In vitro analysis of the herbal compound Essiac.

BACKGROUND: Despite the recommendation of the Task Force on Alternative Therapies of the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative, little research has been published on the widely used herbal compound Essiac. We aimed to address this deficiency by conducting a series of assays to determine some of the purported activities of Essiac in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The activity of Essiac was measured using established assays to assess …