written and researched by Heather (Published in issue 31 of The South African Journal of Natural medicine)
In 1990 I heard what I thought was a rumor declaring that the pawpaw was used in South America to cure forms of cancer. The indigenous people apparently wrapped the skins over the afflicted area, with astounding results. In 1997 I found medical research validating these properties of the pawpaw.
The pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is often confused with the papaya (Carica papaya), however they are not from the same family. Fossil records have proved that the Asimina family is indigenous to the USA.1 This remarkable fruit contains vitamins A, C, niacin (part of B-complex), B2 (riboflavin), B1 (thiamin) and the minerals calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphourus, potassium, sulfur and zinc. It also contains the fatty acids linoleic, linolenic, oleic, palmitic and palmitoleic acids; the sugars fructose, glucose and sucrose; and the amino acids arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan and valine. Quite a nutritional punch is packed into just one pawpaw!
In September 1997 Jerry McLaughlin (since retired), and doctoral student Nicholas Oberlies of Purdue University, West Lafayette in the USA found medicinal compounds in the bark of the pawpaw tree. Their studies proved scientifically that these compounds are effective against drug-resistant cancers, tumors and resistant cells. They published these findings in the journals Cancer Letters and Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. They focused their research on cancer cells that proved resistant to orthodox treatments, and stated that tumor cells which survived chemotherapy treatments often recovered with increased resistance to the original treatment and related drugs.
McLaughlin (at the time professor of pharmacognosy at Purdue's School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Science) found that drug-resistant cancer cells had the ability to develop one or more mechanisms to circumvent the anticancer agents. He discovered that these cells develop a ‘pump’ that pushes the anticancer drug out of the cell before the drug can kill it. The pump is constructed of the protein P-glycoprotein. Only a small number of cancerous cells develop these pumps after normal treatment; however enough of them do so to warrant more cancer treatments in the future due to the fact that they develop this resistance to conventional treatments. Normal cells also have the ability to develop this pump, but they seldom do. McLaughlin acknowledges that the treatment practice of flooding the patient’s body with high doses of anticancer agents (to keep the pumps busy) often producesside-effects detrimental to the patient’s health.
McLaughin identified more than 40 pawpaw compounds with anticancer properties. Importantly, some of these compounds called ‘annonaceous acetogenins’ were found to be effective against the cancer cells using the pump mechanism. Bullatacin, one of the compounds found in the pawpaw, was studied for its effect on human mammary cancer, and was found to effectively kill all drug-resistant cells by inhibiting ATP (adenosine triphosphate) production. ATP is essential to energy release in cells. The cancerous cells use an enormous amount of energy to pump and grow; by inhibiting the cells’ energy (ATP) the cancer cell is forced to feed on itself for energy. Because normal cells use less energy to function they are not adversely affected by this compound.
Aside from bullatacin, asimicin and trilobacin have been identified as the most potent acetogenins found in the pawpaw. They inhibit mitochondrial and cytoplasmic production of ATP, needed to produce DNA and RNA. This ATP depletion prevents the tumour cells from developing new vessels for nourishment and forces the ‘pumps’ into becoming dysfunctional. This research has revealed that the pawpaw compounds prevent growth of cancer cells and shrink tumors. According to their published report on Purdue University's website, the pawpaw extract is now available as ‘Pawpaw Cell-Reg’. The latter is sold as a nutritional supplement in the USA. I have contacted the company Healthy Sunshine to find out if they export to South Africa. They are more than willing to accommodate us, and are including South Africa on their website so that we may purchase directly from the company online.
McLaughlin’s research has proved that this form of treatment is completely safe for human consumption. It has no toxic effect, as an overdose is thwarted by the natural action of emesis (vomiting). The only contraindication stated is that it is not recommended in conjunction with co-enzyme Q10, thyroid stimulators or antioxidants, as these block programmed cell deaths (apotosis) and can reverse the damaging effect of the pawpaw on the cancer cells.
The pawpaw has proved itself effective against genetic predisposition, mutation caused by chemicals, radiation and hormonal cancers. As such it is effective in 90 - 95% of all cancer types, including the 5 - 10% caused by viruses. McLaughlin also identified the pawpaw as a potent head lice killer and patented a pawpaw shampoo. Unfortunately Healthy Sunshine informed me that although the product was 100% effective, demand for it was not high enough and they have ceased production of this line.
By consuming a diverse diet we can benefit from the amazing properties provided by Mother Nature. In light of this astounding evidence, I hope that you find room in your garden for a pawpaw tree!
Notes: Professor McLaughlin died and his research and strides into this field stopped dead along with his exit from our plane. However I did get into contact with the company who continued to produce his cancer cure (Nature's Sunshine) after his demise, and they still make it and still freely distribute his research papers. You can find PawPaw cell-Reg on Amazon.
References: 1. www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/pawpaw/cooking.htm#Table%202 2. McLaughlin J. Pawpaw shows promise in fighting drug-resistant tumors (abstract). Cancer Lett 1997;115:73-79. 3. He K, Zhao GX, Shi G, Zeng L, Chao JF, McLaughlin JL. Additional bioactive annonaceous acetogenins from Asimina triloba (Annonaceae). Bioorg Med Chem 1997;5:501-506. 4. Oberlies NH, Croy VL, Harrison ML, McLaughlin JL. The annonaceous acetogenin bullatacin is cytotoxic against multidrug resistant human mammary adenocarcinoma cells (abstract). J Med Chem 1997; 40: 2102-2106. 5. The Pawpaw – Asimina triloba. Purdue University, West Lafayette. Accessed on Purdue University's website (1997) under their news. All of these studies were conducted by Jerry McLaughlin and Nicholas Oberlies. 6. http://www.healthy-sunshine.com/paw-paw-cell-reg.asp. (click on the fact sheet to download pdf). 7. McLaughlin J. The pawpaw tree is bearing new fruit for people with head lice. Accessed from Purdue News on their website.
Further reading http://www.pawpawresearch.com/articles-acs.htm
You can read the scientific research yourself, here, by downloading the documents below