page74

PawPaw

By now, you've probably heard about bacteria cells that mutate to become super-cells. Bacteria are simple, single-cell organisms that adapt quickly. Antibiotics may kill them off by the trillion, but the few that survive are the ones with more "muscles," so to speak (or more "brains" if you prefer another metaphor.)These tough survivors are the super-cells that can withstand any kind of antibiotic. Instead of conquering infectious diseases, mainstream medicine has merely created a race between ever-changing, nastier microbes and ever-more powerful antibiotic drugs.

The microbes are destined to win this race. In fact, they already have. If you have the bad luck to encounter one of these super-bugs that are immune to antibiotics, God help you. It's scary stuff.

Now it looks like mainstream medicinehas brought on a similar disaster in cancer cells

Unfortunately, the same evolutionary process is underway in cancer cells. Roughly 2% of cells in many tumours are multiple drug resistant (MDR) cells. These cells begin as typical cancer cells. But over time, they mutate into a strain that can fend off any mixture of chemotherapy drugs.

These cancer super-cells are not just chemotherapy-proof. It's worse than that. The tiny percentage of tumour cells that survive chemo can also multiply very fast. Over time, the cells flourish into a new tumour, equipped and fully-loaded with drug-resistant cells.

These super-cells are one of the main reasons cancer comes back after a patient is told he or she is "in remission." And when it does come back, it's likely that additional rounds of chemo will fail.

A skilled alternative cancer doctor in Germany told me that most patients only benefit from three rounds of chemo. For the first three rounds, the tumour mass gets smaller and the patient may even appear to be cancer-free. But when the cancer returns, the fourth round won't do any good.

I'm sorry to say it's not just chemo that's being overpowered by the cancer super-cells. One of Mexico's best cancer doctors told us, "Laetrile is very effective. But cancer today isn't what cancer was 40 years ago. Forty years ago laetrile was enough. But cancer today is not the same disease. Now we have to use it in combination with other therapies because cancer cells adapt. So we use laetrile with enzymes, colonics, vitamin C, ozone, emulsified vitamin A from Germany, and other therapies."

You can get the full story about this brilliant doctor in our Special Report . But right now I want to tell you about an exciting natural solution to the super-cell crisis. . .

You need this super-cell killer whether you choose chemotherapy or alternatives

Our research at Cancer Defeated has come across a plant that takes on cancer cells in a different way than other natural cancer fighters. It's believed to be the single most effective treatment to kill the hard-to-get-rid-of, multiple-drug-resistant (MDR) cancer cells.

It's also reportedly been successful in shrinking tumours naturally and preventing the growth of new cancer cells with minimal side effects. When this plant is used in conjunction with chemotherapy, the chemo turns out to be much more effective at tackling MDR cells.

The magic plant is the pawpaw tree. Not only can it improve the effectiveness of chemo, it also has power on its own. If you avoid chemo and just take pawpaw, you may have luck shrinking a tumour on your own, although I don't recommend relying on one therapy.

Zap cells at the energy source

The pawpaw tree boasts the largest edible fruit native to North America. It's often confused with papaya, a tropical fruit that looks similar but is not related. The confusion stems from the fact that many people call pawpaw "papaya" because the two resemble one another. On top of that, tropical papaya fruit has cancer-healing properties in its own right, which makes people even more inclined to get the two fruits confused.

The plant I'm talking about is pawpaw (also called the American pawpaw). It's mostly found in the eastern part of the U.S. It's loaded with proteins, beneficial fats, and complex carbohydrates. Best of all, the pawpaw species Asimina triloba has powerful bioactive compounds called annonaceous acetogenins. These compounds have been proven to fight insects, parasites, and most importantly, cancer cells.

But here's a surprise: The most potent acetogenins aren't found in the fruit. They're found in an extract of pawpaw tree twigs. The acetogenins, which are fatty acid derivatives, kill cancer by zapping the life energy source of cancer cells. That means they kill the ATP in cancer cells. ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is what fuels the production of DNA and RNA and helps cancer cells multiply.

When I say "kill" the ATP, I mean the acetogenins from pawpaw step in and block the production of ATP. This means cancer cells are no longer able to grow. The cells also begin to starve because ATP is no longer present to produce blood vessels as a food source to cells. Without these blood vessels to feed on, cancer cells lose their source of nutrients and either weaken or die.

Lab results show that pawpaw acetogenins focus on cancer cells and don't seem to affect healthy cells - a huge benefit. The reason is because tumour cells are more metabolically active and also multiply uncontrollably. They are strong bullies that compete with healthy cells for nutrients, and in this case that works against them because they seize the fatal pawpaw acetogenins and gobble them up before they reach healthy cells.

From what we've been able to learn, pawpaw is the only cancer treatment known to effectively stand up to MDR cells. Similar plants like the graviola (also known as the guanabana) have similar acetogenin properties, but they're not as potent as pawpaw.

