I remember receiving an e-mail that soursop or guyabano is
tens of thousands more potent than chemotherapy. Having just lost a friend this
year due to cancer, I looked at the title and trashed the copy dismissing it as
another one of those incredulous claims.
Then I met a
biochemist from a reputable university who claims three personal encounters
with the efficacy of the plant. She excitedly recounted to me — in between
rounds of freshly roasted Bataan coffee from her plantation — that the latest
case involved the local barangay captain who was diagnosed with cancer. My
husband knows him. His family was advised to prepare for the worse as he was
thought to have only six months to live. Waiting for the prospect of a costly
surgery, the patient got depressed and was resigned that he will not survive
this. Gina boosted his morale and gave the friendly advice of taking tea from
the soursop bark and leaves.
Apparently, the barangay captain did just that. He drank the
soursop tea as his water for three months. He felt better and better and when
he had another scan not a single tumor was seen. He was declared cancer-free!
That, of course, became a celebrated miracle in this sleepy
Bataan town. I am sure they are planting guyabano obsessively as more and more
harvest the fruits, leaves and bark.
Gina mentioned that the barangay captain decided to give it
a try when she mentioned that her mother was diagnosed with cysts in the liver.
Instead of letting her undergo surgery at her mid-60s she decided to just take
the soursop tea and papaya fruit everyday instead. She claims to be healed.
Another was the case of the nanny of her boss who was
diagnosed with breast cancer. Not having the funds for the surgery and
treatment, she decided to go back to the province. Gina and her peers told her
to take soursop tea. Six years had passed, and she is still alive and well.
If this is so true, why can’t more people benefit from it?
Why don’t people know about it? According to Gina, a large pharmaceutical
company in the US spent a lot of money for research on the soursop. They
confirmed that it is a potent cancer cure and commissioned a group to formulate
a drug that can clone the active ingredient of the soursop. She said this
failed so the company — not having any means to patent their discovery — just
shelved everything.
Local views
The Philippine Herbal Medicine Organization shared some
views on their website: “Studies are underway by leading medical institutes,
universities and pharmaceutical companies of the healing properties of guyabano
against cancers. Initial findings show that certain compounds and chemicals
extracted from guyabano leaves, seeds, fruit and bark appear to kill cancer
cells while leaving normal cells remain unaffected.”
The information they shared should be enough for anyone to
consider loving the fruit even if they are not cancer-stricken. The flesh of
the fruit is high in carbohydrates and has considerable amounts of vitamins C,
B1, B2, potassium and dietary fiber. We know the fruit as guyabano, but it is
called graviola in Brazil and guanabana in Spain.
The organization outlined several medicinal uses for its
poultice (warmed paste from pounding the leaves) and decoction (leaves boiled
in water) such as to kill bedbugs and head lice, to reduce fever, to heal skin
abrasions, to alleviate rheumatism and other skin infections, to prevent
scarring of wounds, and as a wet compress for swollen feet and other
inflammations.
They also noted that pulverizing the seeds mixed with soap
and water is an effective spray against caterpillars, armyworms and
leafhoppers. In the Netherlands, leaves of the soursop are placed inside
pillows or on the mattress to induce sleep due to its sedative and
tranquilizing properties.
Guyabano.com
I am not sure if this is the original source of the e-mails I
got, but one was forwarded to me from this website. They claim that “the
soursop or guyabano is the fruit from the graviola tree that is a miraculous
natural cancer cell killer 10,000 times stronger than chemo.” They have a
disclaimer that says none of the claims have been approved and that the website
merely presents information, pertinent aspects of which I lifted are here:
“Research shows that with extracts from this miraculous tree
it now may be possible to attack cancer safely and effectively with an
all-natural therapy that does not cause extreme nausea, weight loss and hair
loss. Protect your immune system and avoid deadly infections. Feel stronger and
healthier throughout the course of the treatment. Boost your energy and improve
your outlook on life.
“Extracts from the tree were shown to: Effectively target
and kill malignant cells in 12 types of cancer, including colon, breast,
prostate, lung and pancreatic cancer. The tree compounds proved to be up to
10,000 times stronger in slowing the growth of cancer cells than a commonly
usedchemotherapeutic drug.
“The compound extracted from the graviola tree selectively
hunts down and kills only cancer cells. It does not harm healthy cells. Various
parts of the graviola tree — including the bark, leaves, roots, fruit and
fruit-seeds — have been used for centuries by medicine men and native Indians
in South America to treat heart disease, asthma, liver problems and arthritis.
“It turns out the drug company (that) invested nearly seven
years trying to synthesize two of the graviola tree’s most powerful anti-cancer
ingredients. If they could isolate and produce man-made clones of what makes
the graviola so potent, they’d be able to patent it and make their money back.
Alas, they hit a brick wall. The original simply could not be replicated. There
was no way the company could protect its profits — or even make back the
millions it poured into research.
“The National Cancer Institute performed the first
scientific research in 1976. The results showed that graviola’s “leaves and
stems were found effective in attacking and destroying malignant cells.
Inexplicably, the results were published in an internal report and never
released to the public.
“Since 1976, graviola has proven to be an immensely potent
cancer killer in 20 independent laboratory tests, yet no double-blind
clinicaltrials — the typical benchmark mainstream doctors and journals used to
judge a treatment’s value — were ever initiated.
“A study published in the Journal of Natural Products,
following a recent study conducted at Catholic University of South Korea stated
that one chemical in graviola was found to selectively kill colon cancer cells
at 10,000 times the potency of the commonly usedchemotherapy drug. The most
significant part of the Catholic University of South Korea report is that
graviola was shown to selectively target the cancer cells, leaving healthy
cells untouched.
“A study at Purdue University recently found that leaves
from the graviola tree killed cancer cells among six human cell lines and were
especially effective against prostate, pancreatic and lung cancers.”
Of course, I discovered out soon that this website sells
guyabano supplements. But I guess, here in the Philippines where the blessed
fruit abounds, you can just eat the fruit, drink the juice or make a tea from
boiling the leaves and bark if you believe any of the claims.
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