Does Ginseng and Herbs Fight Cancer?

Does Ginseng Fight Cancer?
By Mike Fillon

Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
WebMD Medical News

July 19, 2000 -- Ginseng is in the spotlight again as researchers look into how well the herb can actually help fight cancer. Though some early research has shown some benefit, at least one complementary medicine expert feels that the future of this and many other hopeful herbs is not too bright.

A group of researchers say a number of animal and human studies from 20 years ago to the present show Panax ginseng may reduce the risk of several types of cancer. Their report appears in the July issue of Cancer Causes and Control -- a medical journal published in the Netherlands.

Panax ginseng is one of the most medically important varieties of ginseng in the Orient and has been used for thousands of years as a natural tonic for restoration of strength and a cure-all, or panacea (hence the name Panax), according to the researchers. Ginseng has grown very popular in this country, with sales increasing more than 20% each year, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

The components in Panax ginseng -- both red and white versions that the Korean researchers say fight cancer growth -- are a group of 34 constituents collectively called ginsenosides. In one 1980 study in Korea, red ginseng extract inhibited the formation of lung tumors in rats. In another study in 1983 using mice, a 75% reduction in liver cancer was reported. Other studies on mice and rats have shown reductions in cancer of the mammary glands, cervix, ovaries, kidney, stomach, and skin.

The researchers do issue one caveat about the cancer-fighting properties of ginseng, however. "While Panax ginseng has shown cancer-preventive effects," write researcher Hai Rim Shin and colleagues, "the evidence is not conclusive as to its cancer-preventive activity in humans." Shin believes further research is needed, and based on the positive results so far, is warranted. Shin failed to respond to a request for an interview by WebMD.

There have been only a couple of studies of ginseng use on humans. One study conducted by researcher Taik Koo Yun -- who also co-authored this latest study -- found that among more than 4,600 people over the age of 40, ginseng users were approximately 70% less likely to develop cancer compared to those who did not take the herb. They also found that the more frequently ginseng was consumed, the lower the risk of getting cancer was.

One skeptic is Ernst E. Cassileth, MD, from the department of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter in the U.K. He studied a variety of herbal cancer cures, including shark cartilage, mistletoe, thymus therapy, essiac, hydrazine sulphate, 714-X, dietary regimens, green tea and Panax ginseng, in a study published in the European Journal of Cancer in 1999. His conclusion: "None of these treatments offer reasonable hope for a cure," he tells WebMD.

"It's premature to make a prediction of a supplement preventing or inhibiting cancer based on a 52-day study on mice," says Ray Sahelian, MD, who has reviewed some of the Korean ginseng research and has authored books on other dietary supplements. "There are so many complicating factors involved in cancer formation that even if a supplement helps in one particular area of the immune system, it may have detrimental effects on another aspect."

The ACS has offered no official position on ginseng as a cancer treatment or preventive agent. The ACS will only say that although proponents of many herbal remedies claim to have anticancer effects, only a few have gained substantial popularity as alternative cancer therapies.

The ACS says it does recognize that ginseng has been used for centuries and there are claims that it works marvels. "But it has not yet been adequately tested in a scientific way," the ACS statement says. "Those studies that were conducted produced contradictory results. Further, studies of 54 ginseng products found that 25% contained no ginseng at all, and 60% contained only trace amounts."

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Some Herbs May Fight Cancer

Anticancer Effects Reported for Ginger, Barbed Skullcap, Green Tea

By Daniel DeNoon
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Oct. 28, 2003 -- You might already have some of the newest cancer-fighting drugs. But you'll find them in your kitchen, not in your medicine cabinet.


New studies show anticancer effects in ginger, tea made from a Chinese herb called barbed skullcap, and the more traditional green tea. The reports were presented this week's Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting, sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research.


Ginger for Colon Cancer


Ginger's intense flavor comes from its main ingredient -- a chemical called [6]-gingerol. And that's not all this chemical does, says Ann Bode, PhD, assistant director of the Hormel Institute at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul.


Bode gave a small dose of gingerol to 20 mice three times a week. The mice -- which lack an immune system -- ate the ginger ingredient before and after getting injections of human colon tumor cells.


"Mice that received gingerol had a very marked inhibition of human cancer growth," Bode said at a news conference.


How impressive are the results? Well, it's only mice. But the University of Minnesota has applied for a patent on the use of [6]-gingerol as an anticancer agent. It has already licensed the technology to Pediatric Pharmaceuticals of Iselin, N.J.


Of course, all fresh ginger contains gingerol. How much would you have to eat to get an anticancer effect? Not much -- but it depends on the freshness of the ginger and the kind of ginger you get.


"The ginger component we used is a primary component of ginger root," Bode tells WebMD. "There can be a half gram of it per gram of ginger root, but this depends on how the ginger is processed and how it is grown. We really don't know how much ginger root you would have to eat to get the same effect we saw in mice. However, in the popular literature, people have consumed 2-8 grams twice a day with no toxic effect. I am not saying I recommend that, but depending on their culture a lot of people eat a lot of ginger."


