It's not often that there is a proven natural treatment to recommend to the approximately 12 million people in the US who currently have cancer.   I'm talking about an extract made from European mistletoe (Vis­cum album), a plant that grows on apple, oak, maple and other trees. (You know it as a decoration for holi­day kisses.)

Mistletoe extract has become one of the most well-studied com­pounds in complementary cancer therapy (with more than 120 pub­lished studies).   It is widely used in Europe, particularly in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.   In Switzerland, it is fully reimbursable through health insurance.

In fact, in Germany, mistletoe extract is a licensed medicine that is partly re­imbursable through the health-care system...and more than 50% of can­cer patients are treated with the plant in some form.

Mistletoe extract has been used in medicine for centuries.  It had multidimensional uses, including treat­ing headache, menstrual symptoms, infertility and arthritis.  Interest in mistletoe extract as a treatment for cancer was ignited in the 1920s.

Today several companies manu­facture mistletoe extract under the brand names Iscador, Helixor, Isorel and others. One of the most studied formulations is Iscador.

Available from conventional medi­cal and holistic doctors in the US and around the world, mistletoe extract is most often used in conjunction with standard cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and/or radiation.   It has been found to increase the ef­fectiveness of, and reduce the side effects from, conventional therapies and to improve patients' immunity and quality of life, including vitality, sleep and appetite.

I regularly prescribe mistletoe extract to my patients-to help those with cancer battle the disease and as a post cancer treatment.

What Mistletoe Extract Can Do For Cancer Patients:  

·Patients with cancer of the colon, rectum, stomach, breast or lung who took Iscador in addition to the con­ventional therapies reviewed in the study (chemotherapy and/or radia­tion) lived about 14 months, or 40%, longer than those who did not take mistletoe extract, according to a study published in 2001 in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.

·Mistletoe extract extended survival time in patients with malignant melanoma in a 2005 study pub­lished in a German journal.   Patients had significantly lower rates of metastases compared with the con­trol group.

·Patients with colorectal cancer who were treated with Iscador in addition to conventional treatment experienced fewer adverse side effects...better symptom relief...and improved disease-free survival rates compared with those treated with only conventional therapy, accord­ing to a 2009 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

·At last year's American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Washington, DC, researchers pre­sented the results of a Phase I clini­cal trial that tested the safety of Helixor and the drug gemcitabine (Gemzar) in patients with advanced solid tumors of the breast, pancreas or colon. Finding: 48% of patients taking both Helixor and Gemzar benefited from enhanced immune function and an increase in infection-fighting cells.   Helixor also may allow for higher doses of chemotherapy.

·Mistletoe extract improved the quality of life of 270 breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, says a 2011 German study published in Phytomedicine.  Physicians rated improvements in general well-being (87% of patients), mental health (71%) and disease coping (50%).  Patients also reported improved appetite and sleep and less pain. Well-being is believed to result from mistletoe ex­tract's anti-inflammatory effect, which can reduce pain and boost energy.

In addition, mistletoe extract has been found to inhibit growth of malignant cells and cause cancer-cell death (apoptosis)...and protect cell DNA.

READ MORE: About Mistletoe Extract  

I hope you have found this information to be of support to you and your families' health and well being.  If you have any comments or questions, feel free to post a comment on the blog or CONTACT my office.