A study conducted by Polish researchers suggests that eggplant, tomatoes, and potatoes can help treat cancers. This vegetable has some anti-tumor properties: glycoalkaloids. These natural chemicals are also found in hot peppers, goji berries, and blueberries.
Scientists believe that glycoalkaloids, which are biologically active compounds in plants, may also help patients reduce side effects from chemotherapy, such as hair loss, nausea, and fatigue.
Magdalena Winkiel of Adam Mickiewicz University in Bosnia, Poland, led a group of researchers to re-examine the properties of medicinal plants. His team reviewed the evidence for glycoalkaloids—compounds abundant in the nightshade family of plants, which includes potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant.
At the right doses, Winkel’s team said, these chemicals can be “powerful clinical tools.” The study focused on five glycoalkaloids — solanine, chakunin, solasonin, solamargine and tomatine — that Winkel believes could be used for drug development in the future.
The findings, presented in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology, show that solanine has been shown to effectively prevent cancer-causing chemicals from becoming carcinogenic within the human body.
Studies on certain types of leukemia cells have also shown that solanine kills them in small doses. Meanwhile, the team said shakunin has anti-inflammatory properties, with potential to treat sepsis.
Research has suggested that solamargine might stop liver cancer cells from multiplying. Scientists say it could be a complementary treatment — never a replacement for chemotherapy — and is crucial because it targets cancer stem cells, which play an important role in cancer drug resistance.
Solasonine is thought to work in a similar way.
Tomatin supports the regulation of the body’s cell cycles, which helps the body kill cancer cells, according to the findings.
But no research has yet been done on how these natural chemicals can fight cancer in human cells.
According to Winkiel, more research is important to confirm that glycoalkaloids are “safe and promising enough to be tested in humans.”
“Scientists all over the world are still searching for drugs that are lethal to cancer cells, but at the same time are safe for healthy cells. It is not easy, despite the progress in medicine and the strong development of modern treatment technologies. That is why it is so. The specialist said in Statement “It is worth returning to the medicinal plants that have been successfully used for years in the treatment of various diseases.”
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