MISTLETOE
Therapy with mistletoe has been used for thousands of years, and more recently for cancer in the early 1900s.
There are thousands of studies on mistletoe use in integrative cancer therapy. It is one of the best researched alternative/ complementary therapies.
Mistletoe is a parasitic plant (> 3000 species) which grow on host trees such as apple, fir and pine, not unlike cancer.
When considering therapy, the tree species are matched to tumor type, gender or medical condition based on many studies.
Mistletoe is used fairly extensively in Europe, especially in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and France.
It can be used before, during or after conventional or integrative treatments and has been found to actually enhance the effects of conventional therapies and decrease its side effects
. **** Mistletoe is used as an adjunctive cancer support. It is not a stand-alone treatment.
Mistletoe has many properties with the possibility of affecting cancer directly or indirectly :
- potential toxic (cytotoxic) to cancer cells
- decreases new blood vessel growth (so cancers don't receive the nutrients to grow larger)
- repairs DNA
- decreases cancer cell growth
- decreases metastases (cancer cell spread)
- increases immune response
- stimulates the bone marrow
- decreases fatigue
- improves quality of life