12 Jan

The Plant that Helps Fight Cancer

The Plant that Helps Fight Cancer

By Dr. Alberto Garoli

The National Institute of Health in Italy has patented the extract of the Prunus plant as an adjunct to chemotherapy. It inhibits the growth of cancer cells and will be available by prescription.

Industries continually churn out innovative drugs, capable of changing the course of cancer, which to date is considered unbeatable. The research costs hundreds of millions. Now, nature seems to have provided some help in this area: not a revolutionary help but a much less expensive one. Prunus is a plant that grows mainly in Molise. The blue fruit of the Prunus plant is transformed into delicious liquor by the local producers. Were it not for National Institute of Health, which has discovered and tested its properties, it may have remained nothing more than a delicious drink. However, it seem that the extract of the Prunus plant is not just another of many anticancer elixirs which claim to cure cancer but do no such thing. The Prunus extract, in combination with a particular mixture of amino acids, the essential constituents of our tissues, has been proven effective in tests in inhibiting the growth of cancerous cells up to 78 percent. The extract, already patented, will be available in June, ready to be used as an adjunct to chemotherapy.

The plant name is Prunus spinosa Trigno. The extract was discussed at the fourth International Congress of Medicine Biointegrity by Stefania Moschini, a researcher and author of a study being published: “It is rich in antioxidants and can thwart tumor growth. In the laboratory, the extract can reduce the cells taken from patients with tumors in the lung, colon and cervix. Alone, it had no effect, and then we added amino acids, vitamins and minerals.” Mid-year it will go on sale. Once the drug is available, hopefully its uses and applications with treating various cancers can be broadened.

According to Meschini, the effects of the extract are very rapid. The destruction of malignant cells takes place in twenty-four hours. Mastrodonato Franco, president of the Italian Society of Medicine Biointegrity (Simeb), is confident about the therapeutic potential of the shrub: “It is not toxic. The compound has already been registered at the Ministry of Health.” The study will be presented to the scientific community on June 25 during the Expo in a conference on integrated cancer care. A doctor’s prescription will be required. “Natural remedies are great allies”, says Paul Marchetti, an oncologist at St. Andrew’s in Rome. “Anything that improves the quality of life for patients is welcome.”