Lemon Medicine and Cancer

Lemons are famous in many cuisines but have a long history of medicinal uses. You may wonder about the benefits of lemon for cancer prevention or as part of your diet during cancer treatment. Just ask AI, and it will flat-out tell you from one side of its mouth that there is no scientific evidence that lemons or lemon juice can cure cancer. Then, it will announce that Flavonoids in citrus peels, particularly polymethoxyflavones (PMFs), have been shown to inhibit the metastatic cascade in cancer through several mechanisms.

1. Inhibition of Cancer Cell Mobility
2. Induction of Apoptosis
3. Antiangiogenesis
4. Cell Cycle Regulation
5. Modulation of Signaling Pathways

Research has focused on how isolated compounds in lemons affect cancer cells in the lab. According to the Plants study, the active compounds inhibit the growth of some cancer cells and tumors and can induce apoptosis, or cell death, in others.

Naringin and hesperidin are two of the most abundant and well-researched antioxidant compounds in lemons and other citrus fruits. According to a study published in November 2016 in Nutrients, they have anticancer benefits for prostate, breast, stomach, liver, cervix, pancreas, and colon cancer cells.

These are the main plant compounds in lemons:

• Citric acid. The most abundant organic acid in lemons, citric acid may help prevent the formation of kidney stones.
• Hesperidin. This antioxidant may strengthen your blood vessels and prevent atherosclerosis — the buildup of fatty deposits (plaque) inside your arteries.
• Diosmin. An antioxidant used in some drugs that affect the circulatory system, diosmin improves muscle tone and reduces chronic inflammation in your blood vessels.
• Eriocitrin. This antioxidant is found in lemon peel and juice.
• D-limonene. Found primarily in the peel, d-limonene is the main component of lemon essential oils and responsible lemons’ distinct aroma. In isolation, it can relieve heartburn and stomach reflux.

Lemons, especially their peels, are an excellent source of terpenes such as d-limonene. The primary health benefits of terpenes revolve around some impressive anticancer effects – both in prevention and possibly treatment. D-limonene and related terpenes have shown considerable benefits in animal studies against many cancers. For example, six individuals with advanced cancers were able to halt the progression of their cancer for periods ranging from six to twelve months while taking d-limonene.

In a study conducted at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, 43 women with newly diagnosed operable breast cancer electing to undergo lumpectomy (surgical excision) were given 2 grams of limonene daily for two to six weeks before surgery. Results also showed that d-limonene supplementation resulted in a 22% reduction in the expression of tumor markers. Specifically, d-limonene reduced the expression of breast tumor cyclin D1.

Lemons are a nutritional powerhouse that deserves a place in any healthy eating pattern. They’re a rich source of vitamin C, fiber, antioxidants, and essential minerals like potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Enjoying lemons in moderation may help improve your skin health, lower your risk of kidney stones, enhance iron absorption, bolster your immune system, and reduce blood pressure. However, research shows excessive lemon intake can damage tooth enamel due to its high citric acid content.

As an Excellent vitamin C and fiber source, lemons contain many plant compounds, minerals, and essential oils. Lemon juice has an acidic pH before it is digested. However, once metabolized by the body, it produces alkaline byproducts.

These alkaline byproducts can make your urine more alkaline but have minimal effect on the pH of your blood. These yellow fruits also have many potential health benefits. Eating lemons may lower your heart disease, cancer, and kidney stones risk.

Lemon in water is inexpensive to make, keeps the skin glowing, aids digestion, and can help you lose weight. Because lemon juice’s atomic structure is similar to the digestive juices in the stomach, it tricks the liver into producing bile, which helps keep food moving through your body and gastrointestinal tract smoothly. Lemon water also helps relieve indigestion or ease an upset stomach. Lemon water benefits the enzyme functions in your body, stimulating the liver and flushing out toxins.

Lemon water does not just quench thirst better than any other drink – it also provides our bodies with plenty of vitamins, minerals, and vital trace elements. It is also a great energy booster for waking up first thing in the morning, as our tissues are dehydrated and desperately need fluid to push out toxins.

Everyone knows a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables may help prevent some cancers. It is helpful to remember that the National Cancer Institute cautions that no one food can prevent or cure cancer, which is valid for lemons as it is for everything else.

However, observational studies have found that people who eat the most citrus fruit have a lower cancer risk. Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, founder of Cancer Nutrition Advisor and an oncology nutrition specialist in Colorado Springs, Colorado, believes in the power of plants, especially citrus fruits, for those with cancer or anyone wanting to reduce their risk. “Citrus fruits are full of bioflavonoids, which help repair DNA, support immunity, and reduce inflammation,” says Dalzell. “Those functions positively impact several cancer control pathways.”

Animal studies indicate that D-limonene, a compound found in lemon oil, does have anticancer properties. Another study used pulp from mandarins containing the plant compounds beta-cryptoxanthin and hesperidin, also found in lemons. The study discovered that these compounds prevented malignant tumors from developing in the tongues, lungs, and colons of rodents.

Dr. Loyd Jenkins of the Budwig Center says, “If there is one thing you could do every day that would dramatically fight disease and increase your energy, consuming lemon juice combined with baking soda would be on the top of the list. Lemon, in addition to being an effective internal cleanser and especially when combined with baking soda has also shown to contain anti-carcinogenic properties as it contains limonoides, which are phytochemicals found in a number of citrus fruits.”

