Mistletoe, a parasite associated primarily with Christmas, can help treat people suffering from colorectal cancer in Australia, reports Science Daily.
Mistletoe extract is already used to treat colorectal cancer patients in Europe. Australians, however, refrained from using it due to insufficient scientific evidence. Currently, scientists from the University of Adelaide have compared the effects of extracts from three different species of mistletoe on cancer cells and healthy cells in the colon.
One of them (derived from the Fraxini species growing on the ash) was found to be highly effective in killing cancer cells, while being more gentle on healthy intestinal cells compared to chemotherapy.
The extract was more potent on cancer cells than the drug used in chemotherapy. This is important because, as we know, chemotherapy also kills healthy cells and is associated with bothersome side effects for patients, such as mouth ulcers and hair loss, says the lead researcher, Zahra Lotfollahi.
Australians emphasize that this is only the first step in research into extracts with a smaller range of side effects. It is possible that extracts from other mistletoe species that have not been analyzed yet will prove to be even more effective (PAP)
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