Mistletoe Extract Cures Cancer

Mistletoe which is mainly used as important Christmas decor is the new savior for cancer patients. The medicine made out of fermented Mistletoe is known to extend the cancer patient's life, according to Swiss researchers.

Viscum Album, commonly known as Mistletoe has inspired the Christmas kiss , an evergreen tradition long followed and the fermented medicine formed out of it is called Iscador.

"For the production of Iscador, mistletoe plants are harvested in the summer the stems and leaves and in the winter the stems, leaves and berries and then are fermented with lactobacillus," Renatus Ziegler, a research scientist at Institute Hiscia in Arlesheim, Switzerland, told Discovery News.

Lactobascillus, the common bacteria used for the preparation of yogurt, beer, wine and pickles. Scereal forms of cancer, like Cervical and Ovarian were studied to observe the affect of the mistletoe extracts, such as Iscador by Ziegler and co-author Ronald Grossarth-Maticek

The patients under the treatment of Mistloe extract were known to live half a year longer than the other Cancer patients, as revealed by the study. Similar related studies conducted by different teams also found that the patients treated with extract held better chances in withstanding chemotherapy and had prolonged remission periods.

Ziegler explained that, "mistletoe is an old medical drug in Europe, particularly in Germany, and goes back at least to Hippocrates."

"The exact mechanism of its (healing) actions are not known," she said, adding that prior studies, both on animals and in the lab, have indicated it curbs the growth of cancerous tumors. AGENCIES