List of Anticancer Herbs
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Rein Baker
Posted on: January 29, 1999

List of the herbs used in the treatment of cancer.

The list of anticancer herbs is huge! Jonathan Hartwell published a series of papers between 1967 and 1971 that list over 3,000 species of plants that have been cited as having antitumour or anticancer effects. His remarkable work drew on historical sources from 2800 B.C. up to the present century. The series of papers was compiled and published in book form in 1982 as "Plants Used Against Cancer: A Survey" (Quarterman Publications).

The National Cancer Institute of the United States screened 35,000 species of plants for activity against cancer in the 1960s and 1970s and found that 3,000 exhibited reproducible effects against cancer. I am not aware whether the NCI results were ever published in print form.

An excellent reference for treating cancer with natural medicines is John Boik’s "Cancer & Natural Medicine: A Textbook of Basic Science and Clinical Research" (published by Oregon Medical Press, Princeton, MN). Boik covers many of the leading herbs used against cancer today and he gives references to the medical research literature that backs up the anti-cancer claims. Just skimming through the book, I woudl say that there are at least 100 plants covered.

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