Essiac tea is a popular herbal tea touted for its purported anticancer properties.
Back in 1920s, Canadian nurse Rene Caisse promoted Essiac tea as a natural cancer treatment, claiming that it was given to her by a patient who originally received it from an Ontario Ojibwa medicine man.
It has four main ingredients have all been associated with various health-promoting properties.
These are primary ingredients on health claim evidence based resources:
- Burdock root1
- Slippery elm 2
- Sheep sorrel3,4
- Indian rhubarb 5
Understandably ESSIAC tea that has been available for nearly 100 years, there has been a lot of research into the health benefits of Essiac tea. So, would you take Essiac tea if it really good for you?
1. Chan YS, Cheng LN, Wu JH, Chan E, Kwan YW, Lee SM, Leung GP, Yu PH, Chan SW. A review of the pharmacological effects of Arctium lappa (burdock). Inflammopharmacology. 2011 Oct;19(5):245-54. doi: 10.1007/s10787-010-0062-4. Epub 2010 Oct 28. PMID: 20981575.
2. Joo YE. Natural product-derived drugs for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. Intest Res. 2014 Apr;12(2):103-9. doi: 10.5217/ir.2014.12.2.103. Epub 2014 Apr 29. PMID: 25349576; PMCID: PMC4204705.
3.Gescher K, Hensel A, Hafezi W, Derksen A, Kühn J. Oligomeric proanthocyanidins from Rumex acetosa L. inhibit the attachment of herpes simplex virus type-1. Antiviral Res. 2011 Jan;89(1):9-18. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2010.10.007. Epub 2010 Nov 9. PMID: 21070811.
4. Derksen A, Hensel A, Hafezi W, Herrmann F, Schmidt TJ, Ehrhardt C, Ludwig S, Kühn J. 3-O-galloylated procyanidins from Rumex acetosa L. inhibit the attachment of influenza A virus. PLoS One. 2014 Oct 10;9(10):e110089. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110089. PMID: 25303676; PMCID: PMC4193892.
5. El-Saied MA, Sobeh M, Abdo W, Badr OM, Youssif LT, Elsayed IH, Osman SM, Wink M. Rheum palmatum root extract inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma in rats treated with diethylnitrosamine. J Pharm Pharmacol. 2018 Jun;70(6):821-829. doi: 10.1111/jphp.12899. Epub 2018 Mar 9. PMID: 29520909.