Pomegranate Strikes to the Heart of Cancer Malignancy

Ever since chemotherapy and radiation became the ‘standard of care,’ oncology has been in the Dark Ages. Could the scientific community finally be waking up to the incomparable cancer-killing power of foods to cure what conventional treatment only makes worse? 

One of the most important discoveries in biology and medicine of the past fifteen years is that cancer stem cells are largely responsible for the failure of conventional cancer treatment. These cells, which represent a small population of tumor cells (~ 1:1000), are cancer cells characterized by stem cell properties such as self-renewal and the ability to give rise to all cell types found in a particular cancer sample. These cells drive tumor development, progression, metastasis and drug resistance and are highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments. To the contrary, these conventional treatments actually increase their number and malignancy.^1,2 

You can learn more about this critically important topic by watching my video below:

The discovery of cancer stem cells at the heart of cancer malignancy reveals that the present-day standard of care in oncology is doing far more harm than good. It also indicates a desperate need for safer, more effective alternatives that exhibit selective cytoxicity, i.e. the ability to kill only the cancer and cancer stem cells while leaving unharmed non-cancerous tissue.

In previous articles we have reported on various cancer stem cell killing strategies and substances, including turmeric, along with two dozen other foods and plant compounds here. I’ve also reported on the fact that radiotherapy wavelengths actually transform non-cancerous cells into cancer stem cells, and chemotherapy causes their enrichment in what remains of the tumor after treatment; a result which may explain why cancer often comes back even more aggressively following treatment. For all the research I have gathered on the topic thus far, visit our Cancer Stem Cell database.

Given that the cancer stem cell populations are the primary cause of treatment resistance and malignancy, any new research that sheds light on this topic has powerful implications for those who wish to use their food as medicine.

Pomegranate As A Cancer Stem Cell Killer

A recent study published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology looked at the effects of a pomegranate extract on cancer stem cells. Titled, “In vivo relevant mixed urolithins and ellagic acid inhibit phenotypic and molecular colon cancer stem cell features: A new potentiality for ellagitannin metabolites against cancer,” the new study proposes that colon cancer stem cells (CSCs) “offer a novel paradigm for colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment.”

The researchers looked at how colon metabolites of polyphenols from pomegranate interact with and affect CSCs.  Specifically, the researchers looked at “the effects against colon CSCs of two mixtures of ellagitannin (ET) metabolites, ellagic acid (EA) and the gut microbiota-derived urolithins (Uro) at concentrations detected in the human colon tissues following the intake of ET-containing products (pomegranate, walnuts).” [emphasis added]

The researchers confirmed that these mixtures were able to suppress colon CSCs taken from the primary tumor of a patient with colorectal cancer. They showed these mixtures altered the phenotypic and molecular features of colonospheres — the cancer stem cell based micro-colonies of cells that can become invasive and lethal cancers with time — consistent with cancer suppression.

According to the study authors, “These data support a role for polyphenols metabolites in the control of colon cancer chemoresistance and relapse and encourage the research on the effects of polyphenols against CSCs.”

It is my belief that as research like this accumulates the medical community will be lead to embrace plant-based alternatives to chemotherapy in favor of what I would call biochemotherapies, whose mechanisms of action are informational as well as physical in nature. As I have discussed elsewhere, it is plants (and the relatively infinitely more complex set of ‘biochemistries’ inherent within them) that cure cancer not chemicals.

Additional Resources

Pomegranate has been extensively researched to possess a wide range of therapeutic properties. Learn more by visiting our database on the topic: Pomegranate Health Benefits.

You can also learn more about the importance of cancer stem cells by reading the following articles on our website:

• Are Cancer Stem Cells the Key to Discovering a Cure?
• Targeting Cancer Stem Cells with NonToxic Therapies
• Broccoli Kills The Stem Cells That Make Cancers Immortal
• Nicholas Gonzalez, MD, and the Trophoblastic Theory of Cancer

References

¹ The Cancer Stem Cell Promoting Properties of Chemotherapy 

² Study: Radiation Therapy Can Make Cancers 30x More Malignant

© June 1, 2017 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.