Graviola, a small deciduous tropical evergreen fruit tree, has been shown to be effective against a number of viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Some studies also suggest it might be effective against some types of cancer cells.

What is Graviola?

Belonging to the Annonaceae family, Graviola grows in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. It goes by the names soursop, custard apple, cherimoya, guanabana, and Brazilian paw.

The fruits from the tree have been widely used as food confectionaries.

Extracts of its bark, fruits, leaves, pericarp, seeds, and roots, have been used in traditional medicine to treat multiple conditions in Africa and South America.

Graviola's Anti-Cancer Effects

Graviola contains chemicals called acetogenins, which are thought to be the active ingredient. Acetogenins and other secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, of this plant possess demonstrable ability to decrease the growth of cancer. (1)

One clinical case report describes a 66-year-old female diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and whose metastases had progressed after multiple rounds of chemotherapy (including anthracyclines and taxanes).

The patient self-medicated by boiling 10–12 dry leaves of A. muricata in water for 5–7 minutes, then orally consumed an 8 oz daily dose of this aqueous extract. Her metastases remained stable for 5 years on Graviola (which she took together with Xeloda).

P. Raghavan Protocol

Below, P. Raghavan, a top Earth Clinic contributor, gives a detailed description of a Graviola tea protocol for cancer. This protocol has helped two women with stomach cancer in his village in India. His holistic treatment consists of Graviola tea, green alkalizing drinks, and probiotics.

GRAVIOLA LEAVES TEA, GREEN DRINKS AND PROBIOTICS FOR CANCER.

Cancer cells are formed when free radicals damage DNA of normal cells. There is a need to give high level overview of cells to understand this. Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. An average human body composed of about 30 trillions of cells. They provide structure for the body, take in nutrients from food, convert those nutrients into energy and carry out specialized functions.

There are about 200 types of cells in our body and they are: sperm cells, stem cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, nerve cells, muscle cells, bone cells, skin cells, fat cells, etc.

Average volume of some cell types are given below:

1) Sperm cell = 30 um3 (micro meter cube) - Smallest cell.

2) Beta cell = 1000 um3 (micro meter cube).

3) Fat cell = 600,000 um3 (micro meter cube) - Second largest cell.

4) Oocyte cell = 4,000,000 um3 (micro meter cube) – Largest cell.

According to an article titled “ Mitochondria”, mitochondria are inside the cells and are known as powerhouse of the cell. They act like a digestive system which takes in nutrients, breaks down, and creates energy rich molecules for the cell. Mitochondria generate most of the chemical energy needed to power the cells. Mitochondria stores the chemical in a small molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). According to an article titled “Mitochondrial Respiration”, mitochondrial respirations is the set of metabolic reactions and processes requiring oxygen that takes place in mitochondria to convert the energy stored in macronutrients to adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the universal donor in the cell. Defects in the mitochondria respiration may be the underlying cause of cancer.

Graviola (annona muricata) is a small evergreen tree found in South America, Africa, and South / Southeast Asia. Graviola leaf are rich in antioxidants, which help the body fight against free radical damage to cells. One can see 24 user reviews on graviola from WebMD by google search with “webmd graviola user reviews”. There are a number of articles available in the net about graviola and cancer. Some of the titles of articles are given below:

1) Anti Cancer Activity on Graviola.

2) Survivor Credits Good life, God and Graviola Tea to Survival.

3) Can Graviola Help To Treat cancer?

4) Can Soursop Leaves Really cure Cancer?

About 6 years ago, two ladies in my town were diagnosed with stomach cancer stage – 4. There were given 6 month time to live by doctors. They could not afford chemo / radiation treatment at that time and also they didn't like the treatment. One of the ladies consulted a tribal herbal doctor in the state of Karnataka (nearest town: KOZHIKODE, KERALA). The herbal doctor advised her to make herbal tea using 9 leaves of graviola tree per day with 3 cups of water. He suggested to consume this tea during entire day or one cup in the morning, one cup in the afternoon and one cup at night.

There is a video available in the net titled “How to make soursop tea”. Soursop tree is another name for Graviola tree.

