Mexican sarsaparilla ( Smilax aristolochiifolia) for anaemia, CLL

[Family2017]

Has anyone heard about this herb for anemia or blood cancer

[MistyMountainHop]

healthline.com/health/food-...

As a child growing up in Bermondsey (south east London), in the 60s and 70s, Sarsaparilla was sold as a drink in health stores......I think that may still be the case🍻.

[Family2017 in reply to MistyMountainHop]

Yes, l am aware of the herb used as an ingredient for root beer. But not for medicinal purpose. I will research. Thank you for your reply.

[AussieNeil Administrator in reply to Family2017]

I've never heard of sarsaparilla* being used for cancer or anaemia. Rxlist brings up a whole lot of different plants of the Smilax family when searching for Mexican sarsaoarilla, which highlights one of the challenges of using herbal remedies rxlist.com/sarsaparilla/sup...

Mexican sarsaparilla refers to Smilax aristolochiifolia, though Smilax ornata (also present in Mexico and Central America) used to be used to make the sarsaparilla drink.

The Healthline information on sarsaparilla healthline.com/health/food-... notes "Contrary to popular belief, the sarsaparilla soft drink was typically made from another plant called sassafras. It has been described as a similar taste to root beer or birch beer. The drink is still popular in certain Southeast Asian countries, but is no longer common in the United States.

Though it can be found online and in specialty stores, today’s sarsaparilla drinks don’t actually contain any sarsaparilla or sassafras. Instead they contain natural and artificial flavoring to mimic the taste."

The Healthline information references this recent study for Smilax glabra

aacrjournals.org/cancerprev...

The mention of leukemia in that paper doesn't specifying the type (there are about 200 different human leukaemias/Lymphomas). From the brief mention "Sarsaparilla extract showed killing effect on WiDr (human colon cancer cell), HeLa, and human leukemia cells, with little cytotoxicity to human umbilical vein enduothelial cells" I very much doubt it was CLL, because it's not a common human cell line used such studies, because as one paper puts it, "spontaneous apoptosis of CLL cells in vitro has hampered in-depth investigation of CLL" For example, none of the 7 leukaemia human cell lines from this supplier are CLL

atcc.org/products/tcp-1010

The MSKCC entry for smilax also only turns up smilax glabra mskcc.org/cancer-care/integ...

"Lab studies suggest antioxidant and antitumor effects, but clinical trials have not been conducted."

*Note the spelling. I've corrected it in your post title so others searching for this can find your post.

Neil

[Family2017 in reply to AussieNeil]

I've heard the plant Sarsaparilla is rich in iron which benefits the blood. However, after reading your research links more studies are needed.Also, thanks for spelling correction. As usual your detailed information is most appreciated.

[AussieNeil Administrator in reply to Family2017]

Here's another reference from Drugs.com which again shows how diverse the range of sarsaparilla plants are. drugs.com/npp/sarsaparilla....

The above also reports iron present, without quantifying the amount. How much iron you might absorb depends on how much you ingest, compared to say spinach, which is also a much cheaper source of known safety.

Neil