If you pay any attention at all to the alternative-health
information-grapevine, you’ve heard the buzz on ellagic acid. If you believe
the rumors flying around the Internet, the cure for cancer is at hand!! This is
the greatest discovery since sliced bread!! Well, like most rumors, there’s
some truth to it…and a whole lot of nonsense
The Truth
Two years ago, I wrote in the Barron Report
on antioxidants about the value of including berries in your diet because of the
benefits of the ellagic acid derived from them. This recommendation was based on
work being done at the Hollings Cancer Institute by Dr.
Daniel Nixon, who had been studying the benefits of red raspberries for some 6
years at that time. Since then, two things have changed dramatically.
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First, the study results are now
becoming, for lack of a better word, remarkable.
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Second, it is now possible to get
high quantities of ellagitannins without having to consume a cup of berries
every day.
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Consuming one cup of red raspberries per day (40 mg
of ellagitannins) prevents the development of cancer cells. At
low concentrations it slows the growth of cancer cells; at higher
concentrations, it tells cancer cells to kill themselves. For example, cells infected with the
human papilloma virus (which is linked to cervical cancer), when exposed to
ellagic acid experienced apoptosis, or normal cell death.
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Red raspberry ellagitannins slow the growth of abnormal colon
cells in humans
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Tests reveal similar results for breast,
pancreas, esophageal, skin, and prostate
cancer cells. The ellagitannins also produce a breakdown in human leukemia cells.
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Another
way that ellagitannins protect your body is through G-Arrest. G-Arrest
means that the ellagitannins stop cells from mutating in the first place. If
cells don’t mutate, then we don’t get cancer. This is very important when
you understand that that every single day of your life you produce anywhere from
a few hundred to as many as 10,000 cancerous cells in your body as part of your
normal metabolism. In tests conducted by the Hollings Cancer Institute with
Ellagic Acid, G-Arrest began in 72 hours in both breast and cervical cancer.
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Red raspberry ellagitannins
prevent destruction of the P53 gene by cancer cells. P53 prevents
mutagenic activity in cervical cells.
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Red
raspberry ellagitannins protect human cells against cancer-causing agents in
tobacco smoke, food additives, and petroleum-based substances. Ellagitannins act
as scavengers to “bind” cancer-causing chemicals, making them inactive. The
ellagitannins inhibit the ability of other chemicals to cause mutations in
bacteria. Red Raspberry ellagitannins also protect DNA by blocking carcinogens
from binding to the DNA.
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European
medical studies also demonstrate that red raspberry ellagitannins lower the
incidence of birth defects, promote wound healing, reduce heart disease, and may
reduce or reverse chemically induced liver fibrosis. In addition, the ellagic
acid produced from the ellagitannins has anti-bacterial and anti-viral
properties
The problem with cancer cells is that when they divide, the original
cell does not die.
The normal process of cell division, on the other hand, results in the
replicating cell being “carried off” as trash just as if a bacterium had
died. The body signals the dismantling of the old cell and the new cell takes
over its processes. This
is called apoptosis, or natural cell death.
Cancer cells, as mentioned above, are different. Cancer cells do not die;
they rapidly multiply by cell division (mitosis), making 2 cancer cells, then 4,
8, 16, 32 and so on. What Dr. Nixon found is that in both lab and clinical
studies, red raspberry ellagitannins caused cancer cells to go through a
nontoxic, normal apoptosis process without damaging the healthy cells. This is a
remarkable improvement over standard treatments.
Chemotherapy and radiation do the same thing – kill cancer cells, that
is. But they have a devastating side effect that does not happen with the
ellagitannins: they kill healthy cells too --
destroying the immune system in the process. More people probably die
from the side effects of chemo and radiation than actually die from the original
cancer.
This is why Dr. Nixon’s studies on ellagitannins are so exciting.
Potentially, we’re talking about an all-natural cancer treatment/preventative
that provides ALL of the benefits of chemo and radiation and NONE OF THE
SIDEFFECTS. An all-natural supplement, if you will, that can literally be
taken every single day to prevent most cancers from ever even forming in your
body.
Ellagic acid supplements are now appearing everywhere, and most of them
are pure nonsense. As for those products that truly contain pure ellagic acid,
you don’t want them.
