Jiaogulan And Cancer

While ageing has been defined as an accumulation of free radicals, they are also associated with human disease, including cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and many others.

Substances that create free radicals are found in the food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink.

At high concentrations, these free radicals can damage all major components of cells, including DNA, proteins, and cell membranes.

Oxidative stress is the oxidative damage that results from an imbalance between the free radicals in your body and your body’s army of antioxidants.

The body is under a constant barrage from oxidative stress caused by free radicals.To counteract it, the body produces antioxidants to neutralise or ‘clean up’ free radicals.

Adopting a diet that is rich in antioxidants is widely accepted to help neutralize free radicals. Fruits, vegetables, and grains are rich sources of dietary antioxidants.

Dietary antioxidants are known as exogenous antioxidants (originating from outside an organism).

The National Cancer Institute says this about exogenous antioxidants underlining their importance in cancer prevention:

“In laboratory and animal studies, the presence of increased levels of exogenous antioxidants has been shown to prevent exactly the types of free radical damage linked with cancer development.”

Numerous studies have confirmed the benefits of antioxidants and the role they play in maintaining good health and reducing the risk of diseases like cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and heart disease.^8,9,10,11,12

Jiaogulan does NOT act as a simple dietary antioxidant in the same way fruits, vegetables, and other teas like green tea do.

Though it is also rich in dietary antioxidants, it has a key mechanism of action that dietary antioxidants do not.

Jiaogulan stimulates the human body’s production of the most powerful internal (endogenous) antioxidants: Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), Glutathione Peroxidase (Gpx), and Catalase (CAT).^13,14,15

These super antioxidants are also either impossible to obtain from food (SOD) or very difficult (Gpx and CAT).

Produced within our cells, they are our body’s internal defense mechanism and far more potent in preventing free radical damage than dietary antioxidants.

In fact, consuming Jiaogulan or reishi (the mushroom) are the only known ways to boost the body’s levels of superoxide dismutase – arguably the most powerful and important antioxidant of all.

SOD acts as both an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory, breaking down superoxide – a destructive compound that may contribute to the pathogenesis of many diseases – into harmless substances.

The SOD levels in people vary and they have been linked to longevity – a person’s SOD levels may well be the reason some people can smoke and drink and live to an old age, while others can’t.

Glutathione is known as ‘the master antioxidant’ due to its ability to regenerate itself in the liver after each scavenge of free radicals before returning to work.

It is the human body’s central detoxifier. Glutathione protects our cells, regulates our metabolism, indirectly promotes normal immune function and is critical for controlling inflammation.

The truth is all three of these antioxidants are vital in helping the immune system do its job of fighting infections, and preventing cancer and other diseases.

The fact our production of these internal antioxidants decreases dramatically with age, means we are left increasingly defenseless against the onslaught of free radicals.

The regular consumption of jiaogulan is one way to supplement all 3 of these key antioxidants in one fell swoop.

To learn more about why Jiaogulan’s ability to stimulate the production of these internal antioxidants is so important to disease prevention see Jiaogulan The Supreme Antioxidant.

It is believed the immune system plays a vital role in the prevention of cancer though our current understanding on how our bodies fight the disease is far from complete.

Recent research suggests our immune system does not only naturally protect us against infectious diseases (pathogens) but also against malignant ones like cancer. ¹⁶

Immunotherapy, also called biologic therapy, is a relatively new type of cancer treatment designed to boost the body’s natural defenses to fight the cancer.

Based around the idea that the immune system can be ‘woken up’ so it can fight cancer, immunotherapy has shown promise in early clinical trials.

Jiaogulan – consumed in its natural form – can protect and strengthen immune system function according to numerous human and animal studies.

Jiaogulan has been shown to protect the integrity of the immune system from free radicals and environmental toxins. ^{17, 18, 19}

The herb has been shown to fight inflammation by decreasing free radical damage and inhibiting a protein involved in ‘cell survival’ and ‘signaling’ – both important factors in the generation of inflammation. ^{18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26}

It has also been reported that Jiaogulan protects the immune system from the effects of stress 6, and cancer chemotherapy and radiation therapy. ^{27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32}

In several recent studies, compounds and extracts isolated from Jiaogulan have reported to exhibit potent cancer fighting activities.

Numerous scientific studies also suggest biological agents within the herb can not only help prevent cancer but also kill certain cancer cells! ^{33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49}

While more research is needed, Jiaogulan has shown in studies to work in several ways to help treat cancer.

