Nature's Sunshine Products NSP

[CombinedNSP]

Paw Paw

I have a client with breast cancer. She just finished her chemotherapy and will start radiation for 6 weeks. She wants to take the Paw Paw. She is on thyroid medication. Lavoxal .05 mg. Can she still take it?

If so, would she take the Paw Paw as directed 4 a day? Along with the Protease, Immune Stimulator and the Noni.

After the radiation, does she stay on the Paw Paw? If so for how long and how many a day? Thanks. -Liz
- - - - - - - - - -
At the seminar I attended on the PAW PAW they said it would increase the effectiveness not interfere with meds but I don't use the NONI because everything I have researched say's not to use antioxidants because it will slow the action of the Paw Paw as well as the meds. I have an 81 year woman on the paw paw with the Immune Stimulator, protease and Ultra green drink and mega enzymes for liver cancer which started in the colon. She had the ascending colon removed and we started her on all this stuff a month and a half before surgery. The Dr was amazed how fast she bounced back. He said her cancer was stage 4 and it spread to the liver. She decided to not go back for more surgery but she had a cat scan to see if it had spread and it hadn't but was still there. I bet it is a dead tumor because I would think that stage 4 would spread quickly in the liver. That's what we're praying for. She has been on the Paw Paw and everything for almost 4 months and she feels great! -Laura
- - - - - - - - - -
Every one I have heard talk about taking the Paw Paw Cell Reg. says not to take any antioxidants with it. Noni has antioxidant properties. What you can do is recommend the Paw Paw Cell Reg., Immune Stimulator and High Potency Protease for three to four weeks and then discontinue it for one week. During that week they would take Noni and then they would return to the Paw Paw Cell Reg., etc. Balancing the pH with Ultimate Green Zone and Flax Seed Oil would be a good idea also. -Michael Brown

Hello Liz I have heard Dr. McLaughlin speak four times regarding his research and the application of Paw Paw Cell-Reg to people. My remarks will be based on what I heard him say. He recommends starting a person on the product with one capsule four times per day with food. Taking the food is important because the mitochondria of the cancer cells will be activated by the extra available glucose. The paw paw's active ingredients, the acetogenins, come along inside and "throw a monkey wrench into the gears." This interference in the high rate of respiration on the cancer cell (running up to 17 times the rate of surrounding tissue) may trigger programmed cell death. I heard him say that a person taking the product may find a reduction in tumor size and/or tumor markers after six to eight weeks. Never did I hear him suggest interrupting the dosage for a round of anti-oxidants. In fact, he said that the anti-oxidants may actually help the cancer cell survive. He said further that the person who already has cancer should start to take it and be on it for an indefinite period of time. I have heard many questions about the mention of thyroid support. He replied that if a person has been on a thyroid medication such as Synthroid and is balanced that they could benefit from the Paw Paw and would not stop taking their thyroid medication. (Of course, he would never counsel anyone to stop taking any medication without the advice of a qualified health care professional.) The issue regarding thyroid is that the ingredients in 7-Keto and others would directly interfere with Paw Paw Cell-Reg's activity, so they should be avoided. Stephen Horne's excellent articles in Sunshine Sharing regarding paw paw would provide excellent suggestions about things not to take with paw paw. Dr. McLaughlin does recommend taking Nature's Noni with the Paw Paw Cell-Reg because of the polysaccharides contained. He identifies these as immune simulators. I have heard him recommendation Natures Noni at one ounce two times per day. He also recommended Immune Stimulator. I have read elsewhere that the Protease Plus or High Potency Protease should be taken at different times than the others and away from food to have the desired effect on the fibrin coat of a tumor. Time and experience will help us all develop more good ways to help people with cancer. -Richard Lund
- - - - - - - - - -
When I attended the course that NSP gave on cellular health and unveiled Paw Paw, they mentioned that NSP had facilitated some clinical trials on 130 terminally ill patients. They got excellent results on a variety of cancers such as: non-hodgkins lymphoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer and malignant tumors. They stressed the person use it at least for 2 months before seeing a significant change in blood work results. They also showed graphs and results of comparing Paw Paw to 3 other pharmaceutical cancer drugs (one company being Eli Lilly). The results were remarkable for Paw Paw. One important aspect was that Paw Paw destroyed the highest amount of cancer cells versus destroying our good cells. The "cancer drugs" flunked miserably. I receive the following information on Paw Paw from NSP's Health Sciences department at my request:

PAW PAW

Introduction Cancer is a devastating disease for which there is yet no absolute cure. Genetic predisposition and mutations (abnormal changes in the nuclei of cells) caused by chemicals, radiation, hormones, and viruses account for 5-10% and 90-95% of all cancers, respectively. Cancer afflicts almost every part of the human body from the skin to the marrows and is indiscriminate of age. The annual U.S. death toll from cancer is over 555, 000 and costs about $156 billion in direct medical, indirect morbidity and mortality expense and losses.

