Since the launch of HERBLOG in mid-January, traffic on herbological.com has tripled, mostly due to HERBLOG visitors. Over 118,000 hits in the month and on average over 225 visits per day. Top download interestingly continues to be the paper on nettle seed and creatinine clearance (more than 500 downloads) which has been available on the site for around TWO YEARS. Herbal Hypotheses 2 was second at around 300 downloads, and the top book review download remains Making Sense of Commission E which has been on Herbal Bookworm for 5 years now. Top podcast this month was Part 1 of advanced cancer, and Google made over 1700 direct referrals to the site, over 50% of the search strings used related to zeolites and the expose of the anti-cancer scam by MLM distributors. The number of direct subscribers to HERBLOG using RSS, Atom and XML feeds is gradually increasing, and iTunes subscribers now show up separately in feedburner stats so we can start logging listeners via iTunes from now on. Just in case anyone was interested.
March HERBLOG webstats
Zeolite anticancer scam latest - HERBLOG causes upline concern
Well well well. Today HERBLOG was contacted by a couple of rather serious zeolite upliners. It seems that there is some unhappiness in the zeolite upper echelons about HERBLOG posts regarding fraudulent cancer claims made by the downline distributers of the MLM product NATURAL CELLULAR DEFENCE. Two very concerned and apparently well-credentialed gentlemen contacted our clinic demanding that our front desk put them through to your BLOGMASTER because they wanted to correct the misinformation posted here on HERBLOG about zeolites.
It appears that, despite the claims made by their distributors, that the top people at Waiora are very concerned (so they tell me) about the links between NCD and cancer cure claims that are currently running amok in the MLM world. So they should be. If the FDA gets a whiff of this, they know full well they will be in big trouble - false cancer cure claims tend to be too much even for the overworked, understaffed and generally ineffective FDA and if NCD is investigated that just might threaten a lucrative business for the ground floor upline people - who profit most from the MLM system.
Of course, it is a little unfortunate for them that the original US patent for zeolite relates to its claimed ability to treat “epithelial” cancer. And even more unfortunate that a document being circulated by ignorant downline distributors which is a so-called “white paper” entitled “scientific research document” by company scientist Rik J Dietsch makes frequent references to the properties of zeolite in relation to certain aspects of cancer biology. Hmmm. Not a lot of wiggle room here. Of course the downline zombies zealots lackeys distributors who are scientifically and medically illiterate, and are primarily motivated like all MLMers by personal greed and gain, cannot begin to understand that the aforementioned document is a cosmetic exercise entirely lacking any evidence about the effect of the NCD product in humans at all. The upline people who phoned me did not voluntarily disclose their financial interest, and when it became clear that our telephone messengers could not, despite their apparent elevation in the hierarchy, answer the most elementary scientific questions about the NCD product, they hastily concluded the call suggesting that I should talk to none other than Rick Dietsch himself. No problem i said, have his people call my people.
Let us be clear here. In relation to cancer, zeolite belongs in the same category as mangosteen, juice plus, noni, and all the other fad products that are marketed largely on the basis of financially interested “distributors” who have no clinical, scientific, or natural product training or expertise but who have vested interest in product promotion. These are not proven therapeutic agents - period. I have no complaint about MLM or any product sold via MLM, as long as it is washing powder or water filters etc. among consenting adults. When it comes to exploiting the vulnerability of patients with cancer diagnoses on the basis of hokey science and fraudulent cure claims (and many of our clinic cancer patients have been forcefully approached in this way) then there is, methinks, a problem. In particular, once an MLM “scam” is rolling, the upline can claim that they do not promote cancer cure, but meanwhile, uncontrollable downline zealots are doing the dirty work for them.
If Mr Rik Dietsch of Waiora indeed communicates with HERBLOG, y’all will be the first to know. Stay tuned.
