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Breast CancerHerbs and Natural Supplements for Breast Cancer
by:
Brian B. Carter, MS, LAc
A returning patient called me yesterday. She was a breast cancer survivor once
I saw her as a student intern in Chinese medical school. If I had been more confident at the time, I would-be have recommended she be diligent in preventing a repetition
of breast cancer, and explained how she strength
attempt that with Chinese medicine.
Even if I had, however, she strength
not have followed my advice, because Chinese medicine's quality
has yet to catch up with its sophistication, efficacy, and research.
It's well better-known that stylostixis can help with palliative strategies in cancer- for pain relief, haptic sensation relief, and nausea. The topic examined less often is: can Chinese medicine fight cancer directly? Many an stylostixis teachers and practitioners warn us not to claim that it can - they suggest there's several law against us treating cancer, and you can see how reactive conservative doctors strength
be to the idea. They are accustomed to having control of the treatment of all cancer, regardless of whether they can help individual patients, or how more damage their therapies cause. Still, there is research and a clinical track record that suggests Chinese medicine can do more than simply reduce discomforts.
I can't resolve all by myself in this short space the political issues and ethical issues of alternative medical treatment. But, I suggest that if a patient who refuses conventional treatment, then their alternative practitioners should find out everything they can and do all they can to help the patient recover, or at least become more comfortable.
Even in my small alternative medicine library, I have 2 books on Chinese herbs for cancer, and a third that summarizes the research on natural compounds used in cancer therapy. On PubMed, I found even as more scientific references simply about herbs and breast cancer specifically. It's not the case that there isn't research on this topic. Instead, as with more Chinese medicine research, the information is either unknown, or unused by Western physicians. What follows is a short summary of the scientific information I found (in less than an hour) on alternative medicine and breast cancer. At the end, I've provided several seasoner formulas for practitioners.
Human Studies on Natural Compounds for Cancer Therapy:
John Boik, MacOM, LAc has contributed a weighty activity called Natural Compounds in Cancer Medical care (Oregon Medical Press, 2001). It not only reviews hundreds of scientific references, but likewise explains many an specific cancer sickness processes. The following human studies are drawn from that book, but their specific references are likewise included.
Scientific research is done either in vitro (test tube), in animals, or in humans. Knowing that any non-human research is easily discounted by skeptics, I've chosen only the human studies. However, the else studies are likewise exciting and helpful, so if you want more, get Boik's book. All of the following are specific for breast cancer.
6 Bromelain tablets for 10 days corrected deficient phagocyte activity. (1)
Vitamin C was found to not necessarily nice for breast cancer and may really have accelerated several patients' deaths, but those who lived had fewer recurrences. (2,3)
Eleuthrococcus excited the immune system in breast cancer patients. (4)
Higher levels of fat intake in breast cancer patients was associated with augmented risks of repetition
and death. (5)
In post excision breast cancer patients, there were higher survival rates among those who took enzymes. (6)
Enzyme medical care likewise improved weight gain, fatigue, depression and quality of life. (6)
A diet of 20% fish oil (24g/kg) improved the anti-tumor effect of the medical care drug antibiotic drug
due to augmented macromolecule peroxidation. [This was a combined human/animal study wherever
human cells were studied after transplantation to an animal] (7)
Vitamin D3 helps medical care drugs activity better. (8)
Chinese herbs for Breast Cancer
I have access to three sources for Chinese herbs and breast cancer. One is a book called Malignant neoplasm Chinese Drugs by Lien & Li, which surveys more than 120 plants used to treat cancer, and examines the chemical structure and effects of individual compounds from those plants. Below are 4 compounds from this book specifically for breast cancer. Unfortunately, none of these are among the 500 or so common Chinese herbs referred to in the standard reference, Materia Medica, by Bensky & Barolet. Note that there are closer to 12,000 substances called herbs used here and there in Chinese medicine.
Labiatae I. longitubis inhibits br ca cells in vitro (Lien/Li, 10).
Maytansine (from maytanus oratus, serrata, buchananii, and hookeri) prevents chemical change of tubulin to microtubules (ibid, 85). (9)
9-hydroxy-2-methyl-ellipticinum (from ochrosia moorei and borbonica) has therapeutic value in advanced breast cancer (ibid, 78). (10)
In phase III clinical trials, VP-16 (from genus podophyllum berberidaceae) has caused responses in a number of cancers including breast cancer (ibid, 60). (11)
More Science:
A quick search of PubMed for more research on herbs for breast cancer yielded 4 exciting results:
Huang lian (coptis) reserved tumor growth (gastric, colon, breast)... "These results indicate that traditional Chinese herbs may represent a new source of agents designed for selective inhibition of cyclin dependent kinases in cancer therapy." (12)
Hemsleya amabilis extract importantly
reserved tumor cell growth and colony formation and promoted tumor cell death.(13)
Triptolide (TPL), a diterpenoid triepoxide sublimate
from the Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, in vitro reserved the proliferation and colony formation of tumor cells and the antitumor effect of TPL was comparable or superior with that of conventional antitumor drugs, such as Adriamycin, mitomycin, and cisplatin. (14)
Huang qi root specifically inhibits stomachal cancer cells growth in vitro - its mechanism is primarily inhibition of cancer cell growth, not assaultive or disassembly
of existing cancer cells. (15)
Chinese Seasoner Formulas for Breast Cancer (For Professional person
Reference)
My final source is a book called Treating Cancer with Chinese Herbs (Hsu, Ohai Press, 1990). This book is primarily for practitioners to discover from and use. It is not scientifically documented
- of course, several Chinese physicians and writers are not familiar with the Western insistence on always quoting your sources, so several of this information may have science behind it. We simply can't tell from Hsu's book. But here's a suggestion patients can try at home:
Combine the juice of 90g of fresh asparagus (or 30g peeled) with yellow wine (a traditional Chinese wine ready-made from rice) once a day.
