When my husband was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer I was told not to expect much from chemo because his cancer had spread to all regions of his liver.

It was an absolutely scary time, however I continually wondered if there was anything that could be added to the chemo to improve his results and possibly help the tumours to shrink. Doctors told me this wasn’t possible, but in laboratory studies on animals adding certain extracts to chemo has shown very promising results.

So if it worked on a rodent, could it work on a human? Many drugs contain chemical substances that originated from plants. Based on this I decided to create my own extracts through juicing which might provide an additional boost to the chemo.

The dietitian at my husband’s clinic told me about pubmed, a free online resource containing over 25 million medical abstracts and articles. I got to work researching the site to see what promising plant extracts scientists were studying on animals (for example quercetin, flavanone, ellagic acid and curcumin). I also researched the origins of chemotherapy to gain a better understanding of what worked in the early years of cancer research.

If you trace the origin of chemotherapy you’ll find it’s related to World War II and an accidental spill of sulphur mustards on Italian troops. The men exposed to the mustard gas experienced significantly depleted bone marrow and lymph nods. As a result, one scientist who worked on sulfur mustards in WWI began studying the potential effects of these chemicals from a therapeutic perspective. Experiments in mice showed that implanted tumours shrunk and their findings led to further human experiments on patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which showed significant regression. This initial study was conducted in 1943. (1)

Brassica is grouping of plants from the mustard family and these include broccoli, mustard greens, cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables. These are the closest relation to sulphur mustards that I could source and include in a juice. According to the Linus Pauling Institute,  cruciferous vegetables contain sulforaphane and indole-3, two compounds that offer tumour suppression properties. In studies on mice, scientists observed that the timing of ingestion determined the effect – if taken before being exposed to a carcinogen the compounds offered a protective effect, however if taken after exposure the substance contributed to the development of cancer. (2)  It’s for this reason that I made a juice each morning that my husband drank with his breakfast – to offer the best protection before he was exposed to any potential carcinogens.

I also studied epigenetics to learn about some of the main characteristics of cancer. These include glycolosis, inflammation and the ability to recruit new blood supplies. (3)  I’ve always viewed food from a functional perspective so I researched foods that would possibly help my husband’s body to create an inhospitable environment for cancer cells.

Additionally I studied pubmed to determine any other compounds that showed promise when combined with chemo. Apigenin is one flavonoid which when added to various types of chemo can enhance the drugs’ anti cancer activity. (4, 5, 6)  In vivo (studies on living organisms) it’s been shown to substantially upregulate cell surface CD26 which may help to suppress pathways involved in tumour metastasis. (7)  Additionally it’s been shown to reduce multi-drug resistance and enhance absorption of cancer drugs taken orally.  (8) (9) (10)

I needed an accurate flavonoid resource to determine the top sources of apigenin so I turned to the USDA Flavonoid database. The database includes flavonoid values and their related confidence intervals. Since the values can vary based on their freshness, I sourced vegetables based on their top scores, regardless of the measured range of the flavonoid levels.

As a result I created a juice that included these characteristics and ingredients:

• Apigenin – a flavonoid found in parsley, celery and other fruits and vegetables
• Anti-angiogenic – to help limit a tumour’s ability to recruit new blood supplies
• Anti-glycemic – to help control blood sugar which assists with reducing inflammation
• Anti-inflammatory – to help reduce chronic inflammation
• Alkaline forming – to help balance the effects of acid producing foods
• Immune enhancing – to help counteract the effects of the chemo by offering anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties
• Tumour suppression – to offer potential cancer-preventative compounds

There are some wonderful and credible websites that I used to determine the top plant sources of these nutrients. In addition to the USDA  National Nutrient Database; I also sourced the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University; Eat to Beat; and Dietitians of Canada.  Visit the Beneficial Foods pages of this site for a listing of these foods.

Approximately 1 month after I started juicing my husband was able to stop using his asthma medication, something he needed daily for approximately 30 years. He remained on chemo for approximately 8 months, at which point he became a candidate for aggressive surgeries by a group of extremely talented liver surgeons. He had 4 surgeries and they took place over a period of 10 months.

I believe my husband’s mindset combined with the daily juice enhanced the effectiveness of his chemo, while reducing some of the drug related side effects.  I also believe these activities allowed the tumours to shrink enough to be surgically removed.

If you’re interested in juicing, please check with your oncologist or dietitian at your chemo clinic to ensure a juice won’t interfere with any of your medications.

Source:

1.  A History of Cancer Chemotherapy; Vincent T. DeVita, Jr. and Edward Chu, Yale Cancer Centre   http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/68/21/8643.full

2.  Indole-3 Carbinole; Linus Pauling Institute, Macronutrient Information Centre   http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/dietary-factors/phytochemicals/indole-3-carbinol

3.  Natural products as potential cancer therapy enhancers: A preclinical update; Abed     Agbarya, Nili Ruimi, Ron Epelbaum, Eran Ben-Arye, and Jamal Mahajnacorresponding http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4607199/

4.  5-Fluorouracil combined with apigenin enhances anticancer activity through mitochondrial membrane potential -mediated apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma; Hu XY, Liang JY, Guo XJ, Liu L, Guo YB  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25363523

5.  Interactions between dietary flavonoids apigenin or luteolin and chemotherapeutic drugs to potentiate anti-proliferative effect on human pancreatic cancer cells, in vitro;           Johnson JL, Gonzalez de Mejia E  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23871783

6. Apigenin for chemoprevention, and chemotherapy combined with therapeutic reagents   https://patents.google.com/patent/US8377918B2/en

7.  The dietary flavonoid apigenin enhances the activities of the anti-metastatic protein CD26 on human colon carcinoma cells.; Lefort EC, Blay J                                     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=apigenin+CD26

8.  PolyU and Kinex’s collaboration on Apigenin Flavonoid Dimer; The Hong Kong Polytechnic University   https://www.polyu.edu.hk/itdo/en/highlights.php?hlight=1359

9. PolyU’s Strikes a Deal with Kinex Pharmaceuticals  https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/media/media_releases/index_id_6086.html

10.  Apigenin for chemoprevention, and chemotherapy combined with therapeutic reagents   https://patents.google.com/patent/US20060189680

 

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