Neem’s Advances in Cancer Treatment

Since 1993, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency have all investigated and collected data on the health of farmers throughout the United States to determine health risks posed by agriculture. Hundreds of studies have been completed using the data collected.

For example, even though they have found that farmers typically have better health than the average population, they have higher instances of specific diseases, such as leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, soft tissue sarcoma, and skin, lip, stomach, brain, and prostate cancers. Even though there is still a lot to learn and many of the causes are difficult to pinpoint, synthetic pesticides are continually researched and evaluated to determine their health risks. One study showed that farmers exposed to atrazine, a popular herbicide used across the world today, led to increased risk of thyroid cancer.

Neem is beneficial in many regards in this situation, not only by reducing synthetic pesticide exposure because of its efficiency as a biopesticide and biofertilizer, but because it has been shown to be an effective cancer cell disabling agent.

The Georgia Regents University Cancer Center is offering fantastic research in this field! Gedunin, a compound in neem, is able to bind to a helper cell to inactivate the Hsp90 cancer cell. This works because the cell that gedunin binds to, p23, is a protein in charge of normal cellular functions and keeping the cancer cells alive. This research is the beginning of a potential cure for cancer using neem!