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Ivan Pourmir (medical oncologist)
According to a new study, Manuka honey could help in the treatment of breast cancer. Do these results allow us to say that the disease can be treated with this honey? Can it participate in prevention as a nutraceutical? The point with oncologist Ivan Pourmir.
Honey is a food known for its antimicrobial, antioxidant and healing properties. Could it also be a treatment for cancer? This is what American researchers from the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA Health in California are trying to demonstrate.
An 84% reduction in tumor growth
To support this hypothesis, the scientists therefore based themselves on the study of Manuka honey, produced in New Zealand. This honey is particularly rich in flavonoids, phytochemicals, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, amino acids and minerals. The team conducted a series of experiments on mice and on cell lines of two types of breast cancer, estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer (the most common breast cancer, accounting for 70 to 80% of cases) and triple-negative breast cancer (a rarer type of breast cancer but particularly difficult to treat).
In these in vitro models, Manuka honey administration resulted in a significant reduction in tumor growth compared to control groups, the scientists said.
In a second experiment, they grafted human tumor cells into mice that lacked an immune system. Again, honey reduced tumor growth in mice with ER-positive breast cancer cells by 84% without affecting normal breast cells or causing major side effects.
Manuka honey has other benefits
In addition to these results, Manuka honey would have other positive points, reported by the researchers:
- It reduced the proliferation of cancer cells but did not affect the growth of normal human mammary epithelial cells, indicating that it may specifically target cancer cells;
- It induced apoptosis or cell death in breast cancer cells;
- It improves the effectiveness of existing treatments such as tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen drug commonly used in the treatment of ER-positive breast cancer, when used together.
There is an urgent need for new treatments to help prevent the development of endocrine resistance and improve long-term survival from breast cancer. Endocrine resistance is a major contributing factor to the fact that breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide.
Can Manuka Honey Be Considered as a Cancer Treatment?
These initial encouraging results may suggest that Manuka honey could be a treatment for these two types of breast cancer. What should we think? When asked, Dr. Ivan Pourmir, an oncologist at the Georges-Pompidou Hospital in Paris, believes that it is too early to say.This study is interesting, but it is difficult to say at this stage whether we can find a clinical application for these results.”.
For the expert, several obstacles exist. “Manuka honey has been tested in vitro and in mice. These conditions represent a first step in research but do not certify that the action of this honey will be similar in humans.”
However, Ivan Pourmir acknowledges, the positive point concerns the tolerance of this product in humans.Unlike other substances, we already know that honey, if it is one day recognized as a treatment against breast cancer, will not present any toxicity problems.”The authors of this work also acknowledge that further work is needed.
Although it is still too early to say that Manuka honey is a real treatment for breast cancer, there is nothing stopping you from putting it on your toast for breakfast.
Slide: Misconceptions about cancer