Homeopathic Medicines CER

Prickly Pear Cactus

The prickly pear cactus should not be introduced to a grander market at the moment. Although it has
the potential to help many people, there is not enough scientific evidence to justify introducing it
because of the necessary method of preparation, other more readily available alternatives, and
potential ecological impacts.
There was a study done on rats with type 2 diabetes where researchers gave the rats insulin and a pure
extract from the prickly pear cactus plant for 7 weeks. Once the rats average blood sugar was normal,
they stopped giving insulin to the rats. The rats maintained normal blood sugar levels with only the
prickly pear cactus extract. According to this study, the amount of prickly pear cactus extract required is
small; 1 mg/kg body weight per day (Trejo-Gonzalez et al., 1996).
At the moment, more scientific tests on humans need to be done. The information on the rats is
promising. The cactus could help in rural desert areas in Africa or Australia where access to refrigeration
is unavailable, but the optimal desert habitat for the cactus are. Patients with type 2 diabetes could use
insulin and the cactus until they reach normal levels, and then cease insulin injections once the cactus is
able to normalize their blood sugar levels. If studies prove this to be true in humans, there would be a
greater demand for it, and traditional economists would agree that the supply would have to increase;
thus paving way for a global market.
Unfortunately, there has not been enough conclusive results from studies done on humans.The studies
a decade ago were not uniform (Knishinsky 2004). For example, in one study, humans were given
capsules with the pure extracts and it did not give them any significant effect. The authors claimed that
this was only one study and the ineffectiveness could have been due to another factor such as the
quality of the extract and the drying methods. Additionally, the daily dose needed, was impractical;
people dont want to take so many pills! In another study, the pectin from a particular variety of the
plant was given to patients and they were able to reduce the insulin dose needed (Knishinsky 2004).
However, one consensus from the human studies was that eating the pure cactus; either crude or
broiled is proven to be beneficial. So it might be necessary to heat the plant in order to get the effects
diabetics want. Eating the cactus stems during or right before an oral glucose test caused a decrease in
the glycemic serum peak (Lopez & Geffen 2007).
So, the cactus leaves must be cooked in order for it to be effective. The capsules currently sold on the
market are not going to work. 30 capsules typically contain 300 mg of the cactus. A study in which
people took the capsules found that while it lowered lipid concentrations, it did not lower glucose levels.
This might be because of the processing method and lack of regulation. A huge problem with getting this
on the market is producing it in a uniform way (Knishinsky 2004).

The accepted idea for why the prickly pear cactus helps diabetics is because the fiber and pectin reduces
the intestinal absorption of glucose. Another study was done where they hypothesized that the
hypoglycemic effect was not due to the fiber, but that it somehow made cells more sensitive to insulin
(not that it increased the insulin released). Once again, the studies on humans are not uniform (Lopez &
Geffen 2007).
Hypoglycemic just means that it helps lower sugar in the blood. The dietary fiber in the prickly pear
cactus is not digested by enzymes or absorbed by the body. What it does, is modify the absorption of
other substances such as cholesterol, and glucose. It improves the concentration of blood glucose by
10% compared to a normal diet (Lopez & Geffen 2007). This is true for people on a high soluble fiber
diet regardless if they are getting the fiber from the prickly pear cactus or another source. The soluble
fibers are found in the in the pectin and mucilage in the cactus. They increase the viscosity of the food
in the gut, slowing or reducing sugar absorption (Lopez & Geffen 2007). They also make the slimy
cooked cactus look like a pile of gooey green alien guts.
People of different ethnicities have traditionally used herbal hypoglycemic products for diabetes for a
long long time. Other common ones include fenugreek, karela (bitter melon), gymnema, ginseng,
tronadora, chromium, and alpha-lipoic acid (Shapiro & Gong 2003). It makes sense that people of
Mexican decent use prickly pear cactus because of the geographic location of the plant. High soluble
fiber content is the reason why almost all of these work as hypoglycemic. The study by Shapiro & Gong
concluded that its beneficial to study these plants because they have been used for a very long time as
treatment for diabetes. So one can come to the conclusion that while prickly pear cactus is very
beneficial to people wanting to manage their blood sugar, but it is not the only method to do so.
Traditional economists believe that supply and demand reach a point of optimization that will lead to
the right price and profit. However, supply siders think that if they keep the supply constant and just
shift it, they can increase the output (profits) without decreasing the price or the demand. The only
thing changed is the supply. This has happened--health stores have bottles of prickly pear cactus
capsules on shelves, and the supply is not limited to hunched ladies cutting thorns off the nopal cactus
on a street somewhere in the middle of Mexico. It is no longer just used by the native peoples of
Mexico, however they are the only ones who typically use it in cuisine. Since studies have shown it to be
most effective when the leaves are cooked and consumed, it is probably not a promising idea to expand
the nopal cactus to a global market.
Advertisements for western pharmaceutical medications often have long lists of side effects. For the
prickly pear cactus, eating too much of the fruit can cause fecal obstruction (because of the seeds), and
eating very large quantities of the cactus could decrease the absorption of some medications. (So, if
large servings of the cactus is combined with hypoglycemic medications, there is a risk of hypoglycemia).
Other than these rare cases, there are no documented negative side effects of consuming the prickly
pear cactus (Shapiro & Gong 2002). Because some consumers pride themselves in being all natural and
others want to avoid negative side effects, consumers have a demand for this product. There is no

telling for sure if the cactus lack of side effects would outweigh theexotic/foreign... idea consuming
it as food. But who knows, it could be the worlds next sushi!
While delicious, some may be put off of eating prickly pear cactus because of its slimy texture. It would
also have to be imported across countries or planted as a foreign species which could bring unintended
consequences to native plant and wildlife. This is because expanding to a global market would involve
either bringing the plant as an invasive species, or using fossil fuels to transport it long distances across
the globe. The cactus is native the Americas. But it has also been introduced to: New Caledonia,
Solomon Islands, Australia, South Africa, Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia (Pagad 2010). It is
considered an invasive species and Australias worst weed. It causes ecological damage to fertile soils
and so bringing in this foreign plant could do more harm than good. There are other foods that can
produce the same effect, so distributing the prickly pear cactus does not seem like a promising idea.
In conclusion, the prickly pear cactus should not be introduced to a grander market at the moment.
Although it has the potential to help many people, there is not enough scientific evidence to justify
introducing it because of the necessary method of preparation, other more readily available
alternatives, and potential ecological impacts.

References
Knishinsky, R. (2004). Prickly pear cactus medicine: Treatments for diabetes, cholesterol, and the immune
system. Rochester, Vt.: Healing Arts Press.
Lopez, J., & Geffen, D. (2007). Use of Opuntia Cactus as a Hypoglycemic Agent in Managing Type 2
Diabetes Mellitus among Mexican American Patients. Nutrition Bytes, 12(1). Retrieved February 9, 2015,
from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/555845bf#page-2
Pagad, S. (2010, June 12). Issg Database: Ecology of Opuntia stricta. Retrieved February 9, 2015, from
http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=104&fr=1&sts=&lang=EN
Shapiro, K., & Gong, W. (2002). Natural Products Used for Diabetes. Journal of the American Pharmacists
Association, 42(2). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from
http://udwr.japha.org/article.aspx?articleid=1034161
Trejo-Gonzales, A. et. al (1996) A purified extract from prickly pear cactus (Opuntia fuliginosa) controls
experimentally induced diabetes in rats. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 55(1). Retrieved February 8,
2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9121164