World's best malaria treatment kills cancer, too

World's Top Treatment for Malaria
Is Also a Potent Cancer Killer

Chinese healers have used the leaves of artemisia as a medicinal tea for thousands of years. Lately, even mainstream medicine has crowned it as a highly effective treatment for malaria. Now — even more exciting — the evidence confirms it can heal cancer, too.

And because it's an approved and recognized malaria treatment, there's a strong possibility that this safe remedy might find its way into mainstream cancer protocols.

It's time to take a close look at this herbal discovery…

Continued below…

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Also known as sweet wormwood and mugwort, the Artemisia annuaplant has developed a Western fan base as a potent malaria treatment.

This occurred mainly because the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) as the standard global malaria treatment.

In fact, Wikipedia says artemisinin and its close relatives "possess the most rapid action of all current drugs" against the parasite that causes malaria. It's nearly unheard of for a plant remedy to receive that kind of ringing endorsement from the gatekeepers of the medical establishment.

Artemisinin is one of the extracts of the artemisia plant, along with artesunate and artemether. When manufacturers combine artemisinin with other drugs, it produces an effective and safe cure for uncomplicated cases of malaria. The WHO cautions against using it by itself because the malaria bug may develop resistance to it.

In the last few decades, scientific research proves we can also add "cancer killer" to the list of artemisinin's accolades.

Here's why some folks call artemisia
a "cancer bomb!"

Regular readers of Cancer Defeated know that apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death that your body uses to rid itself of aging or damaged cells.

Artemisia simply speeds up this natural process.

The plant contains two joined oxygen atoms that unhook when they're near iron. Both cancer cells and malaria parasites use iron to grow, so they horde it. In some cases they store as much as 1000 times as much as normal cells. In so doing, they make themselves a target for artemisinin.

When artemisinin comes into contact with iron, it causes a chemical reaction that produces free radicals. These charged atoms attack cell membranes—and in the case of malaria, they destroy the parasite.

When people with cancer receive an artemisia compound, the free radicals 'bomb' the cancer cells, causing them to wither and die!

So what kinds of cancer are medical researchers using to test its muscle?

Artemisia is no one-trick pony!

Chinese scientists invested a lot of time and money into researching medicinal plants in the 1960s. Their goal was to develop treatments that would free them from reliance on Western medicine.

Since then, Western researchers have picked up the torch and started conducting their own research on this amazing plant. The compounds it contains have been tested against several cancer lines. And so far they're proving to be champion cancer killers!

For example, two bioengineering researchers at the University of Washington have used artemisia extracts successfully to target breast cancer cells.

In an earlier story, I reported that research professors Henry Lai and Narendra Singh said the plant compound artemisinin is "highly toxic to the cancer cells, but has a marginal impact on normal breast cells."

In fact, their study results, reported in the 2001 issue of Life Sciences, describe how the extract killed just about all exposed breast cancer cells within 16 hours.

And that's not the only kind of cancer artemisia can beat down…

The September 2010 issue of Phytomedicine reported that compounds derived from artemisia root sped up liver cancer apoptosis. The compound was also found to be toxic to ovarian and cervical cancers.

And a case study reported in the Archive of Oncology reported that a man with cancer of the larynx was successfully treated with artesunate, another extract of artemisia. After just two months of receiving artesunate injections and tablets, the man's tumor shrank by about 70 percent!

Clearly the studies done so far indicate that it works! But you might be wondering…

Is it SAFE to use?

In a word, yes. Unlike chemotherapy, which damages both cancer cells and normal cells, the various extracts of artemisia annua are non-toxic.

More than 4,000 case studies prove that this species of artemisia is one of Nature's 'smart bombs' that damages only cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

And by the way, you may grow one or more species of artemisia in your garden. It's an ornamental plant with beautiful silvery leaves. I don't recommend that you consume these garden plants unless you do your own, thorough research and confirm they're edible. These pretty garden plants are NOT the species that's been proven safe and effective in malaria and cancer treatment.

The website Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Cancer reports that prescription drugs derived from artemisinin are available for malaria treatment. No major side effects have been reported when these substances are used to treat malaria.

Higher doses are needed to treat cancer, but the existing Phase I clinical trials have not been fully evaluated for safety at these dosage levels. I had hoped that U.S. doctors might legally be able to use prescription artemisinin off-label as a cancer treatment. But it appears this herbal "drug" is only FDA-approved when used in combination with other drugs as a malaria treatment. That's unfortunate.

Although you won't have access to pure artemisinin, the American Cancer Society website mentions that "thujone-free wormwood extract has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in foods and as a flavoring in alcoholic drinks." The herbal extracts also are available in capsules and liquid form to add to water. You can also use the whole herb to brew as a tea. I don't know whether any of these options are good proxies for artemisinin.

Wormwood oil, washes, or poultices are also available to apply to the skin.

So who uses it?

In our many interviews with alternative and integrative cancer practitioners, no one has mentioned artemisinin. This doesn't mean none of them use it, but it probably means few or none employ it as a first line treatment. Or it could mean they don't know about its anticancer properties. As readers of this newsletter know, there are many natural cancer treatments. Nobody knows about or uses all of them.

I also don't have any information about individuals who have self-treated with this herbal extract. (If you have any experience with it, by all means write me at newsletter@cancerdefeated.com.) I hope we learn more in the future so that cancer patients can tap into this natural health remedy backed by thousands of years of safe use!