By Chelsea Harrison
When someone mentions mistletoe, I’m guessing 90% of people will think of Christmas decorations and the other cheeky 10% will think of kissing. But did you know that mistletoe plant extract use is becoming more popular in integrative cancer care plans?
Like many natural remedies that are being (re)discovered in the US to have viable health benefits, studies have shown that injections of mistletoe extract can help fight cancer and improve quality of life while doing so. While mistletoe therapy has been manufactured and sold as an injectable prescription medication in the European market for many years, the US has been slower to explore this treatment. Since it is not currently FDA-approved in the US, traditional doctors and oncologists are not likely to suggest mistletoe therapy.
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine recently completed a Phase I study showing promising results for mistletoe therapy. The next step in FDA approval is to raise money to complete Phase II studies. Some recipients of mistletoe therapy feel so strongly about their positive results that they started a non-profit, Believe Big, to help fund the studies needed to get mistletoe therapy FDA approved–a rare occurrence in the field of medical research.
Melissa Trotman, owner of Vital You and a nurse practitioner for 20+ years, went through her own breast cancer journey and found that for her, Functional Medicine, patient-centered healthcare that uses a holistic approach, helped her not only to survive cancer, but to thrive and take control of her health. She now offers mistletoe therapy as part of her Functional Medicine practice located in Annapolis (130 Admiral Cochrane Drive, Suite 303).
Trotman says, “We use mistletoe as part of an integrative cancer care plan alongside conventional treatment to improve outcomes and lower risk of recurrence in cancer patients.”
All mistletoe infusions at Vital You are administered by an experienced registered nurse.
Some of the benefits of mistletoe injections are:
- Stimulates the immune system to fight cancer
- Promotes apoptosis, the natural death of cells, which is important to keeping cancer from growing out of control
- Inhibits new blood vessel formation in tumors
- Viscotoxin- a chemotherapeutic agent of mistletoe that can directly kill cancer cells
- Stimulates endorphins, which improves quality of life: reduces pain, increases appetite, helps patients sleep, which all help give patients a more positive outlook
- Proactively prevent cancer recurrence
If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about mistletoe therapy for cancer, Trotman recommends seeing an integrative cancer provider.
For more information on Vital You’s mistletoe therapy and other Functional Medicine services, patients can book a discovery call to discuss health concerns, symptoms, and goals.
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