Graviola or Soursop, as it is often connoted is a flowering and fruit bearing tree found in abundance in the rain forests of South America, Africa and even Southeast Asia. The more scientifically would find it interesting that Soursop also has a scientific name: Annona Muricata. Some of the more popular alternative names for this plant are custard apple, guanabana and Brazilian Paw Paw. Soursop and cancer continues to be raging debate in contemporary times which is not surprising considering the therapeutic versatility of the plant.
Traditional medicinal benefits are known to be present in the fruit, stem, leaves, the bark and the roots of this wonder tree. These could well be attributed to the presence of a specific chemical substance known as annonaceous acetogenins. The therapeutic advantage of this rainforest plant is not new considering that South Americans and the Africans have used these extracts to treat conditions such as arthritis, fever, bacterial and parasitic infections and even depression.
Liver and breast cancers are some of the more destructive kinds of disease conditions known to mankind in present times. Soursop is known to be beneficial when used in the right dose and for the right duration. Thus is evident from the fact that it has been utilized to treat these cancers when conventional chemotherapy is ineffective or alternatively when it is not viable to continue with the therapy due to the serious side effects.
Although the mechanism of action of the drug is still unknown, some patients have experienced nerve cell damage and the medication may cross from the bloodstream to the brain. Concurrently the prickly fruit of custard apple is known to selectively destroy cancer cells while sparing the healthy cells. This is arguably a distinct advantage over the more conventional therapy which destroys both the healthy as well as the diseased cells in equal proportions.
Statistics indicate that the Brazilian Paw Paw is 10,000 times more effective than chemotherapy without the associated side effects like hair loss, nausea and weight loss. Thus evidently patients on the Brazilian fruit continue to feel stronger and healthier throughout the treatment regime.
Concurrently the treatment horizon is diverse as is evident from the fact that custard apple is effective in 12 kinds of different malignancies which include the likes of lungs, colon, prostate and even pancreatic variants. Specifically this plant medication is 10,000 times more effective than Adriamycin. The latter is a frontline drug of choice used to treat malignancies.
Soursop and therapeutic benefits are intricately woven and this is one medication which holds potential as it can treat effectively without the disturbing side effects of conventional medications. The critics may well question as to why this line of treatment does not find an extensive market, and the answer is simple: it is all about economics and market profitability. To further elaborate pharmaceutical companies have spent close to seven years trying to research and develop the active ingredient found in this fruit but are still unable to isolate and synthesize the compound.
This makes it more than evident that marketing the product would negatively impact the profitability of these pharmaceutical companies. Soursop and Cancer will continue to be fiercely contested in the years to come and this is not surprising considering that cancer is one disease condition which has begun to threaten the very existence of mankind and the plant holds the key to cure and alleviation. The debate has now begun to reach a logical conclusion as there are findings which continue to surface with every passing year which prove that this plant has some incomparable benefits for cancer patients.
Source by Dave Tigan Morley