Different approaches are employed in the treatment of cancer, depending on type, site and stage. In situ cancers are surgically removed and followed up with other treatments if metastasized to the lymph nodes and other organs.

Cancer cells grow and multiply rapidly and anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapy) normally destroy cancer cells by damaging their genetic material, thus stopping their proliferation. Some drugs work better together than alone, hence two or more drugs are often given at the same time. Unfortunately, most anticancer drugs are not selective, thus healthy cells can also be harmed, especially those that divide quickly. Harm to healthy cells causes the side effects. Healthy cells, however, can replicate and re-establish a normal population and size after chemotherapy.

Radiation therapy, also called radiotherapy, is the treatment of cancer and other diseases with ionizing radiation, especially for localized solid tumors, such as cancers of the skin, tongue, brain, breast, or uterine cervix. Radiotherapy can also be used to treat leukemia and lymphoma (cancers of the blood-forming cells and lymphatic system, respectively). Ionizing radiation destroys cells in the area being treated by damaging their genetic material, making it impossible for these cells to continue to grow. Both cancerous and normal cells are also damaged during treatment.

Newer forms of treatment involve angiogenesis inhibition, stimulating the immune system to fight cancer, bone marrow and peripheral stem cell transplantation, and gene and photodynamic therapy.

Possible side effects of cancer treatment include loss of hair, skin irritation, infection, anemia (due to bone marrow depression), temporary change in skin color in the treated area, bleeding (platelet depletion), infections, chemo-induced cancer, and generalized weakness. Other side effects are largely dependent on the area of the body that is treated.

Research information suggests that the bioactive compounds in paw paw will prevent the growth of cancer cells and shrink tumors. Paw paw extract containing standardized mixtures of annonaceous acetogenins from the paw paw (Asimina triloba) tree.

Scientific Information The paw paw tree is native to the eastern U.S. The fruits are banana-like and have been consumed by Native Americans for thousands of years. Eli Lilly and Company sold a liquid extract of its seeds at the end of the 1800's as an emetic. Thus, it has a history of safe human use and consumption.

Annonaceous acetogenins are complex mixtures of long chain fatty acids derivatives from the extracts of the twigs of the paw paw tree. Many of the acetogenins have been isolated and characterized, and their numerous health benefits are being explored. Three, bullatacin, asimicin, and trilobacin, have been identified as the most potent, major, bioactive structural types of acetogenins in the paw paw concentrate. 1-6

Difficulties with most of the chemotherapeutic drugs emanate from their concurrent eradication of normal healthy cells, including those responsible for immunity.

Tumor cells grow and replicate more rapidly than normal cells. This is because they are better equipped to receive glucose, a good source of energy for fast replication. Also, cancer cells quickly develop a network of blood vessels (angiogenesis) to ensure an efficient supply of nutrients and oxygen. This is partly why cancer patients lose weight; the cancer cells rapidly take up nutrients meant for normal cells.

Furthermore, with chemotherapy cancer cells develop resistance to the drugs, rendering chemotherapy useless and futile after a period of remission. The same principle applies to other diseases that have become drug resistant, such as malaria. The organisms and cancer cells smartly find a way of protecting themselves from the damaging effects of drugs. They generate what is called the ABC transporter superfamily, which transports a variety of substrates including amino acids, sugars, inorganic ions, polysaccharides, peptides, and proteins into the cells. In cancer cells, a member of this superfamily, called the multidrug resistant (MDR) protein, is overexpressed and helps to pump drugs out of the cancer cells, making the cancer cells simultaneously resistant to a variety of drugs. Thus, the cancer cells are protected from the toxic effects of drug combinations.

Annonaceous acetogenins may be good chemotherapeutic agents for cancer. These compounds inhibit mitochondrial and cytoplasmic production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the major source of energy for the cells and also a precursor of the nucleotides needed to produce DNA and RNA. Annonaceous acetogenins inhibit the enzymes of complex I in the electron transport system in mitochondria. 7-12 They also inhibit the NADH oxidases found in the plasma membranes of tumor cells. 13 Their net effect is depletion of ATP levels.

