Sunday Oct 30, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- Carrot juice provides many potentially therapeutic agents including β-carotene and polyacetylenes.  Case reports and testimonials suggest that carrot juice may be used to treat a variety of cancers including leukemia.

A new study conducted in the UK provides experimental evidence that carrot juice may be indeed effective at treating both myeloid leukemia and lymphoid leukemia. 

In the study, myeloid and lymphoid leukemia cell lines as well as normal hematopoietic stem cells as controls were treated with carrot juice extract for up to 72 hours in vitro.

As a result, treatment with carrot juice extract induced apoptosis and inhibited progression of leukemia through the cell cycle. 

Lymphoid leukemia cells were more sensitive to the treatment than myeloid leukemia cells.  The normal hematopoietic stem cells were the least sensitive to the treatment.  This means that the treatment does not have an effect on the normal cells while killing the malignant cells.

The study indicates that carrot juice extract can be effective at curing or managing leukemia by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest.

The dosage is critical in determining the efficacy of carrot juice.    Ralph Cole, a cancer survivor who used carrot juice to cure his cancer finds that five cups of carrot juice per day is needed to induce the shrinkage of a malignant tumor mass in a cancer patient with 150 pounds of body weight.

In fact, carrot juice is a major component in the Gerson therapy which Max Gerson the creator of this treatment claimed is effective for many types of cancers including leukemia.

Other studies have identified polyacetylenes as the bioactive agents that protect against cancer cells.  (David Liu)

Rana Zaini, Malcolm R. Clench, and Christine L. Le Maitre. Journal of Medicinal Food. November 2011, 14(11): 1303-1312. doi:10.1089/jmf.2010.0284.