What is the opinion of doctors on Artemisia annua ? Is this plant really that effective in fighting the evil of the century?
Unfortunately in Italy there are still few doctors (and even fewer oncologists) who are aware of the actual ownership of Artemisia annua. Those few include Dr. Ivano Ferri Hammamberg, physician, oncologist, homeopath and homotoxicologist, and Dr. Andrea Passini , doctor in Neurophysiopathology Techniques, in Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences and Herbal Techniques, independent scientific researcher.
Both are part of the non-profit association ARTOI (Integrated Oncological Therapy Research Association), a professional organization dedicated to the study, research and application of oncological treatments through the integrated use of multiple therapeutic options , such as herbal products, nutrition, acupuncture. , mind-body therapy and other complementary modalities.
As Dr. Ivano Ferri in a recent Telecolor interview (the video at the end of the article), among the various supplementary remedies to traditional oncological treatments, Artemisia annua holds a place of honor and hardly does not use it.
Here is his personal opinion on Artemisia Annua:
Artemisia Annua: the opinion of Dr. Hammamberg
During the interview, Dr. Ivano Ferri Hammamberg admits that he learned of Artemisia annua for the first time thanks to one of his patients who used this plant . From there he began to inform himself and to deepen the subject. Today most of his scientific knowledge on Artemisia annua are thanks to the professional collaboration with Dr. Andrea Passini. And in fact most doctors know little or nothing about this plant, as natural remedies are not mentioned at all during the years of study at Italian universities and in fact they are little known and even less considered.
It is a plant that has been used for millennia by traditional Chinese medicine. Today, thanks to recent scientific studies, we know that artemisinin , the active ingredient contained within the leaves and flowers of Artemisia annua, has an important antitumor action on about a hundred cells of different types .
This molecule acts by attacking and killing cancer cells through 6 different types of mechanisms. One of these is the Nf-Kb expression block.
In the treatment of his cancer patients, Dr. Ivano Ferri Hammamberg always combines Artemisia annua with classic oncological treatments (chemotherapy and radiotherapy), both for its anti-tumor properties, but also for its incredible anti-inflammatory effect, especially on patients with advanced cancer.
How to take Artemisia annua?
Artemisia annua can be taken in three different ways:
- Hydrolyte (it is a non-alcoholic aqueous extract, or better an herbal tea)
- Hydroalcoholic extract (it is an alcoholic extract at 65 °)
- Capsules titrated in Artemisinin (contain 99% Artemisinin)
As mentioned, a patient is rarely not recommended to take Artemisia annua. For non-serious patients, for the first 1-2 months of therapy, only Artemisia annua is prescribed as a hydroalcoholic extract, or as a hydrolyte . Hydrolyte and hydroalcoholic extract have above all an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant action and are therefore prescribed to improve the general condition of the patient, drastically reducing the inflammation generated by Cancer.
The dosage prescribed by Dr. Ivano Ferri Hammamberg is 3 tablespoons 3 times a day during main meals, i.e. breakfast, lunch and dinner (never far away or before meals).
In his interview, Dr. Ivano Ferri tells of some of his patients, who until a few days before could not get out of bed due to pain and fatigue and that after 2-3 days from taking Artemisia annua, they felt as if they had been reborn. Obviously they weren’t cured of Cancer, but the inflammation had subsided to such an extent that they felt like new, painless, more energized and with a greater appetite. In fact, in addition to pain, tumor inflammation also causes a lot of fatigue and loss of appetite . With the intake of hydrolyte (herbal tea), or the hydroalcoholic extract of Artemisia annua, these ailments are eliminated within a few days .
Whenever possible, he prefers to prescribe hydroalcoholic extract to the patient, because it has a more marked anti-inflammatory action, but since it contains alcohol, Dr. Hammamberg avoids prescribing it to people with diabetes, gastritis problems, liver disease, or if suffering from stomach or liver cancer.
Artemisinin
L ‘ Artemisinin is the active ingredient more important for its anti-cancer activity .
