funds will become available. In a better world, this discovery would be taken to market without Big Pharma's help, but that's probably too much to hope for. It will be interesting to see how much this costs when it finally reaches the public. The other thing that tempers my enthusiasm a little bit is that the 5-year survival rate is reportedly 76 percent for CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the type that was treated in this study.) If that's true, then conventional medicine was already having a fair degree of success with this disease, and the new breakthrough may be less than it seems. For all types of leukemia, the 5-year survival rate is claimed to be over 50 percent. Let's hope this new discovery improves those rates even more. And -- most important in my view — let's hope it works for other types of cancer. We've been told by some alternative cancer doctors that they actually refer leukemia patients to conventional treatment centers because the chances of success are fairly good. Leukemia seems to be one of the rare types of cancer where conventional treatment is worth a go, especially if the patient has chronic leukemia, the mildest form of the disease. In the meantime, this T cell treatment is one of the first major cancer breakthroughs that wasn't supported by a pharmaceutical company, that shows excellent results, and works WITH the immune system instead of destroying it. As we wait for the wheels of Big Medicine to slowly grind away on this thing, there are great natural remedies available right now. Our last issue reported on one of the most exciting. If you missed it, scroll down and take a look now. Ancient India's Answer to the Plague of Modern-Day Stress Reduces the number of cancer tumors by up to 92%! Lions and tigers and bears were the stresses faced by our cave-person ancestors. It's highly unlikely you'll have to fight those kinds of battles… yet your body responds as if that kind of attack is imminent, nearly all day, every day. All around us are pressures that make us feel like we're in a fight to the death: traffic jams, grocery store lines, deadlines, the general lack of time, the never-ending pressure to do all the things we "should" do. Plus you can add the epidemic of environmental toxins, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise. What toll does all this take on our health — and what's an EASY way to relieve some of it? Our research team at Cancer Defeated has turned up a remarkable herb that reduces the cellular damage caused by stress by as much as 80%! But we also found something far more exciting to this story: Recent animal studies show striking, drastic reductions in cancer. Keep reading. . . Continued below. . . Here's Where You Can Get the Full Range of "Forbidden" Cancer Treatments Two of the most common requests I get are "Where can I find an alternative cancer doctor?" and "Where can I find a doctor who will give me this treatment that only doctors can do?" By the latter I mean treatments such as full-body hyperthermia, intravenous vitamin C or IV laetrile. The answer is simple: Mexico. You can get most of the major alternative cancer treatments there, and it's completely legal. What's more, you can get them in safe, ultramodern facilities with top doctors who are recognized as the best all over the world. There's something else: these clinics are perfectly safe, no matter what you hear on the news. The highly publicized violence does not affect these clinics one bit. I just attended a big annual conference on alternative cancer treatments, and once again, I heard abundant testimony from many people that there's no danger at all — not one bit. So set aside whatever stereotypes you have about dirty, back-alley doctors' offices or doctors with mail order degrees. These are highly modern medical facilities that can compete with any I've seen in the United States. I was treated at one of them myself in March. You can get details about the best clinics in our updated and expanded guide to Mexican cancer clinics called Adios, Cancer! (If you already purchased our Directory of the World's Greatest Alternative Cancer Clinics, all the information about Mexico is already in there, in addition to info about top European and American cancer clinics). In my opinion, you need to know or at least consider the wonderful medical facilities in Adios, Cancer! if you have cancer now or you may ever get cancer. In other words, EVERYONE needs to know this information. So click here and learn more about this wonderful Special Report. The High Price Chronic Stress Exacts on Your Health It makes sense to slow down for a moment and listen to your body. Some of the ways it speaks of sky-high stress include: 1. Faster Heart Rate — This is great if you're running from a lion or tiger, but when it becomes an everyday event, you risk burning out your heart and suffering cardiovascular disease. 2. High Blood Pressure — When stressed, blood flow to your brain and muscles may increase up to 400%. Good for shooting a bear… not helpful as an ongoing lifestyle. 3. Slow digestion — Energy you need to digest your food is diverted to your head, heart and limbs… leading to chronic constipation, irritable bowel disease, and more. Stress can also change your eating habits — prompting you to grab for certain snacks, resort to comfort foods (read: weight gain), or skip meals. 4. Weight gain — Caused by increased cortisone levels due to prolonged stress. 5. Insomnia and other sleep problems — From an over-active mind and mental stress. Sleeplessness takes a much bigger toll on your health than most people realize (see Issue #20 for more). 6. Muscle tension and fatigue — When under long-term stress, your muscles get tight and tense, resulting in overworked muscles without the benefit of exercise. 