Sweet Wormwood is a common name for Artemisis annua. This herb has been used for thousands of years as a natural remedy in the treatment of a wide range of illness.

Today, it is most commonly used as a Malaria treatment, because of its ability to kill parasites within the body. The same mechanisms of action which can target parasites may also be able to target cancer cells.

Research is currently under way to determine exactly how extracts from Sweet Wormwood are able to promote cell death in cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells undamaged.

The clinical use of Sweet Wormwood for cancer treatment is still many years off, but there are some doctors advocating for this plant as a natural anti-cancer supplement.

What is Sweet Wormwood?

There is a difference between Wormwood and Sweet Wormwood. Regular wormwood, or Artemisia absinthium, is famous as being the main ingredient used to make absinthe.

This species has been touted as a beneficial alternative cancer treatment as well, although to date, scientific evidence cannot yet support these claims effects.

Regular wormwood also contains thujone, a volatile oil that can lead to problems with the kidneys and liver. It is not recommended for consumption in high amounts.

Sweet Wormwood however, has long been used in traditional forms of herbal medicine and does not contain the same harmful amounts of thujone.

Sweet Wormwood, or Artemisia annua, typically grows in western regions of Asia, Northern Africa, and Europe, although it is now grown in North America as well. Its primary active ingredient is artemisinin which is now widely accepted as a conventional medical treatment for malaria.

Sweet Wormwood for Cancer

Currently, the use of Sweet Wormwood for cancer treatment is a major area of interest. Initial research conducted on in vitro cancer cells showed that artemisinin from this plant helped to eliminate these cells by promoting apoptosis.

Cancer cells require iron to replicate their cellular structures when dividing. Because cancerous cells have higher concentrations of iron than normal cells, it has been proposed that mechanisms which target and kill cells that only have high iron levels may be an effective way to attack cancers without affecting healthy cells.

Artemisinin has been shown to do exactly that. When this compound from the Sweet Wormwood plant comes into contact with high levels of iron, it breaks down in such a way that creates free radical particles. These free radicals destroy the cancer cells in a type of pro-oxidant effect.

However, only cancer cells are targeted with the oxidative damage; healthy cells that do not have elevated iron levels remain untouched.

The University of Washington is just one of many engaged in such studies on Sweet Wormwood in regard to breast cancer. Studies at the University of Washington have focused their attention on leukemia as well, with promising results regarding the percentage of cancer cells remaining after introducing artemisinin.

For example, leukemia cells have as much as 1,000 times the iron concentration as normal cells. Artemisinin initiates a chemical reaction that results in the production of charged atoms (free radicals) that attack these cellular membranes.

Anti-Cancer Effects

Part of the reason that Sweet Wormwood may be effective for both cancer and malaria is the fact that Artemisinin contains a reactive endoperoxide bridge.

The action of endoperoxides has been shown to be effective in treating malaria, though studies are still underway in regard to their efficacy in cancer treatments.

The endoperoxide bridge found in Artemisinin reacts with the mineral iron to form what are known as cytotoxic free radicals. Because of the cytotoxicity, Artemisinin and its derivatives may initiate apoptosis (cellular death) in certain cancer cell lines.

The endoperoxide bridge is necessary for the anti-cancer activities of artemisinin and other derivatives of Artemisia annua. This process occurs through the formation of free radicals. Free radicals cause oxidation, which damage or destroy cells in the body.

Think of oxidation as the rust that forms on a car that gradually eats away at the metal. The same process is true of free radicals on cellular structures. While the actions of artemisinin and its derivatives can destroy cancer cells through a pro-oxidant effect, in normal healthy cells it actually has an anti-oxidant effect.

Compounds found in artemisinin are also believed to have anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic, as well as anti-metastasis effects. While these effects may make it plausible as an adjunct chemotherapy drug option, it is also known that artemisinin derivatives are not as potent as currently utilized chemotherapy cancer drugs and have very short plasma half-lives.

As such, use of artemisinin-based therapies would require more frequent treatments as well as higher dosages in order to be effective in cancer treatments. Studies are underway to improve the efficacy and the targeting abilities of these artemisinin compounds found in Sweet Wormwood for cancer treatments.

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