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First of
all, ellagic acid doesn’t work as well as the complete ellagitannin complex.
Although ellagic acid alone has been shown to inhibit carcinogenesis both in
vivo and in vitro, several studies have reported that the other phenolic
compounds in the berries also contribute to the observed inhibitory effect.
Those compounds are only present in a complete ellagitannin complex, not in a
synthetic ellagic acid isolate. In other words, an ellagitannin complex works
better than pure ellagic acid
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Second,
synthetic ellagic acid is too harsh for the human body to accept, and has some
serious side effects – not the least of which is its tendency to raise blood
pressure.
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And
third. Dr. Nixon’s studies are being done with the complete complex, not with
isolated ellagic acid. If you want the same results, you need to use the same
supplement.
And as for those companies selling some form of berry-based ellagitannin
complex and either calling it ellagic acid or claiming that it contains ellagic
acid…don’t be fooled. It isn’t ellagic acid, and it doesn’t contain any.
The fact of the matter is that ellagic acid itself is not naturally present
in plants. Instead, polymers of gallic acid and hexahydroxydipenoyl (HHDP) are
linked to glucose centers to form the class of compounds known as ellagitannins.
Ellagic acid is formed when the HHDP group is cleaved from the tannin molecule
and spontaneously rearranges – as happens in the digestive tract.
The bottom line is that it is the ellagitannins that are present in
various fruits – not the ellagic acid. Understand, that when researchers refer
to the ellagic acid content of foods, they are referring to the amount of
ellagic acid that can be derived from a food-based supplement. That’s
entirely different than saying the supplement contains ellagic acid.
Well, for three reasons:
1.
If the company selling the supplement truly doesn’t know what’s in
the product they’re selling, why would you want to buy from that company in
the first place?
2.
It they do know, and they’re willing to lie to you for “marketing
purposes” why would you trust anything they say?
3. And finally, when you understand that it’s really the ellagitannins that you’re after (and not the ellagic acid), then you realize that the source of your ellagitannins is vital – since the source will determine the exact mix of ellagitannins and how effective that mix is. That means that you want to choose a source that matches the source used in all the cancer studies – if you want the same results, that is.
The bottom line is you don’t want to buy your supplements from some
“sidewalk peddler” who doesn’t have a clue about what they’re selling.
Are
ellagitannins the cure for cancer? No, of course not. But they are an important
piece of the puzzle. You still want to do all parts of the Baseline of Health.
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You want
to build your immune system. Your immune system is your body’s prime defense
against cancer.
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You want to detox your liver and clean your
blood – make them hostile to the presence of cancer.
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You still
want to alkalinize your body. Cancer thrives in an acid environment.
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You still
want to maximize nutrition levels
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You still
want to include a full spectrum antioxidant that contains known anti-carcinogens
such as green tea, alpha lipoic acid, selenium, lycopene, and curcumin. They all
work synergistically with red raspberry ellagitannins – making them that much
more effective.
As we’ve already discussed, the source of ellagitannins that you use
matters
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First of
all, the availability to the body of ellagic acid from dietary sources has only
been confirmed with red raspberries. Other foods such as strawberries,
pomegranates, and walnuts contain far lesser amounts of ellagic acid producing
ellagitannins – and, on top of that, their bioavailability has not been
confirmed. In other words, you want a red raspberry source.
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The
Meeker red raspberry is the single best source of ellagic acid producing
ellagitannins. In other words, you want to use the Meeker variety.
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And
finally, if you want to be guaranteed that you duplicate Dr. Nixon’s results
in your own body, then you need to use the ellagitannin source that he uses.
Initially, all of Dr. Nixon’s studies were done with raspberry puree; he
now uses seed flour from Meeker red raspberries for some of his testing because
the seed flour has a much higher concentration of the ellagitannins than the
fruit itself.
The bottom line is that the people who provide Dr, Nixon with his Meeker red raspberry seed flour product are the same people who provide Healing the Globe with theirs. It’s the same product. Two capsules, twice a day, provide 40 mg of ellagitannins – equivalent to the amount of ellagitannins found in one cup of fresh red raspberries.