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GUYABANO
(Annona Muricata)
For a long time the fruit, leaves and bark from the tropical Guyabano tree
have been used as a natural medicine for many illnesses. And now it also
seems to be a natural cancer cell killer.
The Guyabano Tree
The Guyabano tree (latin name: Annona muricata) is a low-branching and
bushy but slender tree, which can reach a height of 7.5-9 m. The large
evergreen leaves are smooth and glossy and have a dark green upper
surface. The fruits are usually oval or heart-shaped and 10-30 cm long and
up to 15 cm in width. The skin of the fruit is leathery and covered with
curved, soft, pliable spines. When the tips of these spines can break off
easily, then the fruit is ripe enough to eat. The inside of the fruit is creamcolored and is divided into segments. Closely-packed segments are seedless
and other segments have a single oval, smooth, hard black seed. One piece
of large fruit can contain a dozen to 200 seeds or even more.
It tastes slightly acidic and it is used as food in different ways. For example
you can spoon the flesh out or make sherbets and drinks out of it. From the
leaves you can make tea.
The Guyabano tree is a tropical tree found in the warmest tropical areas in
North and South America, in the Amazon and in Asia.
Natural medicine
The bark, leaves, fruit, roots, and fruit seeds of the Guyabano tree know a
long history of many medicinal uses.
these uses, it now also seems to help against cancer. Research has found
many biologically active compounds in the Guyabano tree, and one of these
compounds is able to destroy cancer cells.
growth was blocked. In addition, the non-cancerous healthy cells were not
affected by the acetogenins and the cell growth was not blocked. These
findings can indicate that acetogenins can selectively block the cell growth of
tumor cells, while the healthy cells remain unaffected with minimal toxicity
by this compound.
In breast cancer the cancer gene epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)
is frequently overexpressed. Therefore, this cancer gene is a possible target
for breast cancer therapy. A study by Dai et al (2011) used a Guyabano fruit
extract and the extract inhibited or blocked the expression of the EGFR gene
and this resulted in an inhibition of 32% of the growth of breast cancer cells.
The non-cancerous breast cells were not affected by the fruit extract.
In 1997 Oberlies et al researched the ability of the acetogenins to block the
cell growth of specific tumor cells, adriamycin resistant human mammary
adenocarcinoma cells. These breast tumor cells are resistant to treatment
with adriamycin, vincristine and vinblastine. All three are anti-tumor drugs.
Because these tumor cells can not be treated with the drugs, the tumor is
called multidrug resistant (MDR). The research group used various
acetogenins derived from the Guyabano. The ones with a specific structure
(a stereochemistry of threo-trans-threo-trans-erythro) were the most potent
acetogenin and had 250 times the potency of adriamycin. This indicates that
acetogenins may have a chemotherapeutical potential, also against MDR
tumors.
Not only a "cancer cell killer"
Besides being helpful to fight against cancer, Guyabano can also help with
other
conditions
and
diseases.
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder where the patient remains to have
high blood sugar levels because the body is not able to produce insulin (type
1 diabetes), or the (pancreatic) cells in the body does not react to the
produced insulin (type 2 diabetes).Adeyemi et al (2010) studied the effects
of the extracts of Guyabano on diabetes mellitus. Thirty rats were divided in
three groups; a control group, a group of rats with induced diabetes and a
group of rats with induced diabetes and treatment of Guyabano extracts.
After the treatment the pancreatic cells were examined and the group
treated with Guyabano resulted in more pancreatic cells compared to the
untreated group. These results suggest that Guyabano may help in the
Antibacterial effect
Vieira et al (2010) investigated the antibacterial effects of Guyabano extracts
on bacteria. They found that Guyabano extracts worked against the following
bacteria: Staphylococcus Aureus and Vibrio Cholerae. S. Aureus is a
bacterium which can lie on the skin and cause skin infections (such as
Seeram NP, Adams LS, Zhang Y, Lee R, Sand D, Scheuller HS, Herber D.
Statement made on this website are for information purposes only and have not been evaluated by the Food
and Drug Administration. Information and products on this site are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or
prevent any disease.
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based on 21 ratings
Author: Sofia PC
Topics: Middle School, Botany
Objective:
Discover whether plants grow best in chemical fertilizer, organic
fertilizer, or with no fertilizer at all.
Research Questions:
Plants need water and sunlight in order to grow. They can also be
helped along by fertilizer, which is said to supply plants with
necessary nutrients. However, there are different kinds of fertilizer, and
some believe that fertilizer is simply uncessary. In this experiment,
we'll compare two different kinds of fertilizer to normal soil.
Materials:
Soil
Plant pots
Water
Sunlight
Ruler
Experimental Procedure:
1. Fill three pots with soil from the same source (in other words,
don't get your soil from different places).
2. Dig a small hole about 1- 1 inch deep into the soil of each pot
and put a seed into each hole. Bury the seed inside and give it a
pat.
3. Label the pots with the type of fertilizer it is going to contain:
chemical, organic, or none.
Day 2
Day 3
Chemical
Fertilizer
Organic Fertilizer
No Fertilizer