The common garden weed Taraxacum officinale is public enemy #1 to homeowners who want a nice lawn …
But instead of spraying these bright yellow flowers with herbicides when they first pop up in spring, you may be better served by pulling them out by the root and eating them.
Amazingly, every part of this so-called weed — from the flower to the leaves to the root — is edible. Not only that – it also possesses medicinal properties and shows promise as a therapy for certain types of cancer.
Read on to see why you should give this annoying weed a second chance…
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Did you guess that this misunderstood weed is the dandelion?
While most folks spray or pull these yard invaders, a select, savvy few eat dandelion leaves in salads and stir fries, fry the flowers and eat them as snacks, and even enjoy dandelion wine and tea.
They’re not crazy. Not only are all parts of the dandelion edible, they pack a serious nutritional punch, including a healthy dose of vitamin K, more beta carotene than carrots, and more protein than spinach.
In fact, the reason we even have these flowers in American lawns is because Europeans brought them over to use their leaves as salad greens!
Medicinal properties of dandelions
Various parts of the dandelion have been used medicinally for centuries to aid digestion, cleanse the liver and kidneys, calm upset stomachs, soothe heartburn, and stimulate lactation in new mothers, among other uses.
They’re also rich in antioxidants, which reduce inflammation and pacify raging free radicals for better overall health.
In modern medicine, dandelion flowers and leaves have been shown to protect skin from damage caused by the sun’s UVB radiation.
These leaf and flower extracts also stimulate glutathione, an important antioxidant used in cell generation.1
And, as mentioned in Issue #350, dandelion root has been showing incredible promise as a potential cancer treatment.
Dandelion root is most commonly taken as a tea, which you can make yourself by drying and food-processing the root.
In 2011, a study published in the International Journal of Oncology showed that dandelion root helped suppress the growth of breast cancer cells, prostate cancer cells and melanomas in vitro (that is, in cells cultured in the lab).2
And previous research at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada found the root to be a safe and non-toxic treatment that induces apoptosis (natural cell death) in leukemia cells.3
In addition to all those benefits, many cancer patients report feeling better after enjoying dandelion root tea.
New research on dandelions and blood cancer underway
Most recently, the University of Windsor received approval to continue in a game-changing Phase One human trial … one that could change how mainstream medicine views alternative and complementary cancer treatments forever.
Very soon, 30 people with end-stage blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, who have had no success with conventional treatments, will help the world discover whether a super-potent dandelion tea has the power to save lives.
The dandelion root tea is formulated by Calgary-based natural health products company AOR Inc.
AOR spent about 18 months creating this potent therapeutic tea. The end product is a milled, extracted and freeze-dried dandelion root the color of mustard.
It is six to ten times more powerful than what’s available at a health food or drug store – or in your backyard. The AOR creation is not intended to be used as a supplement or like ordinary tea, but is being tested specifically for its ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cells.4
Health Canada approved the partnership between the University of Windsor and AOR in 2013, and trials are beginning in the next few months, according to our information.
The goal of Phase One trials, being the first of four, are to test the treatment in a small group for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range and to identify any and all side effects.
It will most likely be another year to 18 months before the results are in.
If it works, the researchers will move onto Phase Two trials.
Even though it’ll be a while before a dandelion root-based cancer treatment is available in the marketplace, it’s very exciting that these natural remedies are being taken seriously as medical treatments.
And you don’t have to wait to start enjoying your own gourmet dandelion creations … and take advantage of their health-boosting properties.
If you or someone you know is undergoing cancer treatments, it could be worth trying dandelion tea to relieve symptoms of nausea and to aid in eliminating toxins and waste from your body.
If you’re interested in trying it, do check with your doctor (hopefully one who supports natural treatments). Dandelion root is powerful and you want to avoid any unexpected interactions or side effects.
You can make your own tea and eat the dandelions out of your own backyard as well, provided they haven’t been sprayed with fertilizers or herbicides.
It’s so easy to make your own tea: just clean the roots and dry them out for a few days. You can process them in a blender and put them into empty teabags, or just steep the roots in water.
You can also purchase high quality dandelion root tea from your favorite health store or retailer. Some farmer’s markets sell dandelions as well.
On the other hand, another familiar household food – eggs – may not be as safe as I thought. No, I’m not talking about cholesterol. It looks like eggs may pose a different danger. If you missed the news in our last issue, it’s reprinted below.
Oh, No! Don’t Tell MeThis Food is Unhealthy!
There’s some disturbing news on the food front that I want to share with you today. Disturbing mostly because it involves one of our culture’s most common foods (and one of my favorites): eggs.
Let me say quickly that there isn’t a clear, straightforward correlation between eating eggs and cancer risk. But there are some health-related findings that give cause for concern. Specifically, eggs may be linked to the progression of cancer.
