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CancerQuest > Introduction to Patient Information > An Introduction to Cancer Treatments > Introduction to Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) > CAM: Essiac® and Flor-Essence®

CAM: Essiac® and Flor-Essence®

Intro and Background
Essiac® is a blend of four herbs: burdock root (Arctium lappa), Indian rhubarb (Rheum palmatum), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella) and the inner bark of slippery elm (Ulmus fulva or U. rubra). ⁽¹⁾ Flor-Essence® contains the previous four herbs as well as red clover (Trifolum pretense), blessed thistle (Carduus benedictus), kelp (Laminaria digitata), and watercress (Nasturt officinale). ⁽²⁾ The medicine men of the Ojibwa Native American tribe are believed to be the creators of the four herb mixture found in Essiac. ⁽³⁾ The treatment became popular in the early 1920s when a Canadian nurse, Rene Caisse, started treating patients with the herbal blend. ⁽⁴⁾ She claimed that Essiac® (her last named spelled backwards) improved the quality of life of her patients, prolonged survival, and could even cure cancer. ⁽⁵⁾ The use of these products by cancer patients is largely fueled by anecdotal evidence (a few rare cases) that they can treat or prevent cancer. ⁽²⁾ Allegedly, it is also is a remedy for allergies, hypertension, and osteoporosis. ⁽⁶⁾

Scientific Research
Essiac® has shown to block free radicals and exhibited the ability to protect DNA from damage that might one day lead to cancer. ⁽⁶⁾ Also, researchers have found that Essiac® prevents prostate cancer cells from growing in vitro. ⁽³⁾Another study showed that Essiac® and Flor-Essence® merely had weak effects on the growth of leukemia and breast cancer cells in vitro and only at concentrations higher than would be in the body. ⁽⁴⁾ This study also found that the herbal blend increased cancer cell differentiation. Alternatively, one more recent study from 2006 has found that both Essiac® and Flor-Essence® not only fail to halt tumor enlargement, but can stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells in vitro. ⁽²⁾ A clinical trial involving Essiac found that it had no effect on quality of life for women with breast cancer. ⁽¹⁾ There have not been any animal or clinical trials testing the efficacy of Essiac® or Flor-Essence® against cancer.

There are currently no clinical trials investigating Essiac® or Flor-Essence® and their ability to fight cancer. ⁽⁷⁾ For information about ongoing clinical trials involving Essiac® or Flor-Essence®, please visit our section on Finding Clinical Trials.

US Food and Drug Administration Approval
There is not enough evidence to support that Essiac® and Flor-Essence® are effective in the fight against cancer and they have not been approved by the FDA for cancer treatment. ⁽⁸⁾

References for this page:

1. Zick SM, Sen A, Feng Y, Green J, Olatunde S, Boon H. Trial of Essiac to ascertain its effect in women with breast cancer (TEA-BC). J Altern Complement Med. (2006) 10: 971-80 [PUBMED]
2. Kulp KS, Montgomery JL, Nelson DO, Cutter B, Latham ER, Shattuck DL, Klotz DM, Bennett LM. Essiac and Flor-Essence herbal tonics stimulate the in vitro growth of human breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res Treat. (2006) 98(3): 249-59 [PUBMED]
3. Ottenweller J, Putt K, Blumenthal EJ, Dhawale S, Dhawale SW. Inhibition of prostate cancer-cell proliferation by Essiac. J Altern Complement Med. (2004) 10(4): 687-91. [PUBMED]
4. Tai J, Cheung S, Wong S, Lowe C. In vitro comparison of Essiac and Flor-Essence on human tumor cell lines. Oncol Rep. (2004) 11(2): 471-6 [PUBMED]
5. Cassie RM. The Story of Essiac: Her Healing Journey. The Resperin Corporation, Waterloo, Ontaria, Canada. Accessed 6/1/2010. [http://www.resperin.ca/]
6. Leonard SS, Keil D, Mehlman T, Proper S, Shi X, Harris GK. Essiac tea: scavenging of reactive oxygen species and effects on DNA damage. J Ethnopharmacol. (2006) 103(2): 288-96. [PUBMED]
7. National Library of Medicine. (2007). ClinicalTrials.gov Retrieved June 6, 2007 from the National Institutes of Health Web Site: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/search;jsessionid=77C2E74E90EC0B1C27B8F039E1FA6244?term=Essiac%2C+cancer&submit=Search
8. US Food and Drug Adminstration website. Accessed 9/10/2010 [http://www.fda.gov/]