Ladies decided to take one cup of green drink rich in chlorophyll with some lemon juice from half a lemon. Green drink can consumed 30 minutes before eating. Green drink will increase oxygen supply to all cells including cancer cells and lemon juice will alkalize the body. They are living more than 6 years and are very active.

I noticed that some other people with similar conditions opted for regular treatments and they lived less than one year after diagnosis. They are taking now one cup of graviola tea per day using 3 leaves for maintenance after cure. But if they stopped taking this maintenace tea, they get pain in the stomach. But they are not taking any probiotics and flax seed now.

There is an article titled “Difference Between Antioxidants and Phytochemicals?” by Karen Collins of American Institute for Cancer Research. This gives some explanations for the above treatment. “Phytochemicals are chemicals produced by plants. Many phytochemicals act as antioxidants neutralizing free radicals and removing their power to create damaged cells. Many of phytochemicals that show high antioxidant scores in lab tests can't even be absorbed from the gut. However, healthful (probiotic) bacteria in the colon may break down many of them, forming other compounds that can be absorbed”. From this article, it appears that antioxidants can be classified into two types:

1) Antioxidants that can be absorbed directly by the body without the help of any probiotic bacteria. An example of the antioxidants is the antioxidants in graviola tree leaf.

2) Antioxidants that cannot be absorbed directly by the body. But a particular strain of probiotic bacteria can modify the antioxidants so that it can be absorbed by the body. If the count of this particular probiotic bacteria is low in the digestive system, then there will not be enough antioxidants in the body to neutralize all free radicals in the body. This may start cancer problem. One can identify this particular probiotic bacteria by stool testing by measuring various probiotic levels in the stool. Also, one can also contact the author of article “Difference Between Antioxidants and Phytochemicals?” for the latest article on this subject mentioning the name of the probiotic strain that can convert non-absorbable antioxidants into absorbable form

According to articles available in the net, graviola leaves are rich in pytochemicals ‘Acetogenins' . According to an article titled “Exploring the Leaves of Annona muricata L as a source of Potential Anti-inflammatory and Anticancer Agents”, the Annonaceous acetogenins are an exciting new class of bioactive natural products whose antitumor, pesticidal and other bioactivities are due to inhibition of electron transport in mitochondria. Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell.

Many articles say graviola leaves has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer properties and may treat breast cancer, leukemia, liver cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, etc. According to an article titled “Annonaceous Actogenins as a new anticancer agent”, acetogenins are versatile anticancer molecules causing tumor cell death.

Suggested Treatment – Four Step Process.

1) First cut 9 graviola tree leaves into small pieces with scissor. Boil about 3 cups of water and add leaf. Let it simmer while covered for 10 to 20 minutes. Three cups of tea are ready when the water takes on a greenish – brown color. Consume one cup in the morning, one cup in the afternoon and one cup at night. If fresh graviola tree leaves are not available, one can buy dried graviola tree leaves online.

2) Make one cup of green drink using one of the following: mint leaves, wheatgrass, etc. Then add lemon juice from half a lemon. Drink this once a day.

3) According to article titled “Probiotic Bacteria: A Promising Tool in Cancer Prevention and Therapy”, probiotic bacteria have been shown to play a significant role in immunomodulation and display antitumor properties. Some of probiotic strains recommended are Lactococcus Lactis, L. Casei, L. Plantarum, L. Rhamnosus, B. Longum, etc. I searched the net and the following six brands contains the above probiotic strains:

. CaptainBiotics Probiotic - 19 probiotic strains.

. Innate Vitality Women's - 17 probiotic strains.

. InnovixLabs - 31 probiotic strains.

. NewRhythm Probiotic - 20 probiotic strains.

. wholesome RAW Probiotic 100 billion CFU - 34 probiotic strains.

. Terranics Probiotic - 19 probiotic strains.

While selecting a brand, make sure it also contains probiotic strain that can convert unabsorbable antioxidants into absorbable antioxidants. Consume one probiotic tablet / capsule per day

4) Consume 2 teaspoons of ground flax seed at night. Flax seeds are rich in fibre which are foods for probiotic bacteria. So, probiotic bacteria will multiply very fast.

I hope the information provided here will be useful.

Best wishes.

P. Raghavan.