Further Associations of Plant Tannins and Human Cancer
Abstract
FURTHER ASSOCIATIONS O F PLANT TANNINS A N D HUMAN CANCER by Julia F . Morton Director, Morton Collectanea, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla. U.S.A., 12th Annual Meeting, Society for Economic Botany, Field Museum, Chicago, Apr. 26, 1971. In a previous paper 28), I have called attention to ingested catechin tannin as a common denominator linking esophageal cancer zones. More circumstantial evidence associating tannin with cancer has been uncovered during the past year by continued field work, including case studies in Curacao, by searching of the literature, and bio-assay of plant materials. Among extracts being currently administered to experimental animals at the Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, that of the roots of Acacia villosa is producing a high rate of fibrosarcomas at the injection site, as did the extract of Krameria ixina reported earlier. While no chemical analysis of Acacia villosa roots has been discovered, the genus Acacia dominates all others in the number of species supplying tanners and dyers. Drury states that the red extract of the wood of Acacia catechzl âcontains a greater proportion of tannin than other astringent substances and it has been found that 1 lb. of this is equal to 7