Can # help fight cancer?

 

 

 

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• Soursap is a fruit that may help fight cancer, but human studies are lacking to prove this. It also has some safety concerns.

 

This article looks at the potential benefits of soursop, including how it might help fight cancer.

 

It also covers safety concerns and how to consume it. Read on to learn what the research says.

 

 

 

Soursop is a common name for the fruit of the Annona muricata tree. The dark green, prickly, heart shaped fruit grows in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

 

Some other common names for it include:

 

• graviola
• guanabana
• guyabano
• Brazilian paw paw
• custard apple

 

People describe the flavor of soursop as a combination of strawberry and apple, with hints of citrus. It smells like pineapple and has a creamy texture inside, similar to that of a banana.

 

People often use the fruit to make beverages, ice-creams, and syrups.

 

Those in Africa, the Caribbean, and South America use most parts of the plant — including the leaves, fruits, and seeds — in their traditional medicine.

 

The fruit contains many minerals, including calcium, magnesium, and iron. It also provides 46.4 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C in one cup of pulp, which is over half the recommended daily amount for adults. For context, females need 75 mg of vitamin C per day, and males need 90 mg.

 

Does it help? 

 

According to one review, “more than 47% of anticancer drugs on the market are natural products, their derivatives, or natural product synthetic mimics.”

 

Soursop contains a variety of phytochemicals. These are plant compounds that may benefit a person’s health.

 

In particular, it is a rich source of annonaceous acetogenin compounds (AGEs). Acetogenins inhibit nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, which is contained in the membranes of cancer cells.

 

Soursop has cytotoxic effects in cancer. Cytotoxicity refers to the ability of a drug to kill cells. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are also cytotoxic therapies.

 

The aerial parts of the soursop plant have proven effective against several types of cancer in laboratory and animal studies.

 

 

 

How it may affect different types of cancer 

 

AGEs derived from the leaf of the plant have shown cytotoxic effects on breast cancer cells in laboratory studies. Researchers have found that purified individual AGEs, and combinations of them, work against breast cancer cells in test tube studies.

 

Laboratory studies indicate that leaf extracts from the plant are cytotoxic to cells in different types of cancer, including:

 

• melanoma
• skin cancer on the head and neck
• pancreatic cancer
• colorectal cancer
• liver cancer
• lung cancer

 

The researchers also showed that extracts from different parts of the plant were cytotoxic to blood cancer cells. The parts of the plant were:

 

• the leaf
• the pericarp, which is the part of the fruit formed from the ovary
• the seeds
• the stem

 

Scientists use different solvents to extract the beneficial compounds from the plant, including ethanol, methanol, and chloroform.