Apigenin is not only effective in the fight against pancreatic, ovarian, liver, small bowel, stomach, lung, and breast cancer, it can also inhibit cell proliferation, as confirmed by in vitro studies. This flavonoid can be found in many fruits and vegetables, but celery is the richest source of apigenin.
The National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. have funded a study in which scientists isolated apigenin and studied its possible effect on tumor growth. The team of experts injected ovarian epithelial cancer cells (OVCAR-3) into the ovaries of laboratory mice. OVCAR-3 cells are believed to have strong tumorigenicity and resistance to chemo. Withing 4 weeks the mice developed abdominal tumor.
In the second phase, scientists administred apigenin extract orally, 75mg/kg and 150 mg/kg, which was 0.025 percent and 0,05 percent og the total daily food intake by mice. The study showed that oral administration of apigenin “inhibited ovarian tumor micrometastasis in liver, lung, small intestine and stomach in different degrees” and also offered a “new rationale for apigenin in ovarian cancer prevention and treatment in the future.”
The Molecular Cancer also conducted a study, this time they studied the effect of apigenin on pancreatic cancer, and their findings were just similar. According to the results, apigenin can arrest human pancreatic cancer cell growth in vitro and also “appears to exert its inhibitory effects on cell cycle progression in other cell lines as well.”
Non-Toxic Treatment for Breast Cancer
Apigenin has the power to inhibit aggressive breast cancer. A group of scientists at the University of Missouri found that it can shrink tumors stimulated by progestine, a steroid hormone.
“This is the first study to show that apigenin, which can be extracted from celery, parsley and many other natural sources, is effective against human breast cancer cells that had been influenced by a certain chemical used in hormone replacement therapy,” explained co-author Salman Hyder, a professor of tumor angiogenesis and biomedical sciences in a press release of the University of Missouri.
However, Hyder believes that human clinical trials could be difficult. “One problem is, because apigenin doesn’t have a known specific target in the cancer cell, funding agencies have been reticent to support the research. Also, since apigenin is easily extracted from plants, pharmaceutical companies don’t stand to profit from the treatment; hence the industry won’t put money into studying something you can grow in your garden.”
Fortunately, you do not need to wait for pharmaceutical industry to make a progress -- trust nature and eat celery more often. Fresh celery juice provides ultimate bioavailability, prevention and great health benefits. Remember, always use organic celery, because conventional celery is believed to have the highest pesticide rate when compared to any other vegetable.