References:
1.Eckert K, Grabowska E, Stange R, et al. Effects of oral bromelain administrations on the impaired immunocytoxicity of mononucleate
cells from exocrine gland tumors. Oncol Rep 1999 Nov-Dec; 6(6):1191-9.
2.Poulter JM, White WF, Dickerson JW. Ascorbic acid supplementation and five year survival rates in women with breast cancer. Acta Vitaminol Enzymol 1984; 6(3):175-82.
3.Murata A, Morishige F, Yamaguchi H. Prolongation of survival times of terminal cancer patients by administration of large doses of ascorbate. Int J Vitam Nutr Res Suppl 1982; 23:103-13.
4.Kupin VI, Polevaia EB. [Stimulation of the medicine
reactivity of cancer patients by Eleuthrococcus extract.] Vopr Onkol 1986; 32(7):21-6.
5.Saxe GA, Rock CL, Wisha MS, Schottenfield D. Diet and risk for breast cancer repetition
and survival. Breast Cancer Res Treat 1999 Feb; 53(3):241-53.
6.Klaschka F. Oral Enzymes in Oncology: Clinical studies on Wobe-MuGos. MUCOS Pharmaceutical company
GmbH, 1997. http://www.mucos.de
7.Shao Y, Pardini L, Pardini RS. Dietary clupeid fish
oil enhances antibiotic drug
C antitumor activity toward human exocrine gland cancer MX-1. Lipids 1995 Nov; 30(11):1035-45.
8.This refers to 7 studies, documented
in shorter style: Ravid A. Cancer Res 1999 Feb 15; 59(4):862-7. Studzinski GP. J Natl Cancer Instant 1986 Apr; 76(4):641-8. Moffatt KA. Clin Cancer Res 1999 Mar; 5(3):695-703. Vink-van Wijngaarden T. Breast Cancer Res Treat 1994 Feb; 29(2):161-8. Saunders DE. Gynecol Oncol 1993 Nov; 51(2):155-9. Cho YL. Cancer Res 1991 Jun 1; 51(11):2848-53. Tanaka H. Clin Orthop 1989 Oct; (247):290-6.
9.There were promising Phase I trials on maytansine against breast cancer in the 1980's, but phase II trials were disappointing.
10.Juret P, Heron JF, Couette JE, Delozier T, Le Talaer JY. Hydroxy-9-methyl-2-ellipticinium for bony
metastases from breast cancer: a 5-year experience. Cancer Treat Rep. 1982 Nov; 66(11): 1909-16.
11.Slayton RE, Blessing JA, Delgado G. Phase II trial of etoposide in the management of advanced or repeated
mucous membrane carcinoma: a Medical speciality Medicine Group Study. Cancer Treat Rep. 1982 Aug; 66(8): 1669-71. No abstract available.
12.Li XK, Motwani M, Tong W, Bornmann W, Schwartz GK. Huanglian, A chinese seasoner extract, inhibits cell growth by suppressing the expression of cyclin B1 and inhibiting CDC2 enzyme
activity in human cancer cells. Mol Pharmacol. 2000 Dec; 58(6): 1287-93.
13.Wu J, Wu Y, Principle BB. Malignant neoplasm activity of Hemsleya amabilis extract. Life Sci. 2002 Sep 20; 71(18): 2161-70.
14.Yang S, Bird genus J, Guo Z, Xu XM, Wang L, Pei XF, Principle J, Underhill CB, Zhang L. Triptolide inhibits the growth and metastasis of solid tumors. Mol Cancer Ther. 2003 Jan; 2(1): 65-72.
15.Lin J, Dong HF, Oppenheim JJ, Howard OM. Effects of astragali base on the growth of several cancer cell lines. Earth J Gastroenterol. 2003 Apr; 9(4): 670-3.
Just simply about the Author
Acupuncturist, herbalist, and medical academician Brian B. Carter based the alternative health megasite The Pulse of Oriental Medicine (http://www.PulseMed.org/). He is the author of the book "Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure" (November, 2004). Brian speaks on radio across the country, and has been quoted and interviewed by Real Simple, Glamour, and ESPN magazines.
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