7. Immune problems — Halt your body's ability to fight infections. And then there's reduced happiness, poorer quality of life, depression, anxiety, memory loss, skin imbalances, reproductive problems, decreased sexual desire, and more. Do you see yourself here? Then read on — because there's an ancient answer for this modern plague. And it not only helps reduce stress, but shows hope as an anticancer agent, protects brain health, and more. Ancient eastern herb comes to the rescue of overstressed modern folks Stress depletes your body of critical nutrients, and increases oxidative stress, i.e. free radical damage. But this ancient herb is capable of reversing the damage and relieving your stress. It grows naturally in North America and Africa — but it's most commonly associated with the Ayurvedic traditions of the east. Ayurveda is an ancient philosophy and application of natural health well-known in India. One of the cornerstones of Ayurveda is an herb made from the roots of the Withania somnifera plant (also known as India winter cherry), called ashwagandha. It's been used for centuries to treat a host of health conditions. This exotic herb is an adaptogen, which means it helps your body deal with stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue. Stress Reduction 101 Ashwagandha is a potent antioxidant. Chronic nervous system tension causes premature aging, increases lipid (fat) peroxidation, and decreases your stores of critical antioxidant enzymes catalase and glutathione peroxidase. Studies show ashwagandha can help deactivate much of your chronic stress buildup. For example, when ashwagandha extract was given one hour before a daily stress-inducing procedure, it neutralized free radical damage.1 One animal study shows how potent ashwagandha is at reducing tension and stress on your nervous system. In animals exposed to chronic stress, 85% of their cells showed signs of chronic degeneration. But when ashwagandha was administered, the number of damaged cells fell by a whopping 80%.2 The largest human clinical trial to date showed impressive results too. Participants reported a number of measurable improvements — including increased energy, reduced fatigue, better sleep, and an enhanced sense of well-being. Also, strikingly, ashwagandha led to a 26% reduction of cortisol — a stress hormone. What's more, participants in the study saw a fall in fasting blood sugar levels and improved blood lipid levels.3 This herb packs quite a few benefits into one pill. Ashwagandha was even shown to be equivalent to leading name brand anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications — but without the terrible side effects.4 Scientists believe that premature aging linked to chronic stress is also linked to free radical damage. Ashwagandha seems to reverse this oxidative stress. Some scientists suggest using it as an anti-stress therapy, clinically. A University of Texas Health Science Center study also examined its anti-stress benefits, and found that it exhibited activity similar to GABA, which may explain why it is so effective in reducing anxiety. (GABA is your brain's major inhibitory neurotransmitter, which puts the brakes on your anxiety.) You might guess that if ashwagandha can slow you down, reduce your stress and put an end to chronic nervous tension, it may also play a role in your risk of coming down with chronic diseases like cancer. It's a good guess... Killing cancer cells Exciting recent evidence suggests that ashwagandha has the potential to stop cancer cells in their tracks. Scientists in India recently concluded that it disrupts cancer cells' ability to reproduce — an all-important part of fighting cancer.5 A recent study showed ashwagandha could inhibit the growth of human breast, lung, and colon cells in the lab. And at a level comparable to that achieved by the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin. In fact, for breast and colon cancer, the specific compound withaferin A from ashwagandha was more effective than doxorubicin.6 Ashwagandha has been shown to disrupt cancer cells' ability to reproduce, by inhibiting their ability to form new blood vessels which support tumor growth. What's more, animals with lymphatic cancer, when fed ashwagandha, saw a marked increase in life span and an overall decrease in tumor weight.7 There's more: Preliminary studies show that the leaf extract of ashwagandha can decrease cancer cells without adversely affecting healthy ones.8 Another study looked at stomach cancer in lab animals. With orally administered ashwagandha, tumor incidence was cut by 60% and the number of tumors by a staggering 92%. Correspondingly, in skin cancer tumor incidence was cut by 45% and the number of tumors was cut by 71%.9 Other studies confirm those skin cancer findings.10 Looked at from a different angle… a well-known side effect of conventional chemotherapy is neutropenia, a sharp increase in the risk of infection, caused by a drastic drop in white blood cells. An animal study showed that oral ashwahandha protected against neutropenia, suggesting it may be a viable adjunctive therapy.11 What's more… Ashwagandha protects from aging, brain fog and worse Ashwagandha's reach extends beyond stress and cancer. It is also celebrated for its anti-aging and brain protective effects. For years, Indian healers have suggested ashwagandha as a remedy for memory loss and other degenerative brain diseases. Scientists from the University of Leipzig have confirmed this. They examined its effects on the brain, by dosing rats with it and seeing what it did to their neurotransmitters. Turns out it led to more brain activity — the kind that accounts for ashwagandha's reputation for increasing cognitive ability and memory. Other studies have come to the same conclusions. So it should come as no surprise that it's also useful for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's. Some of its impact as an anti-aging tonic may link back to its anti-stress effect. Reducing your stress can slow down the pace at which you're wearing out your body and cells. More exciting breakthroughs to come… As with many herbs, ashwagandha is not specific to one organ or body system and therefore is helpful for multiple health conditions. More research is underway for ashwagandha's efficacy for: * Fatigue * Pain * Skin diseases/acne * Diabetes * Gastro-intestinal diseases * Rheumatoid arthritis * Bone cancer * Tuberculosis * Parkinson's * Bipolar Disorder * Epilepsy I expect these studies will turn up a great deal of new information. It's probable we've just begun to learn the benefits of this herb. One caveat that our research turned up… Please consult your doctor if you have thyroid disease and are considering using ashwagandha because of concerns with how it affects your thyroid. The herb is also not recommended for pregnant women because it reportedly can cause miscarriage. Otherwise, ashwagandha appears to be a safe way to reduce stress in your life — at the very least — and you may reap other benefits as well. It's readily available online from a number of reputable sources. Full disclosure: I haven't tried it myself. My procedure with any new supplement or remedy is to start gradually and be alert to any changes in my digestion, sleep habits, energy level or other symptoms. Alternative medicine boosters love to tell you that all natural remedies are perfectly and safe and have no side effects. Tain't so. Proceed with caution and common sense.