What do you think about the Essaic Story?

Barry, if you look at your post just a couple above mine, you will see that you mention Premarin. It's still there, I just checked.

God Bless each and every one of us!

Hi,

Back to Essiac for Eveberry and all those interested ... I spoke to an MD certified in holistic medicine who said at the  very least, it's good for liver, blood, and lymphatic systems. I've heard several people with either late stage cancer or a loved one with advanced  cancer say the tumors significantly shrunk and in some cases there has been long-term complete remission (5-20 years so far for some of them) after using Essiac. Dont know what else they were doing.  Heard a couple of people say it did not reduce the cancer at all. But I have heard that who you buy it  from matters.

Here's an article I wrote on Essiac which includes the research I was able to find as well as links to an article I thought was pretty well researched.

I was talking a while back to a nurse who's also an herbologist - she was telling me about Essiac - an herbal tea blend developed around 1920 by a nurse for her cancer patients. A lot of survivors put their faith in the formula to this day. They and many naturopaths tout it for its antioxidant powers.  Most oncologists think the evidence of herbal remedies' value just isn't there.  I'll admit, I was challenged to find data myself, even from the health stores and on-line distributors who sell the formula. But I kept digging, because I kept hearing about Essiac. I found a medical doctor - a general practitioner who is also certified in holistic integrative medicine, who says that the herbs in Essiac at the least have positive effects on the liver, blood, and lymphatic systems - all impacting the immune system.

Finally I stumbled across a few studies and anecdotes - yes, "anecdotes" and only a few, but these peoples' stories intrigued me. Some were late-stage prostate, late stage lung - people who had hit the basement - weren't responding to treatments anymore.  They tried the tea sort of as a hail Mary - became and have remained cancer-free for decades. You'll have to read their stories and decide what you think (there's a link at the bottom of this article). But before you go there, and before I share the research, here's some basic background:

Essiac is a mixture of burdock root, sheep sorrel, slippery elm bark, and turkey rhubarb root. In Canada there are varieties with several more herbs mixed in. It's believed the formula was passed to Rene Caisse from an Ojibwa Indian. The product's name is actually the nurse's name spelled backwards.

The research from Canada includes a human trial that found:

• Significant antioxidant activity with 1 ml of Essiac having the anti-oxidant activity of 3mm Troxol, a vitamin E analogue (organic substances in foods)
• 20-fold dilution showed significant immune system effects 
•  Showed significant cell toxicity towards ovarian cancer cells
• Showed increased cell toxicity towards prostate cancer cells

(conducted by physicians at Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Toronto; Australian Centre for Complementary Medicine, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, AU; and Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto) 

Studies on rats:

• Researchers looked to Essiac's effects on the liver, stomach, and immune system. They found significant positive effects only on rats' gastric system.

(conducted by researchers at The University of Toronto, Division of Clinical Epidemiology; Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Toronto;  MDS Pharma Services-Taiwan; and Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Toronto)

Other mice studies have looked at each of the herbs, individually, in Essiac and found various positive effects, including Burdoook root's tumor-inhibiting outcome.

• There was a study that remained up in the air, and never published,  at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The study accounts were mixed, with some investigators noting no benefits, and others reporting significant effects.

• Meanwhile, more extensive human studies are underway in Canada, so we'll see what they uncover!

By the way, Essiac is not that inexpensive. With a 30 percent on-line discount, a one- to two-week supply of liquid tea is $30.  The same supply of the powder is $25. The medical doctor I talked to had a good point for anyone interested in experimenting: "You  can always go on line, and figure out how to make it yourself. At the least there is nothing in it that will harm you."

If you want to know more about what cancer patients, oncologists, and naturopaths are saying about complementary medicine (including Essiac), here's a pretty info-packed article:

http://essiac-canada.com/report.htm

PubMed report: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16226859 (google Essiac at PubMed's site for more research; some reports conclude that the proof of Essiac's efficacy is lacking)