Research:Prostate cancer herbs interacting with each other
Adams, L. S., N. P. Seeram, et al. (2006). “Analysis of the interactions of botanical extract combinations against the viability of prostate cancer cell lines.” Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 3(1): 117-24.
Herbal medicines are often combinations of botanical extracts that are assumed to have additive or synergistic effects. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the effect of individual botanical extracts with combinations of extracts on prostate cell viability. We then modeled the interactions between botanical extracts in combination isobolographically. Scutellaria baicalensis, Rabdosia rubescens, Panax-pseudo ginseng, Dendranthema morifolium, Glycyrrhiza uralensis and Serenoa repens were collected, taxonomically identified and extracts prepared. Effects of the extracts on cell viability were quantitated in prostate cell lines using a luminescent ATP cell viability assay. Combinations of two botanical extracts of the four most active extracts were tested in the 22Rv1 cell line and their interactions assessed using isobolographic analysis. Each extract significantly inhibited the proliferation of prostate cell lines in a time- and dose-dependent manner except S. repens. The most active extracts, S. baicalensis, D. morifolium, G. uralensis and R. rubescens were tested as two-extract combinations. S. baicalensis and D. morifolium when combined were additive with a trend toward synergy, whereas D. morifolium and R. rubescens together were additive. The remaining two-extract combinations showed antagonism. The four extracts together were significantly more effective than the two-by-two combinations and the individual extracts alone. Combining the four herbal extracts significantly enhanced their activity in the cell lines tested compared with extracts alone. The less predictable nature of the two-way combinations suggests a need for careful characterization of the effects of each individual herb based on their intended use.
Comment: This is an interesting, if not earth shattering demonstration of the complexity of herbal combinations from the perspective of “straight” pharmacology. We are beginning to see more of the use of isobolological analysis of interactions creep into the herb and interactions literature - long overdue since the concept has been around for twenty years +.
Podcast: Nontoxic Protocols for Advanced Cancer: 3 (Vitamin C+K3)
Third and final segment of a talk given in 2005 at the SW College of Naturopathic Medicine on non-toxic protocols for advanced cancer. This 15 minute section (3.7MB) covers use of Vitamin C in combnation with Vitamin K3 as a novel therapeutic strategy. Subscribers to iTunes listing of HERBLOG podcasts will receive this segment automatically when updating, others can download the MP3 file at the link below.
Podcast:Non-toxic protocols for Advanced Cancer:2 (Artemisinin)
Part 2 of a 3 part introductory talk on non-toxic protocols for advanced cancer from the SW College of Naturopathic Medicine Conference on Botanical Medicine 2005. This second part deals briefly with clinical protocols for using artemisinin, the sesquiterpene lactone from Artemisia annua. For listeners interested in more depth on artemsinin, a full length Podcast on the subject will be posted in June folowing our presentation at the Gaia Medicines from the Earth Conference in N Carolina, 2006.
File size 6.3 MB, duration 27′28″. You may subscribe directly to HERBLOG podcasts which are now officially listed on iTunes.
Subscribers will recieve the podcast automatically when updating subscriptions in iTunes. Alternatively, download the MP3 from the link below.