Tumor cells, being typically metabolically more active, are more susceptible than normal cells to the effects of the acetogenins. Angiogenesis requires ATP 14 and angiostatin blocks angiogenesis by inhibiting ATP synthase. 15 Thus, ATP depletion helps to block the growth of new vessels to nourish tumors. Tyrosine kinases, which play roles in tumor progression, are also inhibited by ATP depletion. 16

Annonaceous acetogenins also thwart MDR tumor cells. The protein pumps (p 170 glycoproteins), which extrude the drugs from the tumor cells are energized by ATP.17-24 Thus, by depleting ATP, the glycoproptein pumps become dysfunctional.

Ongoing studies confirm the benefits of paw paw extracts in clinical cancer treatments. Paw paw extracts can be used to inhibit the growth of cancer cells and as effective alternative or supplement to chemotherapeutic agents. Research studies also show that paw paw extracts have anthelmintic (worm controlling) benefits.

Contraindication It is not advisable to take Paw paw with nutritional supplements like CoQ10 and Thyroid Simulators, as these supplements enhance mitochondrial complex 1 activities and energy production, respectively. Likewise, antioxidants block programmed cell deaths (apoptosis) and can reverse the damaging effects of paw paw on the cancer cells.

Safety/Toxicity The acetogenins are not mutagenic. Unlike most antitumor drugs, acetogenins do not exert their effects by poisoning DNA; they selectively inhibit ATP production. These results have been confirmed in a recent publication in which two paw paw acetogenins were found to be antimicrobial but not mutagenic. 25 In other unpublished results (Asta Laboratories), bullatacin was emetic in pigs. This result demonstrated that the acetogenins very likely explain the former use of Eli Lilly's liquid extract of paw paw seeds as an emetic preparation. Unpublished report shows that vomiting (emesis) prevented toxicity of paw paw capsules in dogs. Emesis is a definite safety factor should someone ingest excessive amounts of this supplement either intentionally or unintentionally. Any potential systemic toxic effects are conveniently thwarted by emesis.

A recent study on the island of Guadeloupe suggested that a higher than usual incidence of atypical Parkinsonism there might be caused by the chronic consumption of herbal teas and fruits from the Annonaceae family (Annona muricata and A. squamosa); some of the benzyltetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids found therein are believed to be neurotoxic and, thus, may be responsible for the Parkinsonism. 26 Such alkaloids were carefully excluded from the annonaceous extracts during processing of paw paw.

References 1. Rupprecht, J.K.,C.-J. Chang, J.M. Cassady, J.L. McLaughlin, K.L. Mikolajczak, and D. Weisleder, "Asimicin, a new cytotoxic and pesticidal acetogenin from the paw paw, Asimina triloba (Annonaceae)," Heterocycles, 24, 1197-1201 (1986). 2. Hui, Y,-H., J.K. Rupprecht, J.E. Anderson, Y.M. Liu, D.L. Smith, C.-J. Chang, and J.L. McLaughlin. "Bullatalicin, a novel bioactive acetogenin from Annona bullata (Annonaceae)," Tetrahedron, 45, 6941-6948 (1989). 3. Hui, Y,-H., J.K. Rupprecht, Y-M. Liu, J.E. Anderson, D.L. Smith, C.-J. Chang, and J.L. McLaughlin, "Bullatacin and bullatacinone: two highly potent bioactive acetogenins from Annona bullata," Journal of Natural Products, 52, 463-477 (1989). 4. Zhao, G.X., Y.-H. Hui, J.K. Rupprecht, J.L. McLaughlin, and K.V. Wood, "Additional bioactive compounds and trilobacin, a novel highly cytotoxic acetogenin, from the bark of Asimina triloba," Journal of Natural Products, 55, 347-356 (1992). 5. Zhao, G.X., Z.-M. Gu, L. Zeng, J.-F. Chao, K.V. Wood, J.F. Kozlowski, and J.L. McLaughlin, "The absolute configuration of trilobacin and trilobin, a novel highly potent acetogenin from the stem bark of Asimina triloba (Annonaceae)," Tetrahedron 51, 7149-7160 (1995). 6. Rieser, M.J., Y.H. Hui, J.K. Rupprecht, J.F. Kozlowski, K.V. Wood, J.L. McLaughin, T.R. Hoye, P.R. Hanson, and Z.P. Zhuang, "Determination of absolute configuration of stereogenic carbinol centers in annonaceous acetogenins by 1H– and 19F- NMR analysis of Mosher ester derivatives", Journal of the American Chemical Society, 114, 10203-10213 (1992). -Lou