A blog reader, thanks!, sent me the link to this CBC News article on the healthful benefits of dandelions (and here I thought they were just weeds…): http://goo.gl/yajZP
A research team headed by Siyaram Pandey, a biochemist at the University of Windsor, showed that even a low dose of a dandelion root EXTRACT can make leukemic cells commit suicide (= apoptosis). How about that???
I was also intrigued to discover HOW this research came about in the first place: Pandey admits he was skeptical when he was first approached by local oncologist, Dr. Caroline Hamm, who was curious about cancer patients who had been drinking dandelion tea and seemed to be getting better.
AHA!!! It all began because of patients drinking dandelion tea and GETTING BETTER…A familiar story…
However, before you begin pulling up all the weeds in your garden, make sure you read Dr. Hamm’s warning: “dandelion extract tea could interfere with regular chemotherapy, and she urged patients not to mix the natural remedy with other cancer drugs without speaking to a doctor first.” Now, those of us who aren’t doing any conventional treatments can get a dandelion tea recipe online (I just checked, there are tons)…or, if we’re feeling a bit lazy/don’t have access to any dandelions, we can just buy some organic dandelion tea (heaps of brands out there…any suggestions?)…Easy peasy! 🙂
Anyway, I strongly recommend that we all read this article…very interesting…especially Mr. DiCarlo’s story at the end…
“You aren’t a sick man anymore.” Wouldn’t we all love to hear those words…
Fascinating. I just had a dandelion green salad – as i do every spring just like my Italian grandparents did!(The greens are mild in the spring). They also used to make wine out of the blossoms. Dandelion root has long been used to make tea and a roasted coffee substitute (like chicory). The yellow blossoms are edible and loaded with quercetin – just shear off the yellow tips off the blossoms with scissors and it looks like confetti on salad. You can also brine the buds before they open and they look and taste like capers i’ve read.
I did a little research and apparently dandelion root (Pu gong ying)has been used for centuries in TCM (traditional chinese medicine) for breast and uterine cancer and leukemia! Dr Panday didn’t conduct a very indept literature search – i found several in vitro studies that have been done in Korea and India on liver cancer, melanoma, breast and prostate cancer and one previous study on leukemia (see the footnotes for details: http://www.zhion.com/liver_issues/Dandelion.html). There was also an in vivo Korean study showing an extract from the Korean dandelion had potent immunepotentiating and antitumor properties: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Jeong%20JY%20taraxacum
Here’s a list of all the studies on pubmed found using a search for taraxacum AND cancer: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=cancer%20AND%20taraxacum
The Korean study using taraxinic acid from Korean dandelion is available in full text. Taraxinic acid is in all dandelions – not just the Korean variety: http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bpb/25/11/1446/_pdf
Stinging nettle, leaf parsley, sorrel and dandelion i put in my green smoothies togehter with fruits and water.
Also stringing nettles are a wonder herb !!
All herbs i can find around my house ! For zero cent !!
BonVit is the brand I am currently using. It comes as teabags. It is an Aussie brand so may not be available in Europe.
The one I used to use was Symington’s Instant Dandelion tea. It is granules that dissolve in hot water like instant coffee. Has glucose added to make it a bit sweeter, so is a good ‘first dande’. It is easy to get in my part of the world – supermarkets stock it. Made in the UK so should be available in Italy.
Dandelion makes a great cappuccino. “Dandecino”. Just make the tea as normal and top with milk froth of your choice. Even people who are suspicious of herbal teas find it palatable.
I went looking for dandelion tea, but couldn’t find it anywhere. I went to Vitamin Shop, and they had the capsule version from Nature’s Way and Solaray (sp?). Has anyone used the capsule form? Any idea as to whether it would be as good as tea? Thanks
Vitacost has several brands of dandelion root tea (the 1 pound bulk bag of Organic dandelion root from Starwest Botanicals would be the cheapest way to go rather than buying the tea bags), liquid extracts and extracts in capsule form:
http://www.vitacost.com/productResults.aspx?previousText=dandelion+root+tea&ss=1&x=0&y=0&ntk=products&Ntt=dandelion%20root
If one is looking to buy “extracts” be aware that some of the capsules on this page are not concentrated “extracts” but powdered root.
My husband spoke with Dr. Pandey about this, and tea bags are NOT the way to go. You have to buy loose dried dandelion root and make your own tea by grinding it and putting into boiled water and straining. Don’t waste your time with tinctures or tea bags. The dried root is hard to find. I live in Detroit so I drove to the herb store in Windsor, Canada to get the same dried dandelion root.
I haven’t started the protocol as yet, but plan to. I’ve been diagnosed with CLL.
Have you started dandelion yet? If so, has it helped your CLL? My husband was just diagnosed with CLL in April 2013 and I’ve been searching for something natural to help him.
I was diagnosed almost 3 years ago with CLL and my white blood cell count has continued to climb. In May of 2013 I began making and drinking a strong dandelion root tea every day and ingesting 1200mg of EG Cg with mixed results which temporarily brought the count down. I am continuing to self administer but now will add 1000units of vitamin D to the mix. Stay tuned…
So, any success?