Melanin Mystery: authors grab patents on 30 herbs as immunomodulators
IF you google US patent Number 2005002962 you will find that the authors Pascoe, Pugh, Khan and Moraes, authors of the melanin paper (HERBLOG March 15th) have filed a patent on immunostimulatory melanin preparations from 30+herbs (and 4 food mushrooms). Here is the abstract of their patent:
A melanin preparation as an immunostimulatory agent from at least one of the following botanicals: Echinacea, American
ginseng, black walnut, green tea, Parthenium integrifolium, Korean ginseng, alfalfa sprouts, ginger, goldenseal, red clover,
dandelion, black cohosh, licorice, chamomile, milk thistle, alfalfa, horsetail, astragalus, gotu kola, feverfew, valerian,
hawthorn, rosemary, saw palmetto, ephedra, pau d’arco, ginkgo, garlic, St. John’s wort, Agaricus bisporus (common
mushroom), Agaricus bisporus brown strain (portabella mushroom), Lentinus edodes (shiitake mushroom) or Boletus edulis
(porcini mushroom). Also disclosed is methods of treating a subject requiring immune mediation comprising administering to
said subject a therapeutically effective amount of a melanin preparation from any one of the following botanicals: Echinacea,
American ginseng, black walnut, green tea, Parthenium integrifolium, Korean ginseng, alfalfa sprouts, ginger, goldenseal, red
clover, dandelion, black cohosh, licorice, chamomile, milk thistle, alfalfa, horsetail, astragalus, gotu kola, feverfew, valerian,
hawthorn, rosemary, saw palmetto, ephedra, pau d’arco, ginkgo, garlic, St. John’s wort, Agaricus bisporus (common
mushroom), Agaricus bisporus brown strain (portabella mushroom), Lentinus edodes (shiitake mushroom), Boletus edulis
(porcini mushroom).
Since the research was funded by an NIH NCCAM grant, apparently the United States Government now owns the rights to these immunostimulatory herbal preparations.
So much for disinterested academia. We will have a snoop around the patent and see if it throws light on the melanin mystery….
Melanin Mystery: can plant melanin can be “created” in vitro?
In trying to make sense of the previously posted Pugh et al research on echinacea melanin and its immuno-stimulatory properties (HERBLOG March 15th) we searched the literature for information on melanins, whether general or specifically in medicinal herbs. There is almost nothing out there, although one reasearch group in Taiwan has published some recent papers on green tea melanins.
Let us look at one of these - by Sava et al - which describes the isolation and characterization of green tea melanins. An extremely interesting feature of this paper is that the melanins could be “extracted†by two methods, one involving extraction from wet leaves by strong alkali but the other involved oxidation and precipitation of an aqueous extract of green tea polyphenols. Essentially then the tea polyphenols “polymerized†into a dark brown pigmented substance described as tea polyphenol derived melanin by the authors. These products would appear to be related to “condensed tannins†which lend the brown color to “black tea” following production by fermentation from green tea. In other words Sava and coworkers consider that green tea contains at least one form of melanin that is naturally occurring, formed enzymatically by enzymes such as polyphenol oxidase, but a related melanin can be formed non enzymatically under experimental conditions by condensation of tea polyphenols into the polymeric pigment. Both tea melanins had physico-chemical properties similar to synthetic melanin ( from Sigma labs), and displayed antioxidant properties, although the “natural†melanin from tea was a slightly more effective antioxidant than the experimentally produced melanin. These authors performed no immunological studies with the tea melanins.
One inescapable conclusion from this study is that “plant melanins” may be wholly or partially an artifact of the extraction process. Stay tuned…..
Sava, V. M., S.-M. Yang, et al. (2001). “Isolation and characterization of melanic pigments derived from tea and tea polyphenols.” Food Chemistry 73(2): 177-184.
The dark brown pigments derived from tea and tea polyphenols were studied. Physical and chemical properties revealed that pigments directly extracted from tea leaves and derived from tea polyphenols were similar to typical melanins. Further investigation showed that both melanic pigments possessed similar antioxidant capability, due to their chelating and scavenging properties. The inhibitory effect of melanic pigments, either from tea or tea polyphenols, was significantly stronger than that of non-treated tea polyphenols. According to these properties, we have extracted melanin from tea. In addition, oxidation of tea polyphenols also provided an alternative method to maximize the yields. The extracted melanin is an antioxidant, which interrupted free radical reactions at a step in the development chain by its scavenging properties and, at the step of initiation, by its ability to chelate metals.