Barbed Skullcap Tea


Barbed skullcap is the Chinese medicinal herb ban zhi lian. Its scientific name is Scutellaria barbata. Tea made from the herb has been used for a variety of purposes -- including treatment of liver, lung, and rectal cancer.


Brian Wong, PhD, of Union College in Lincoln, Neb., tried giving it to a strain of mice bred to develop prostate cancer. Normally, these mice quickly develop fatal prostate tumors. Those who received barbed skullcap had much slower tumor growth.


"We hope to find the same benefits against prostate cancer in human models," Wong says in a news release.


The herb is brewed into a dark tea. It's very potent, Wong says, and only a small cupful provides a full dose. However, he warns against drinking lots of the tea in an effort to prevent cancer.


"I drink it because I know on the molecular level it is blocking carcinogens," Wong says. "But I don't drink it daily. We need to work out the liver toxicity of the extract. Too much is not good."


Green Tea


Several researchers presented new research into the anticancer effects of green tea.


Nurulain Zaveri, PhD, of SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., reported on the green tea extract known as EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate). Though this extract is thought to have anticancer properties, it's not easily absorbed by the body. One would have to drink seven or eight cups of green tea a day to get an effective dose of EGCG.


Zaveri's team developed a form of EGCG that's more easily absorbed. In the test tube, it inhibits a Breast Cancer growth factor.


Iman Hakim, MD, PhD, of the Arizona Cancer Center, led a study in which smokers drank four cups a day of green or black tea. Decaffeinated green tea -- but not black tea -- cut down on one kind of DNA damage seen in smokers.


Jia-Sheng Wang, MD, PhD, of Texas Tech University, led studies of the effects of a green tea extract on people at high risk of liver cancer. Study participants received green tea polyphenols for three months. At the end of the study, they had lower levels of a chemical marker for liver cancer risk.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SOURCES: Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research conference, American Association for Cancer Research, Phoenix, Oct. 26-30, 2003. News release, AACR. News release, University of Minnesota. News conference, AACR.

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Does Ginseng Fight Cancer?
By Mike Fillon

Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
WebMD Medical News

July 19, 2000 -- Ginseng is in the spotlight again as researchers look into how well the herb can actually help fight cancer. Though some early research has shown some benefit, at least one complementary medicine expert feels that the future of this and many other hopeful herbs is not too bright.

A group of researchers say a number of animal and human studies from 20 years ago to the present show Panax ginseng may reduce the risk of several types of cancer. Their report appears in the July issue of Cancer Causes and Control -- a medical journal published in the Netherlands.

Panax ginseng is one of the most medically important varieties of ginseng in the Orient and has been used for thousands of years as a natural tonic for restoration of strength and a cure-all, or panacea (hence the name Panax), according to the researchers. Ginseng has grown very popular in this country, with sales increasing more than 20% each year, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

The components in Panax ginseng -- both red and white versions that the Korean researchers say fight cancer growth -- are a group of 34 constituents collectively called ginsenosides. In one 1980 study in Korea, red ginseng extract inhibited the formation of lung tumors in rats. In another study in 1983 using mice, a 75% reduction in liver cancer was reported. Other studies on mice and rats have shown reductions in cancer of the mammary glands, cervix, ovaries, kidney, stomach, and skin.

The researchers do issue one caveat about the cancer-fighting properties of ginseng, however. "While Panax ginseng has shown cancer-preventive effects," write researcher Hai Rim Shin and colleagues, "the evidence is not conclusive as to its cancer-preventive activity in humans." Shin believes further research is needed, and based on the positive results so far, is warranted. Shin failed to respond to a request for an interview by WebMD.

There have been only a couple of studies of ginseng use on humans. One study conducted by researcher Taik Koo Yun -- who also co-authored this latest study -- found that among more than 4,600 people over the age of 40, ginseng users were approximately 70% less likely to develop cancer compared to those who did not take the herb. They also found that the more frequently ginseng was consumed, the lower the risk of getting cancer was.

One skeptic is Ernst E. Cassileth, MD, from the department of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter in the U.K. He studied a variety of herbal cancer cures, including shark cartilage, mistletoe, thymus therapy, essiac, hydrazine sulphate, 714-X, dietary regimens, green tea and Panax ginseng, in a study published in the European Journal of Cancer in 1999. His conclusion: "None of these treatments offer reasonable hope for a cure," he tells WebMD.

"It's premature to make a prediction of a supplement preventing or inhibiting cancer based on a 52-day study on mice," says Ray Sahelian, MD, who has reviewed some of the Korean ginseng research and has authored books on other dietary supplements. "There are so many complicating factors involved in cancer formation that even if a supplement helps in one particular area of the immune system, it may have detrimental effects on another aspect."

The ACS has offered no official position on ginseng as a cancer treatment or preventive agent. The ACS will only say that although proponents of many herbal remedies claim to have anticancer effects, only a few have gained substantial popularity as alternative cancer therapies.

The ACS says it does recognize that ginseng has been used for centuries and there are claims that it works marvels. "But it has not yet been adequately tested in a scientific way," the ACS statement says. "Those studies that were conducted produced contradictory results. Further, studies of 54 ginseng products found that 25% contained no ginseng at all, and 60% contained only trace amounts."

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