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First, some good news. Eggs are widely known to be loaded with high quality protein, as well as a valuable B vitamin called choline. A large portion of eggs is saturated fat, and between 60 and 70 percent of all calories in an egg come from fat. They’re high in cholesterol, at 213 milligrams per egg on average.
Are these reasons for concern? No. There’s no correlation between cholesterol in the diet and high blood levels of cholesterol in humans. And to take it a step further, the evidence is weak-to-pathetic that high blood cholesterol is a cause of heart disease.
The possible problem with eggs is something else completely. . .
The research raises new concerns
Despite their popularity, eggs appear to have a significant negative effect on certain types of cancer. Let’s start by looking at the effect of eggs on prostate cancer. Harvard researchers looked at over one thousand men with early stage prostate cancer and followed their diets for a few years.
What they found is unsettling: Men who ate even less than one egg a day had a significant two-fold increased risk of prostate cancer progression, when compared to men who hardly ever ate eggs. The only thing that made the risk worse was eating chicken with the skin on it, which gave them a four-fold risk of cancer progression.
In the Harvard study, the researchers concluded it was possible the choline in eggs increased inflammation within the body. Choline may (that word again) increase a person’s overall risk of cancer development, spread, and cancer-related death. And eggs are the most concentrated source of choline in the American diet.
This "guess" on the part of the researchers strikes me as nonsense. It might even be another backdoor attack by mainstream doctors on nutritional medicine. The evidence is overwhelming that most Americans are deficient in choline. I guess it’s possible if someone eats two or three eggs a day and maybe supplements with B vitamins to boot, they’re getting too much choline. It’s a stretch.
I don’t think it’s the choline. But even so, the results suggest something in eggs may be contributing to cancer, and this study is not the only evidence. Let’s go on. . .
Another study published by the New England Journal of Medicine fed participants hard-boiled eggs in place of steak. Interestingly, the egg-eaters experienced a spike in the same toxic TMAO compound you’d normally get from eating red meat, which can lead to disease development including strokes and heart attacks.
In Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, & Prevention, researchers found an increased risk of ovarian cancer resulting from increased egg consumption. At first, they speculated it was due to the cholesterol content in eggs, but later found that to be unrelated.
One possible explanation proposed by the researchers was the fact that most of the commercially produced eggs available during the study (this was 1996 in Australia) contained residues such as dieldrin and DDT, along with its metabolites DDE and DDD. Interestingly, home-raised eggs were even more likely to contain these residues than commercial eggs. The researchers believe prolonged exposure to these residues could be harmful.
Ah. Now we’re getting somewhere.
Whenever I see one of these studies suggesting that eating meat (and now eggs) raises cancer risk, my first question is whether it’s the pesticides, herbicides, hormones and antibiotics in conventional meat that pose the real problem. It’s safe to say that nearly ALL the people in these studies eat conventionally grown food.
Another question I have is what OTHER habits do heavy meat-and-egg eaters have? Over the past thirty years or so, people who are health-conscious have tended to eat little or no meat and they’ve avoided eggs because of the (phony) cholesterol scare. But such people also tend to take supplements, exercise, meditate, get enough sleep, etc. They go the last mile to take care of their health.
I suspect that people who chow down every day on red meat are less likely to practice this constellation of good habits. We also know that a huge proportion of ALL meat consumption takes place in fast food restaurants. If you eat large amounts of meat or eggs, it’s likely you’re doing it at Burger King or MacDonald’s or Ihop.
It’s possible that this heavy meat-and-egg-consuming population has a whole collection of other bad habits that contribute to cancer.
This is all speculation on my part, and I have to admit that some of the evidence against eggs is giving me second thoughts.
In a 1992 analysis published by the International Journal of Cancer, folks who ate just 1.5 eggs a week had almost five times the risk of colon cancer, compared to those who ate fewer than 11 eggs per year.
On top of that, a 2011 study from the National Institutes of Health showed men who ate just 2.5 eggs each week were at 81% increased risk for a deadly form of prostate cancer. And a 2005 study published in International Urology and Nephrology showed moderate egg consumption tripled the risk of bladder cancer.
Is there a safer alternative?
The obvious question may be to ask whether free-range or organic eggs are better than their commercial counterparts.
In some studies, scientists have found that free-range eggs are no better for us than the crowded factory-farm alternative. They have the same levels of vitamins and cholesterol. But the researchers were looking at nutrient levels, not at levels of pesticides or hormones. In short, they didn’t look at the most important difference between organic products and conventionally grown.
Other egg research concludes that free-range eggs do in fact have more nutrition, but that those nutrients are destroyed in the cooking process. The researchers’ recommendation is to eat your eggs raw, making sure they’re pastured organic, so they aren’t contaminated with salmonella bacteria.
I eat from two to four eggs per week (organic, of course). I may cut that down to no more than two, just to be sure I’m dodging whatever bullet may be lurking there. I’ll be watching this topic for further developments.
Best regards,
Lee Euler,
Publisher
