From Fox News: A household sweetener could hold the potential to create an anti-cancer treatment.
New research from Hiroshima University in Japan revealed that stevia leaf extract could help fight pancreatic cancer cells.
The leaves of the stevia plant (Stevia rebaudiana) are used to make stevia extract, a naturally sweet substance commonly used as a sugar substitute.
The study, published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, investigated the anti-cancer properties of stevia leaf extract when it is fermented with a certain strain of bacteria.
Researchers found that the fermented extract exhibited “significantly enhanced antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity” against pancreatic cancer cells, which they believe means it could be a “promising candidate for pancreatic cancer treatment.”
Paul E. Oberstein, M.D., medical oncologist and assistant director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center at NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center, told Fox News Digital, “This is an interesting study because it evaluated something derived from a natural plant (stevia) and showed that it may have utility in stopping cancer cells from growing in the laboratory.”
“As the authors point out, the actual stevia plant does not seem to have any benefit for stopping cancer, so they had to use a chemical process to change the plant and make it stronger with a fermentation process,” he explained.
“The study suggests that if the stevia can be changed in the lab, it may have an impact, so hopefully they will further test this and determine whether this effect happens when tested in people and if it doesn’t cause new side effects,” he added.
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