Gravison-Amazonian herb

[Ellie F]

Hi
This herb has recently been brought to my attention and has been precribed for a friend with bowel cancer by a naturopathic doctor.

Does anyone know anything about it or is anyone using it who has bc?

Thanks Ellie

[TanyaRD]

I assume this supplement is Graviola. There are no large scale human studies available on the herb. I found one study (cell line, not human or animal) on breast cancer and graviola.

Graviola extracts have also been shown to be effective against the growth of Adriamycin resistant human mammary adenocarcinoma (MCF-7/Adr) by blocking the cancer cell's access to ATP and by inhibiting the actions of plasma membrane glycoprotein (5 (http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69245.cfm#References)). Oberlies NH, Chang CJ, McLaughlin JL. Structure-activity relationships of diverse Annonaceous acetogenins against multidrug resistant human mammary adenocarcinoma (MCF-7/Adr) cells (javascript:openPMID(9207950)). J Med Chem. 1997;40:2102-

Graviola may cause movement disorders with symptoms similar to Parkinson's.

[Ellie F]

Many thanks for researching this Tanya.
It seems like a lot of herbs/suppplements have an anecdotal following!
I will be sticking with my vit d3, olive oil and omega 3 for the moment as the research for these appears a little more robust!
Ellie

[TanyaRD]

You are correct. You have chosen good nutrients with some solid human research.