Cancer fighting teas and tinctures | Sara Davenport

This week Sara Davenport of Reboot Health shares her top herbal teas that could be beneficial for people with cancer…

Around the world, certain herbal teas and tinctures are repeatedly being shown to have significant effects on the growth of cancer tumours. Interestingly, many of them contain a variation of the same ingredients; and equally interestingly, most of them have a ‘story’ attached – of an initial remarkable discovery and then full recovery from the disease. Side effects are rarely reported and most of them boost immunity and purify your blood in the process, so adding them into your daily routine sounds a no-brainer. Swop your daily mint and camomile for a more potent brew….

Jason Winters Tea

Jason Winters was a US stunt man, who in 1977 was diagnosed with an aggressive terminal cancer and given just three months to live. He decided to take matters into his own hands, turned down surgery and all conventional treatment and instead travelled the world in search of a cure. He found it in a particular combination of herbs, healed himself successfully, and developed a proprietary herbal tea blend which is now marketed globally. He wrote a book about his experiences, ‘Killing Cancer’ and has won many awards for his contribution to health.

Soursop Tea

Made from the leaves of the soursop plant, this is also known as graviola or pawpaw tea and there are many claims that drinking it has powerful anti-cancer effects. The tea contains a combination of potent natural antibiotics called acetogenins, alongside other immune boosting substances – alkaloids, antioxidants, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, calcium, iron, potassium, gentisic acid, and anonol – all of which fight tumour growth and development and boost apoptosis, the self-destruction of cancer cells. One site I saw claims it to be 1,000 times more powerful than chemotherapy.

Essiac Tea

The slightly strange sounding ‘Essiac’ tea is, in fact, simply a reversal of the surname of the woman who made it famous. In 1922, a young Canadian nurse, Rene Caisse, was given certain herbs by an old woman who had cured herself of breast cancer and had been handed down the recipe by the Ojibawa Native Americans who had used it for generations.

When Rene’s aunt was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer and given just months to live, she remembered the information, brewed up the tea, and gave it to her. The aunt recovered completely. Rene treated more cancer cases in the years that followed, and those that drank the tea successfully healed too. Word spread and it became more and more popular with those who were sick. In 1926, supported by 9 senior doctors, Rene Caisse petitioned the Canadian government for funds to carry out formal research into the tea. Instead, they tried to arrest her for treating cancer patients without a medical license and in an official investigation concluded that not one of the people diagnosed had been suffering from cancer after all.

Essiac tea is made from burdock root, the inner bark of the slippery elm, sheep sorrel, cats claw bark and Turkish or Indian rhubarb. Kelp, red clover blossom, watercress herb and blessed thistle herb are often added into the commercial teas, and it is sold under the names of Tea of Life, Flor-essence and various other brands as well as Essiac. There is also a cannabis oil and essiac tea combination available – Canessiac.

Rene Caisse never charged for her tea and the precise recipe died with her. It is still not authorised as an official cancer treatment.

Hoxey’s Herbal Tincture

In 1840, the favourite horse of a farmer named John Hoxsey developed cancer and grew a large tumour on its skin. He turned it out to grass, not expecting it to survive the summer. He noticed, however, that it always fed in the same area of the field, and when one day the growth fell off, and the horse recovered, he went to inspect and collect the herbs and grasses it had been eating. He developed a formula that years later, his grandson, Harry Hoxsey, would use in the chain of cancer clinics he opened throughout the USA.

Hoxsey’s herbal tincture consists of a mixture of burdock root, red clover, liquorice, cascara sagrada, Oregon grape root, buckthorn, poke root, prickly ash, chaparral and wild indigo with potassium iodide.

Pau D’Arco Tea

The bark of the Pau D’Arco tree contains a combination of chemicals with tumour shrinking properties; tannins, triterpines and quinones. Different species of the trees have different medicinal properties which have been identified in scientific studies on animals.

The cancer curing properties of this tea were discovered in Brazil in 1967, when a young girl was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Praying for a cure for hours each and every day, she was sent a vision of a monk, who told her that if she drank a tea made from the bark of the Pau D’Arco tree she would be healed. In a second vision, the same monk re-appeared and told her exactly which species of the tree to use. She searched, found it, and drinking it over a period of months, was cured.

It is the bark that is powerful. Look for a brand that contains lapachol, the most potent of the quinones in the bark and a strong immune system stimulator. To make it yourself, place six tablespoons of the bark in a saucepan with a litre (4 cups) of boiling water. Boil for a further 5 minutes until the water is reduced to 3/4 litre (3 cups) and then cool down and strain. Drink around 5-8 cups of the tea a day, sipping it slowly. It’s very bitter. If you develop a slight skin rash, reduce the amount you are drinking until it fades. There are no other reported side effects.

Cansema Tonic 3

This, I am afraid, I know little about, except that a visitor at The Haven raved about it to me and it has so odd a name I have remembered it for years. It contains many of the ingredients of the other teas and is a combination of distilled water, red clover, chaparral, inkberry, bloodroot, taheebo bark, galangal root, arrowroot, zinc chloride, unrefined honey and glycerine. It also contains a small amount of alcohol. If you google it on the internet, there are both hugely positive and also negative reviews, but the FDA has now prohibited it from sale in the USA.

Where to find them

You can google for independent suppliers in countries all over the world but these are reputable U.K. shops with a wide variety of herbs and tonics for sale.

Baldwins – www.baldwins.co.uk – this is a brilliant online shop that stocks many of the teas as well as the unusual ingredients of the teas if you decide to make your own.

The Herbal Apothecary – www.herbalapothecaryuk.com

Jason winters tea is available from his own website – www.sirjasonwinters.com

You can purchase Sara’s book, Reboot Your Health, which is currently on special offer from Amazon here.

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