Tea Nanoparticles Kill Cancer Cells

No new treatment has been discovered that will cure cancer in the short term. But it has been proven that a totally natural substance can literally disintegrate cancer cells on a petri dish.

The deadly substance is nothing more than tea in the form of nanoparticles, so small that they slip through the pores of the membranes of malignant cells and burst 80% of them. Scientists from the universities of Swansea (United Kingdom) and Bharathiar (India) have been able to see it under the microscope.

They discovered by chance the anticancer effect of tea nanoparticles

The discovery happened accidentally, as so often happens in science. Scientists were trying to develop new technologies for diagnostic visualization of cancer tissues using “semiconductor quantum dots. “

To do this they decided that they could produce safe and cheap quantum dots from tea leaves. But when they were put in contact with cancer cells, they discovered to their surprise that they not only served to illuminate them as expected, but also destroyed them with tremendous efficiency.

Dr Sudhagar Pitchaimuthu from the University of Swansea stated that “our research has confirmed previous evidence that tea leaves might be a non-toxic alternative to making quantum dots. However, the real surprise was that the dots inhibited actively growing lung cancer cells. It wasn’t something we expected. “

Nanoparticles or quantum dots are made up of only a few hundred atoms, constituting tiny crystalline structures with a diameter 4,000 times smaller than that of a hair.

Treatment in 10 years

The authors of the research, published in the journal ACS Applied Nano Materials, estimate that the first therapeutic trials with people can be carried out within two years. If all goes well, the tea-based treatment could reach patients within 10 years.

Substances reduced to quantum dots acquire properties that larger particles do not have. They represent a whole new frontier of medicine, both in the development of new diagnostic methods and in treatments.

Can nanoparticles explain how homeopathy works?

Although the study authors do not mention it, it is possible that this nanoparticle research could one day explain how homeopathic medicines work.

On the basis of traditional chemical knowledge, skeptics argue against homeopathy that preparations where there are only a few molecules of an active substance cannot have any effect.

However, several studies conducted in recent years – such as that conducted by Dr. Prashant S. Chikramane of the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay – have found that homeopathic medicines contain nanoparticles, which could act when they come into contact with cells of body tissues.

Light and shadow of nanoparticles

Semiconductor quantum dots have applications in other fields, such as the development of computers that will multiply the power of current ones several times or the manufacture of cheaper and more efficient photovoltaic panels.

However, nanoparticles not only give us good news, they are not without negative effects. Different substances, on this size scale, can become very dangerous pollutants for human health and for the balance of ecosystems.