Herbal melanin: more questions than answers…
The herbal melanin paper by Pugh and others (abstract posted HERBLOG March 14th) raises a lot more questions than it answers. The authors are apparently suggesting that Echinacea’s immunomodulating activity is due in large part to the hitherto undescribed presence of melanin. However, melanin is not a typical secondary plant compound - ( like the well characterized alkylamines, caffeic acid derivatives etc) but it is considered a primary compound, in the same sort of functional category as lipids/structural polysaccharides etc. Plant melanins are little studied, poorly characterized and their structure-function properties not at all well-known. Melanins also have some “whacky” physical properties, including piezo-electric transduction and the ability to form structural semiconducter “crystals”. Their UV-protective properties are well known. (think black bananas or sunburn but plant melanins are not the same as mammalian melanins) These are not simple molecules. Apart from their mysterious structure and strange physical properties, extracting melanins is tedious and difficult - it needs strong alkali to remove them from the plant cells, and very often melanins are “contaminated’ by amino acids or peptides from associated proteins following attempts at isolation. This shows up as variable nitrogen content on atomic analysis. GC-MS spectra seems to be the best way of fingerprinting melanin polymers. But the authors maintain that not all melanins are created equal - the melanin from echinacea and alfalfa sprouts shows high immunomodulating activity, many other melanins (which are apparently widely distributed in most plants) are not immuno-active. This suggests that melanins MUST have significant structural differences to lead to different functional properties vis-a-vis Toll Like Receptor2 (or any other immune receptors.)
Artemisia annua and artemisinin - select bibliography
The literature on artemisinin and its derivatives in relation to malaria and cancer is increasing rapidly. This bibliography is a selected list of key articles for practitioners and others who may be considering artemisinin use. It primarily relates to cancer, with malaria pharmacodynamics included insofar as they are relevant to antineoplastic effects. Also includes pharmacokinetics and toxicology, with some additional references on soluble transferrin receptors (STr is an essential lab index for assessing iron status prior to artemisinin treatment). To be updated periodically.
Botanical Research Paper of the Year - 2005 Winner
Like a lot of herbal clinicians and authors, I tend to keep an active “Updates” file of recent research papers in botanical medicine. This is both for fine tuning the manuscript of my forthcoming collaborative text on herb-drug and nutrient-drug interactions to be published by Mosby, as well as for keeping up to date on research in botanical oncology - my area of clinical interest.
Among the hundreds of references I compiled and tens of dozens of papers I read in the last year, it should be hard to pick just one. But IF the authors of this paper are right, and given their credentials and institution, it looks like they are, then this could be one of the most significant botanical papers of the decade, never mind year. This is potentially mind-blowing and a great example of how basic science can uncover properties of plant medicines that pharmaceutical corporation driven dumbo clinical clinical trials will never grasp, which is that plant medicines are unique. Even now, pharmaceuticaal companies are concentrating their biggest push on developing “immunomodulators”, while mainstream clinical trials continue to report that echinacea “does not work”.
Get hold of the full text of this study. If you don’t know about Toll Like Receptor2 - then you had better get with the curriculum….
Pugh, N. D., P. Balachandran, et al. (2005). “Melanin: dietary mucosal immune modulator from Echinacea and other botanical supplements.” Int Immunopharmacol 5(4): 637-47.
The agents responsible for the therapeutic effects of many botanical supplements have not been established in spite of their popularity. Here we show that melanin is a previously unrecognized immunostimulatory compound that is a major component of botanicals traditionally used to enhance immune function. While melanin is present in commonly consumed vegetables, its specific activity is several orders of magnitude less than melanin extracted from these botanicals. The major reason that this agent has eluded detection is its solvent-specific requirement for extraction/solubility. Melanin activates NF-kappa B in monocytes in vitro through a toll-like receptor 2-dependent process. Ingestion of melanin by mice for four days increases production ex vivo of interferon-gamma by spleen cells and IgA and interleukin-6 by Peyer’s patch cells. The identification of this new class of mucosal immune stimulants will allow further characterization of botanical products and advances our understanding of the basis for their traditional use.