The hydrolyte and hydroalcoholic extract contain low doses of artemisinin and, as mentioned, have more of an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect. The titrated extract of artemisinin at 99% (in capsules, or tablets), on the other hand, has an oxidizing effect , i.e. once it has penetrated into the tumor cell, interacting with the intracellular iron produces free radicals (ROS) which induce apoptosis in the cell itself. Apoptosis is a type of programmed death, which, unlike cell death caused by chemotherapy, does not generate inflammation.
Dr. Hammamberg explains that it is good not to overlap the intake of hydrolyte (or hydroalcoholic extract) with that of artemisinin. Antioxidant and oxidant effect would be canceled, compromising the outcome of the therapy.
For this reason, the doctor, in less serious patients , administers only the hydroalcoholic extract (or hydrolyte) for the first 1-2 months and then only artemisinin. In patients with advanced cancer, it is not possible to wait 1-2 months for the administration of artemisinin, so in this case the program includes 3 tablespoons of hydroalcoholic extract (or hydrolyte) twice a day (breakfast and lunch ) and taking artemisinin tablets during dinner, in order to distance the intake of the two.
Initially, for a month or so we proceed with very low dosages of artemisinin. After a month, the patient is tested for kidney and liver function and if there are no problems, the dosage is increased.
When is Artemisia annua most effective?
According to the opinion and experience of Dr. Ivano Ferri Hammamberg the intake of Artemisia annua is always very useful, but in some types of Cancer it was decidedly more effective. In particular, he talks about bladder, prostate and ovarian cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer .
The case of Amedeo Gioia
He then talks about the case that aroused the greatest interest from public opinion, namely that of Amedeo Gioia, suffering from advanced bladder cancer, to whom the doctors had given a few weeks of life , or at best 1 -2 months.
He was offered chemo to increase life expectancy by a few months, but he refused. Subsequently, thanks to the information found by his son on the web, he became aware of the properties of Artemisia and thus decided to start an “experimental” therapy based on Artemisia annua and iron , mostly with the hope of reducing pain. . After a couple of days the pains, previously almost unbearable, were gone and within a few weeks the Cancer had completely disappeared .
Mr. Amedeo is not only in excellent health today, but through Facebook (he is the administrator of a group with over 70,000 subscribers) and the website, he divulges to the world and totally free of charge, precious information on his recovery, with the intention of helping other Cancer patients to improve their health conditions and heal themselves by using this amazing plant.
The Facebook group is called: Quelli dell’Artemisia annua
Other cases of healings / improvements
During his interview, in addition to the case of Mr. Amedeo, Dr. Ivano Ferri also reports other cases of patients improved, or cured, also thanks to the use of Artemisia annua. He has achieved the best results with people with bladder, prostate and ovarian cancer. In some cases, together with Artemisia annua, other natural substances have also been used, such as curcumin and astragalus .
Artemisia Annua: the opinion of Dr. Andrea Passini
The dr. Andrea Passini goes more on the “technical” illustrating some of the mechanisms of action of Artemisia annua.
Here is her answer to a question from the host regarding iron intake .
Since artemisinin attacks iron-rich cells and since cancer cells absorb more iron than healthy cells, is it necessary to take ampoules of iron when taking Artemisia annua?
Answer by dr. Passini : No, it really isn’t necessary. It is true that cancer cells are the ones that most assimilate iron for their own metabolism, but if the tumor has already formed, it means that the cancer cells already contain iron in abundance and sufficient to react with artemisinin.
Dr. Passini explains to us that it is artemisinin that reacts with intracellular iron, so it is above all this molecule that carries out the antitumor action. For this reason it is very different to take herbal tea, hydroalcoholic extract, or titrated artemisinin .
In the latter case, since the active ingredient is titrated at 99%, we know exactly what the quantity of active ingredient is and the dosage is therefore even easier to manage. In the herbal tea (hydrolyte) and in the hydroalcoholic extract, however, we do not know how much artemisinin there is. In some cases it may not even be present and in any case, even if present, it is in much lower quantities and mixed with many other molecules and active ingredients.
At the end of the video (more or less in the last 6 minutes) Dr. Passini shows us exactly the mechanism of action by which artemisinin induces tumor cells to apoptosis . I avoid reporting a summary because I would only end up boring you. For more information, please refer to the video interview.