The limonoids help strip off the protective layer coating the cancer cells. Lemon has also been shown to have strong anti-microbial effects, and it has been tested in research exploring the idea that cancer is very much like a fungus within the body. Various methods can be used when treating cancer as a fungus, and some have found that lemon and bicarbonate can help fight the fungus, which causes various types of cancer.”

Dr. Johanna Budwig favored using as many natural substances as possible. Introducing more lemon into your diet is one of the easiest and most natural ways to introduce high-alkaline substances into the system. Using lemon and baking soda together helps fight cancerous cells or other diseases in the body. Together, they help increase the body’s ability to clean itself up of what may be causing the diseases in the first place, primarily high acidity and low oxygen conditions.

“I go through 3lbs of lemons every 3-4 days. I juice the whole lemon…
skin, seeds… everything. I mix 3/4 cup with 1.5 liters of distilled water an
d that is what I drink during the day and before bed. Lemon water is the first thing
in my belly every morning. I have never felt better since I started doing this.
Out of nowhere, I dropped almost 10lbs, and I have remained cold/flu free”

Dr. Michael Murry says, “Besides being high in Vitamin C, Lemons, especially their peels, are an excellent source of terpenes such as d-limonene. The term terpene probably conjures up images of cleaning solvents. Still, while naturally occurring terpenes are used as an alternative to synthetic terpenes in many natural cleaning products, the primary health benefits of terpenes revolve around some impressive anticancer effects – both in prevention and possibly treatment.”

In a study conducted at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, 43 women with newly diagnosed operable breast cancer electing to undergo lumpectomy (surgical excision) were given 2 grams of limonene daily for two to six weeks before surgery. Results showed that d-limonene preferentially concentrated in the breast tissue, reaching high tissue concentration (average = 41.3 μg/g tissue). Results also showed that d-limonene supplementation resulted in a 22% reduction in the expression of tumor markers. Specifically, d-limonene reduced the expression of breast tumor cyclin D1.[1]

Consuming the entire lemon offers the best results. The peel contains 5 to 10 times more vitamins and nutrients than just the lemon flesh and juice. Most plants contain life-giving substances within the skin, seeds, and pulp. In Ayurvedic medicine, lemon peels are used to detoxify the liver. They also stimulate the appetite by encouraging the release of gastric juices containing limonene and at least 45 antioxidant flavonoids, pectin, and vitamin C, all known for preventing and reversing cancer.

Using hydro-distillation, Chinese scientists extracted lemon essential oil and tested it on human cervical adenocarcinoma cell lines. They found that the oil not only blocked the cancer cell lines from spreading but also inhibited oxidizing free radicals from harming healthy cells.

Daily Consumption of Lemon and Ginger Herbal Infusion Caused Tumor
Regression and Activation of the Immune System in a Mouse Model of Breast Cancer

Fasting with Bicarbonates: A New Approach to Treating Cancer

This would have to be the least expensive cancer treatment in the world. The foundation of this approach is to combine two potent therapies, a combination of fasting, intermittent fasting, and a Ketogenic diet, as one leg of the treatment, and the second is to flood the body with different forms of bicarbonate—taken orally and administered transdermally.

There has already been a growing body of evidence supporting
the role of fasting in both cancer treatment and prevention.

The most logical, effective, safe, necessary, and inexpensive way to treat cancer is to cut off the supply of food to tumors and cancer cells, starving them with a lack of glucose. Sugar feeds tumors and creates general inflammation that is pro-cancer, so glucose starvation—that is, depriving cancer cells of glucose—activates a metabolic and signaling amplification loop that leads to cancer cell death.

Research published in June 2013 by researchers from the University of South Florida and Boston College using mice models reported that a “Ketogenic Diet alone significantly decreased blood glucose, slowed tumor progression, and increased mean survival time by 56.7% in mice with systemic metastatic cancer.

Ketogenic diets are a good option if one needs a long-term fast but finds that too difficult. One can still stop eating for 13 to 16 hours a day, but when one eats it is with a low-sugar, high-fat diet that Ketogenic diets provide. Evidence leads us to believe that tumors of non-hepatic tissues may be unable to metabolize ketone-bodies and suggest a therapeutic strategy for selective starvation of tumors by dietary modification.

Combine bicarbonate with fasting hits cancer cells where it hurts. Through manipulation of the circadian oscillation with bicarbonate and shutting down the glucose metabolism of cancer cells with fasting, we hurt cancer cells.

When we add lemon to sodium bicarbonate in our glass, it bubbles because CO2 is formed. The same thing happens in the stomach when no lemon is used. The stomach acid does the job of lemon in the glass. Alternatively, lemons do the job of stomach acid, and that can be very important if there is a lot of stress or if there is the possibility of hydrochloric acid deficiency in aged patients. We need enough acid for bicarbonate to work, just as we need acid to digest our food thoroughly.

The best way to take advantage of the health benefits of lemons and achieve adequate d-limonene intake is by juicing them. But since lemon juice is usually too sour on its own, I recommend mixing it with other juices. Fortunately, adding ½ or one whole lemon (complete with peel) is an excellent addition to any fresh fruit or vegetable juice, including green vegetable juices.

If you will juice whole lemons, be sure to choose organic versions. If you can’t find organic lemons, soak or spray non-organic ones with a biodegradable wash, then rinse.