Surprising Cancer-Fighting Benefits of Pineapple Enzyme

One of the reasons why conventional cancer treatment is such a dismal failure in the United States is because it relies on chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy drugs are, by their very nature, extremely toxic and typically work against your body's natural ability to fight cancer, e.g. destroying host immunity instead of supporting it. 

One of the biggest drawbacks to chemotherapy is the fact that it destroys healthy cells throughout your body right along with cancer cells, a "side effect" that often leads to accelerated death, not healing. 

Another devastating side effect of chemotherapy is the way it actually supports the more chemo resistant and malignant cell subpopulations within tumors (e.g. cancer stem cells), both killing the more benign cells and/or senescent cells within the tumor that keep it slow-growing, or even harmless.

As a result, this unleashes a more aggressive, treatment-resistant type of cancer to wreak havoc on the body.

A handful of natural compounds have been discovered, however, which exhibit an effect called "selective cytotoxicity."  This means they are able to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells and tissue unharmed.

This type of cancer treatment is intelligent, targeted and will not result in the death of the patient from "collateral damage" in what is increasingly a failed war not against the cancer being treated, but the patient's own irreversibly devastated body.

Bromelain in Pineapples Kills Cancer Cells Without Harming You

In tests treating cancer in animals, bromelain was found to be more effective than 5-fluoracil (5-FU) when compared to an untreated control group. 5-FU has been used in the treatment of cancer for over 40 years, but its main problem is that it kills or irreversibly damages healthy cells and tissue as well as cancerous ones. Bromelain was not only found to be more effective but was also many times safer than 5-FU.

Natural compounds, such as bromelain have selective cytotoxity and they are able to kill cancerous cells in a self-disassembly process called apoptosis while leaving healthy cells unharmed. No FDA approved cancer-treating drug on the market can yet emulate this process as chemo-toxic agents such as 5-FU do not behave like natural compounds.

What is Bromelain?

Bromelain is a protease enzyme that is found in the stem and fruit of pineapples. This natural extract has been found to speed healing, acts as an anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen and helps dissipate bruising. Applied topically, it aids the healing of cuts, burns, insect bites and other skin problems.

Bromelain has been used for decades to fight inflammation naturally. It is useful for those suffering from arthritis and can speed up healing associated with surgical procedures. It is very useful for treating sporting injuries including sprains and can help counter pain as it acts as an analgesic.

For digestion, bromelain is a powerful aid to breaking down proteins into peptides and amino acids. It can ease the symptoms of ulcerative colitis and helps the general digestive processes. Studies conducted in Japan showed that taking bromelain helped those who had a wheat allergy.

Another powerful use of bromelain is that it fights blood clotting and is nature’s answer to those taking an aspirin a day to lower the risk of heart attack. Bromelain has been shown to stop blood platelets from sticking together or building up along the walls of blood vessels – both known causes of heart attacks or strokes. .

The discovery of bromelain’s efficacy in the treatment of cancer may yet make it an even more important natural medicine.

Why Pineapples will Never be Used to Treat Cancer in Mainstream Medicine

It is a sad fact of life that medicine research is ruled by profits. It does not benefit Big Pharma to plough money into developing a natural substance, such as bromelain in pineapples, as the resulting therapy would be non-patentable. Even if the treatment is found to be safe and affordable, these complementary treatments are of no interest to medical giants. Unless the government decides to back research and development into such research, bromelain will never become part of the conventional medical establishment. However, there is nothing to prevent individuals from using freely available open research and reports to discover possible natural cancer treatments such as bromelain so that they can make their own informed decisions about their treatment.

Another reason why eating lots of fresh juicy pineapples will not effectively provide a sufficient dose of treatment is that most of the bromelain is found in the core and stem of the pineapple. These are the parts of the fruit that are the most inedible, so these enzymes are used to make homeopathic supplements of bromelain instead.

Bromelain supplements can be found in many forms, including tablets, capsules, powders and topical creams. Taking between 80 and 320mg a day is considered a safe and effective dose.

 Aside from bromelain, other examples of natural compounds that have been found to kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells include:

• Vitamin C -- Dr. Ronald Hunninghake carried out a 15-year research project called RECNAC (cancer spelled backwards). His groundbreaking research in cell cultures showed that vitamin C was selectively cytotoxic against cancer cells.
• Eggplant extract: Solasodine rhamnosyl glycosides (BEC), which is a fancy name for extracts from plants of the Solanaceae family, such as eggplant, tomato, potato, Bell peppers, and tobacco, also impact only cancerous cells leaving normal cells alone. Eggplant extract cream appears to be particularly useful in treating skin cancer. Dr. Bill E. Cham, a leading researcher in this area, explains:

"The mode of action of SRGs [glycoalkaloids solasodine rhamnosy glycosides (BEC)] is unlike any current antineoplastic [anti-tumor] agent. Specific receptors for the SRGs present only on cancer cells but not normal cells are the first step of events that lead to apoptosis in cancer cells only, and this may explain why during treatment the cancer cells were being eliminated and normal cells were replacing the killed cancer cells with no scar tissue being formed."

• Turmeric (Curcumin Extract): Of all the natural cancer fighters out there, this spice has been the most intensely researched for exhibiting selective cytotoxicity.ii Remarkably, in a 2011 study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, rats administered curcumin, the primary polyphenol in turmeric, saw a decrease in experimentally-induced brain tumors in 9 out of 11 treated, while noting that the curcumin did not affect the viability of brain cells "suggesting that curcumin selectively targets the transformed [cancerous] cells."