Haven't heard of this treatment?Don't count on NCI to share the news

The man behind the pawpaw cancer treatment is Dr. Jerry McLaughlin. This PhD of Pharmacognosy studied 3,500 botanical extracts for 28 years and found evidence to support pawpaw as an almighty cancer conqueror. (By the way, that's not a typo: pharmacognosy is the study of medicines that come from natural sources. The word is new to me, too.)

Twenty of his years in research were funded by a $5 million research grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Strangely, the NCI never published McLaughlin's findings. If you look on the Institute's website, pawpaw research is nowhere to be found.

Mighty strange, if you ask me. Especially when reports show Dr. McLaughlin published over 100 scientific papers.

Apparently, research for the plant's ability to fight drug-resistant cancer cells looked promising in laboratory tests, but less so in animal studies. The extract was not very soluble in water or body fluids, which caused inefficient distribution in the body.

This barrier seems to be the reason a mainstream drug with pawpaw extract has not been released. But the lack of results on animals did not stop Dr. McLaughlin. He went on to work as Chief Scientific Officer at Nature's Sunshine, a supplement company. While there, he was able to test pawpaw extract on humans during a clinical trial that took place from 2002 to 2003.

Testing the pawpaw pill

For the clinical trial, McLaughlin led a team of researchers who tested 94 cancer patients. The type of cancer varied in each patient, the stage of cancer varied (but many were at the terminal stage), and the treatment procedure for each patient also varied.

Some patients tried pawpaw in conjunction with chemotherapy and radiation, some tried it after failed attempts at chemo and radiation, and others tried the extract with no other form of treatment.

The constant factor within each test was a daily regimen of four pawpaw pills. Despite all the other variables, many of the results looked promising.

Take a look at some of the case studies:

1.        A 73-year-old male with stage four prostate cancer that spread to his hip bone, abdomen, and neck, saw an improvement within six weeks of taking pawpaw. A CT scan showed 25% reduction in the tumour masses and his blood levels remained constant. At the end of the 18-month trial, he remained in stable condition.

2.        A 62-year-old female with breast cancer took pawpaw concurrently with a seven-month chemotherapy treatment. In that time, her tumour nearly disappeared. She underwent a lumpectomy to remove any traces of cancer, but the surgery found no metastatic cancer. Now the patient is in complete remission and is believed to be cancer-free.

3.        A 66-year-old male participant with terminal lung cancer had already tried two years of chemo. The drugs were unsuccessful thanks to the influx of drug-resistant cancer cells. After two months of pawpaw treatment, his blood tumour markers decreased from 275 to 222, he gained five pounds, and his energy allowed him to walk on his own - something he had not done for many months as a bedridden patient.

4.        A 59-year-old female with breast cancer decided against chemo, radiation, and surgery altogether. Within four months of taking pawpaw, her blood levels decreased to a normal range and the size of her tumour shrunk. Her doctor was impressed with her overall energy levels and improvements.

The trials showed evidence that pawpaw could really work well. It was reported that of 20 terminal cancer patients in the study, 13 survived the 18-month trial and were all in stable condition.

It also appeared that those undergoing chemotherapy in conjunction with pawpaw noticed a reduction in side effects and a noticeable boost in energy. The only side effects reported were nausea or vomiting, but that was only reported for 3% of patients studied.

Apparently, pawpaw can work as an emetic (a substance that makes you vomit; ipecac would be another). But the urge to vomit seems to go away after a couple weeks of use. No other side effects have been reported, and as I said the emetic effect itself was rare.

Is this something worth trying?

In some ways, it seems like pawpaw is just the kind of thing we look for in a cancer treatment. It looks promising whether you use it in conjunction with chemo or as part of an alternative treatment protocol.

However, reliance on pawpaw all by itself comes with a risk. Though McLaughlin's clinical trials revealed a handful of success stories, McLaughlin admitted measurable results were only evident in about 50% of patients. From what I can see, it should be just one of a battery of treatments.

Plus, pawpaw should never be used to prevent cancer. It's only useful as a means to take the offensive against cancer cells.

If a patient wants chemotherapy for cancer treatment, then pawpaw can be an important complement. The fact that pawpaw can take on the MDR cells that anti-cancer drugs can't reach on their own is a good reason to consider the supplement.

It troubles me that NCI never published pawpaw research articles, and it makes me wonder why they have no interest in reporting progress.

Clearly, more research is needed. The only reported human trial (described above) consisted of less than 100 patients, and their situations were very different.

I suggest an extensive research study that evaluates the healthy lifestyle of cancer patients in addition to their use of pawpaw. Then, I think the success stories already evidenced by the extract will make a stronger argument.

Kindest regards,
Lee Euler
Publisher