Hundreds of years ago, cancer was nearly an unknown term. However, the increased consumption of low-quality food and dairy, processed food, refined sugar brought many new diseases into existence.
Nowadays, the modern medicine points out the unhealthy diet and lifestyle habits as potential risks for cancer development.
Although subjected to the conventional cancer treatments, most of the cancer patients look for some alternative therapies. They would rather choose some herbs, but they wonder what herbs are the most suitable for cancer treatment.
New Scientific Discovery on The Horizon
According to a study published in the “Life Science,” artemisinin, the derivative of sweet wormwood plant can destroy 98% of the breast cancer cells in less than 16 hours.
This plant originates from North Africa and Eurasia, but it is also found in the United States and Canada. Someone can be familiar with this plant since it is the main ingredient of absinthe.
The statistics have shown that this plant is so potent that it can reduce almost 28% of the breast cancer cells. When combined with iron, it can completely eradicate cancer cells without harming the healthy ones.
In the past, artemisinin was a potent antimalarial agent. Fortunately, this study discovered its potential for treating cancer.
The Way This Plant Reacts
When the participants in the study were added iron, which accumulates in the breast or the cancer-infected cells, artemisinin attacked the cancerous cells while leaving the healthy ones.
Iron is an important element because the cancerous cells have transferrin receptors that help them develop and divide.
These receptors are also present in the healthy cells, but the cancerous cells have them in greater number. For that reason, an iron-artemisinin combination can target these cells.
Lots of experiments have shown that artemisinin could successfully remove cancerous cells in the presence of iron.
As we have mentioned before, artemisinin took an important part in the treatment of malaria. This is due to the abundance of iron which the parasites can’t stand.
The bioengineers Narendra Singh and Henry Lai from the University of Washington were responsible for this discovery. They found that cancerous cells undergo apoptosis, a process in which they kill themselves.
Unfortunately, because of its high price, people can’t obtain this extract very easily. However, the growing interest in this plant tends to make the price more obtainable.
“Sanofi,” the French drug manufacturer, is about to produce 50-60 tons of this extract every year in order to meet the world’s market demand.