Artemisia annua has a history of more than 2,000 years as a traditional Chinese medicine. Tu Youyou used artemisinin to treat human malaria, which made the whole world realize the charm of traditional Chinese medicine. Artemisinin not only plays a great role in the treatment of malaria, but also is rumored to fight cancer and kill cancer cells. Is it true?/You don't say.

The University of Washington once did a study. The researchers found that artemisinin was extracted from the Chinese herbal medicine Artemisia argyi. As a result, almost all breast cancer cells were killed after 16 hours of contact with them, but normal cells were not harmed when they were contacted with them.

Can this magical experiment prove that we can fight cancer by taking Artemisia annua? It is worth noting that just because this study is conducted in vitro does not mean that it will have the same effect on humans.

Professor guangxi university of chinese medicine and Vice Chairman of Guangxi Nutrition Society Ma Liping also denied this. Professor Ma said: At present, artemisinin has a clear anti-malaria effect, and its anti-cancer effect needs more powerful evidence. Daily consumption of Artemisia annua and artemisinin health products alone can not play an anti-cancer effect.

There are various controversies about artemisinin on the Internet. In addition to the anti-cancer effect, whether it is Chinese medicine or western medicine is also controversial.

Artemisinin is inspired by traditional Chinese medicine. According to Tu Youyou's memory, before the discovery of artemisinin, she collected medical books of past dynasties and visited the practical experience of folk Chinese medicine, and accumulated more than 640 kinds of Chinese medicines, including Artemisia annua and Artemisia annua. Compared with foreign scientists' samples of more than 200,000 kinds of plants, Tu Youyou's team has taken a big step ahead, which is one of the great contributions made by Chinese medicine. Many people think that artemisinin comes from traditional Chinese medicine and should belong to traditional Chinese medicine.

However, the US Food and Drug Administration in China has recognized artemisinin as a western medicine. Official website artemisinin drug production approval number information shows that artemisinin is a chemical drug (H stands for chemistry). After all, artemisinin adopts a completely modern manufacturing process, including purification, re-experiment, determination of chemical structure, analysis of toxicity, animal experiment, clinical experiment, optimization of extraction process and production process.

In fact, artemisinin is a reflection of the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. Tu Youyou said many times at the Nobel Prize ceremony that artemisinin was discovered under the guidance of the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, and it was a gift from traditional Chinese medicine to the world. In other words, artemisinin cannot be found without the support of TCM theory.

Many cancer patients are very resistant to western medicine because they are afraid of the side effects brought by western medicine and are biased against western medicine. I hope that taking traditional Chinese medicine can achieve a radical effect. Is this method feasible?

Li, an academician of China Academy of Engineering, believes that it is difficult to cure cancer simply by taking traditional Chinese medicine.

Because the main purpose of Chinese medicine is to strengthen the body, not to eliminate evil. Using the patient's own immunity to kill cancer cells, the effect of killing cancer cells directly is not strong.

Clinically, western medicine will be the main treatment, supplemented by Chinese medicine. After western medicine kills cancer cells, Chinese medicine is used to improve patients' physical quality, so as to improve their quality of life and survival time.

It is worth reminding that cancer patients also need to pay attention to many points when using Chinese medicine.

Professor Lin Lizhu, vice president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, pointed out that there are three points that need special attention when using Chinese medicine:

1, pay attention to dialectical argument, not the more the better.

Traditional Chinese medicine treatment needs syndrome differentiation, which means that everyone needs "tailor-made" medication. It is not that the more expensive the medicine, the better the effect. In the treatment, we should avoid listening to folk remedies and secret recipes, fighting poison with poison, or hearing what medicine others use is effective.

Doing so is very contrary to the treatment principle of traditional Chinese medicine, and blindly using a large amount of drugs will bring too much burden to the body and have the opposite effect.

2, according to people, due to illness.

Even for the same cancer, due to age, physical condition, own diseases and other factors, the prescriptions required by patients are completely different. Use drugs flexibly and make specific adjustments according to the specific conditions of patients.

3, the combination of Chinese and Western, each with its own responsibilities.

As mentioned above, Chinese medicine plays different roles in cancer treatment. Western medicine is the main force of "killing the enemy", while Chinese medicine is more like "logistics personnel".

After western medicine kills cancer cells and seriously damages the body, the use of traditional Chinese medicine can significantly reduce the side effects of patients and improve the quality of life. Chinese medicine treatment is an important part of cancer patients' treatment and indispensable.

Artemisia annua is a common Chinese medicine in our life. It has many functions and can help treat many diseases. But after all, it is Chinese medicine, and medication is very particular. Do not abuse it without authorization. Don't blindly take products containing Artemisia annua ingredients to prevent cancer. Artemisinin is still in the research stage. If you want to fight cancer, you still need to standardize treatment. # Health Science Competition #

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