Foundation for Advancement in Cancer Therapy
Non-Toxic Biological Approaches to the Theories,
Treatments and Prevention of Cancer

2024
Our 53rd Year

It’s the Pot that Counts! By Environmental Working Group

Doctors at the Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine were perplexed when cancer patients with similar conditions and symptoms responded differently to treatment by the same medicinal herbs, says the Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Vol. 9, No. 2 ) They investigated and found that the problem lay in the type of pot used for preparing the herbs.

The researchers decocted a medicinal herbal preparation in seven different kinds of utensils including glassware, iron, aluminum pots and enamelware. Then they tested the preparations’ effect on colony formation of human gastric carcinoma cells in culture. They found that the herbs made in glass, enamel, and earthenware pots best inhibited cancer growth. In second place were preparations made in iron, stainless steel and copper pots. Least effective were herbs prepared in aluminum pots. Though researchers were unclear about how precisely the composition of the pots changes the effectiveness of the formulas, they concluded that the type of pot should be a consideration in treatment preparation.

Source: Environmental Working Group