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UH Studying Noni Plant on
Cancer
Researchers Get $340,000 For
Two-Year Study
HONOLULU, 9:00 p.m. HST July 16, 2001
-- The University of Hawaii is about to begin
groundbreaking research into a potential treatment for cancer that can
be found almost everywhere throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
Researchers want to
find out if the extract of the noni plant (pictured, left) has
anti-cancer properties. The plant has been used for hundreds of years by
Native Hawaiians of medicinal purposes, but it is the first time that
its effects will be scientifically studied.
"It's been used a lot
as a restorative, as a tonic," Dr. Brian Issell of the UH Cancer
Research Center said.
The noni plant is
believed to have anti-cancer properties, and can control high blood
pressure, diabetes and heart disease.
"Part of the study is
to look at what chemicals that are in noni that get into the blood and
may be responsible for the anti-cancer activity," Issell said.
Issell and his
research team have been awarded $340,000 by the National Institutes of
Health to conduct the two-year study on 30 cancer patients who have
undergone standard treatments.
Noni research in the
laboratory has successfully stopped cancer, according to Issell. Outside
of the lab, people normally drink the fermented liquefied extract of the
noni plant.
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