Both human and animal studies have demonstrated that Jiaogulan acts on cancer in several different ways. Compounds extracted from Gynostemma including Gypenosides (saponins), flavonoids and polysaccharides have been shown to:

• Stimulate the body’s production of its most powerful antioxidants – Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Glutathione peroxidase (Gpx), and Catalase (CAT)
• Inhibit energy production in cancer cells.
• Boost the body’s immune response and ability to fight diseases like cancer
• Inhibit the growth of cancer cells
• Inhibit the production or formation of tumors in mice
• Act on cancer cell cycle arrest (cancer cell death)
• Initiate apoptosis (cause programmed cancer cell death)
• Prevent or suppress invasion (mutant cancer cells invading nearby tissues)
• Prevent or reduce metastasis (spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body)
• Prevent or inhibit glycolysis (cancer cells generally exhibit increased glycolysis)
• Enhance Natural Killer (tumor hunter) cell activity in breast cancer patients

Many of the compounds and extracts isolated from the herb in studies, “noticeably”, prevented or retarded the spread of cancer cells.

The overarching consensus from contemporary research suggests Jiaogulan has a broad anti-cancer spectrum without any obvious negative effect on normal cells. ⁴⁹

It is astounding given the sheer weight of compelling research into Jiaogulan’s effects on cancer that it is not better known as a treatment or preventative measure.

A litany of studies suggests Jiaogulan has an incredible range of medical properties but for several reasons these remain unknown to most people.

Traditional forms of herbal medicine remain under-researched relative to pharmaceuticals due in part to a lack of financial incentive for sponsors and an inability to obtain for companies to obtain lucrative FDA monopolies.

Perceived as a threat, herbal medicines have been attacked for methodological flaws.

Humble herbs like Jiaogulan, lack the marketability, patentability and FDA protected exclusivity of a supplement or the latest wonder drug.

Bearing that in mind, false claims about efficacy of herbs or herbal supplements, have done herbalism no favours.

We take a look at the studies relevant to Jiaogulan and cancer so you can make your own decision on the veracity of each case.

We have not cherry picked these studies in any way.

(Warning medical terminology ahead)

Human studies on Jiaogulan’s effects on cancer include one in 1993 involving 59 patients with advanced malignant tumors to assess the effects of Jiaogulan (Gynostemma).

The results of that study revealed that patient treated with Gynostemma showed cancer relapse and metastasis rates of 11.9 and 8.5%, respectively, compared with values of 72.4 and 55.2 % in the control group. ⁵⁰

The results of a separate 5-year observational study also showed that the treatment of cancer patients with a Gynostemma extract led to significant reductions in cancer relapse and metastasis rates, as well as reduced mortality and improved immune function in these patients. ⁵¹

Gynostemma has also been reported to enhance Natural Killer (NK) cell activity in breast cancer patients 52, and improve the immune function of cancer patients after chemotherapy. ^2,5,6,7

The results of a study from 2015, demonstrated that Gynostemma can work together with chemotherapy reagents. ⁵⁴

Jiaogulan’s anti-cancer activities, observed In Vivo (in living organisms):

Mice injected with SAS oral cancer cells were treated with Gypenosides (extracted from Jiaogulan), which led to significant reductions in the size of solid tumors. ⁴¹

Gypenosides also promoted the survival of mice xenografted with (WEHI-3) leukemia cells, which was accompanied by an increase in the number of megakaryocytes (a large bone marrow cells) and reduced spleen weight in these animals, indicating an enhanced immune response. ⁴²

Similar anti-cancer activities have also been reported for Gynostemma in another leukemia mouse model.

In that model, treatment of tumor-bearing mice with Gynostemma (5 or 20 mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks led to considerable decreases in the size and weight of their tumors without altering their body weight. ⁴³

Gypenosides also strongly suppressed tumor growth in mice bearing advanced S180 sarcoma, which was associated with an increase in the ratio of tumor necrosis area to tumor total area and lymphocyte/macrophage infiltration into the peripheral areas of tumors.

This effect also led to an increase in the weight of the spleens of these animals, as well as increases in the quantity and size of their splenic white pulp. ⁴⁴

Gypenosides have also been reported to inhibit the production or formation of a tumor or tumors in a transgenic mouse model of cancer. ^{55, 56}

A polysaccharide from Gynostemma inhibited the development of transplanted S180 sarcoma in a dose-dependent manner and increased the phagocytosis of macrophages, as well as increasing the production of NO, IL-1β and TNF-α from the peritoneal macrophages. ⁵⁶

Treatment with CGPP (neutral polysaccharide fraction) extracted from Gynostemma also led to improvements in the body weight, spleen/thymus index and degree of splenocyte proliferation in tumor-bearing mice. ⁴⁸

Furthermore, CGPP treatment led to considerable increases in the levels of cytokines, such as IL-2, TNF-α, and IFN-γ in tumor-bearing mice, as well as increases in the activity of natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). ⁴⁸

The tumor inhibitory and immunoregulatory effects of CGPP greatly increased the lifespan of H22 ascites in tumor-bearing mice. ⁴⁸