Study: Noni Leaf Extract Works Better Than Erlotinib -The Chemotherapy Drug Used For Lung Cancer

Many foods, herbs, and other plants have proven remarkably effective at killing cancer cells in the lab. Perhaps the best known example is cannabis, whose active constituents, cannabinoids, have been shown to annihilate cancers of all different kinds. The trouble has been understanding the various strains and quality of cannabis and how it interacts with each person differently. Clinical trials would help, but there have been few.

The little-known Chinese herb artemesinin is another example. According to  studies published in Life Sciences, Cancer Letters, and Anticancer Drugs, this derivative of the wormwood plant, commonly used in Chinese medicine, can kill off cancer cells, and do it at a rate of 12,000 cancer cells for every healthy cell. (source)

Another plant once used medicinally by ancient civilizations is now proving effective as well. Called Noni Leaf, it is derived from a small evergreen tree which grows in the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, Australia, and India among lava flows. It has been studied for its numerous health benefits, and a fairly recent study published in  Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry is showing that this food, consumed as a vegetable (Noni Leaves), could be ideal for the treatment, prevention, and/or management of lung cancer.

The study found that an extract of Noni leaf was more effective than Erlotinib, the chemotherapy drug used for suppressing metastasized lung cancer, at treating lung cancer in an animal model.

The authors also point out how conventional chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy commonly fails when it comes to lung cancer. And this isn’t new information. A survey conducted in 1985 found that only about one-third of physicians and oncology nurses would have consented to chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Lung cancer is the most lethal of of all cancers, claiming 1.4 million lives every year, and the majority of these cases are classified as NSCLC.

Scientists compared Noni leaves on metastasized lung cancer development, both in vitro and in vivo, with the FDA-approved anti-cancer drug Erlotinib. What’s the difference between in vivo and in vitro studies? For in vitro studies, researchers conduct experiments using cells in a petrie dish, or perform a procedure in a controlled environment outside of a living organism. For in vivo studies, researchers perform experiments on a whole, living organism as opposed to a partial or dead organism. Animal studies and clinical trials are two forms of in vivo research.

The study found that Noni leaf extract “inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis in A549 cells and mouse Lewis lung carcinoma cells in vitro [and] arrested cancer cell cycle at G0/G1 phases.” The abstract goes on to further outline the results:

Showed no toxicity on normal lung cells, and mentioned that: Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549-induced BALB/c mice were fed with 150 and 300 mg/kg M. citrifolia  and compared with Erlotinib (50mg/kg body weight) for 21 days. It significantly increased the pro-apoptic TRP53 genes, down regulated the pro-tumourignensis genes in the mice tumours, significantly increased the anti-inflammatory IL4, IL10 and NR3C1 expression in the metastasized lung and hepatic cancer tissues and enhanced the NFE2L2-dependent antioxidant responses against oxidative injuries. The extract elevated serum neutrophils and reduced the red blood cells, haemoglobin, corpuscular volume and cell haemoglobin concentration in the lung cancer-induced mammal. It suppressed inflammation and oedema, and upregulated the endogenous antioxidant responses and apoptotic genes to suppress the cancer. The 300 mg/kg extract was more effective than the 50 mg/kg Erlotinib for most of the parameters measured.

Pretty remarkable, isn’t it? These findings definitely warrant further research and human clinical trials. The changes produced by Noni leaf are consistent with what researchers would expect from a good chemotherapy drug, so why this type of medicine is classified as ‘alternative’ is a mystery. In fact, 25 percent of the active ingredients in cancer drugs are found only in the Amazon, yet only 10 percent of the plants in the Amazon have been studied for their medicinal properties.

Cancer Is Big Business

“We have a multi-billion dollar industry that is killing people, right and left, just for financial gain. Their idea of research is to see whether two doses of this poison are better than three doses of that poison.”

– Glen Warner, M.D. oncologist (source)

Unfortunately, cancer is a big business, promising huge and endless profits for pharmaceutical companies. This is far from a conspiracy theory; there is a reason why so many experts in the field are speaking out against the cancer industry. Linus Pauling, for example, a two time Nobel Prize winner, told the world that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organizations are “derelict in their duties to the people who support them.”

Arnold Seymour Relman (1923-2014), a professor of medicine at Harvard University and the former editor-in-chief of the New England Medical Journal, told us that “the medical profession is being bought by the pharmaceutical industry, not only in terms of the practice of medicine, but also in terms of teaching and research. The academic institutions of this country are allowing themselves to be the paid agents of the pharmaceutical industry.” (source)

The list of statements from industry insiders is extensive, and the number of substances out there showing extreme potential for cancer treatment is similarly large. Unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies don’t seem to be interested in many of them, since most can’t be patented or profited from.

Sayer Ji from Greenmedinfo sums it up best:

The implications of this research are truly profound. Erlotinib (trade name Tarceva) can cost upwards of $7,700 a month (150 mg a day), depending on the drug dose used. Ironically, since the drug doesn’t actually prolong survival effectively, the profit gravy train runs dry sooner than later because the patient dies. If indeed the drug prolonged survival a year, would it be worth the 30,000 to 90,000 it costs? Perhaps, if you could afford it. When you compare the price of Noni leaf extract, which can cost as low as 12 cents per 250 mg extract, you begin to see just how skewed our concept of value is. How could a chemotherapy agent, with deadly side effects, that can easily bankrupt a family if they are forced to pay out of pocket, be offered as the only choice to those with cancer when something that is practically free, safe, and has been proven effective in this way? (source)

Below is an article we published on the cancer industry which looks at this corruption in-depth, as well as a thought-provoking video (taken from the Thrive documentary) to give you something to think about. It sums up the problems with cancer that not many people are addressing.

Article: The Cancer Industry Exposed In Less Than 2000 Words

I also wrote an article titled “The First Three Things I would If I Was Diagnosed With Cancer” which you may be interested in checking out.