Mistletoe. Genus Viscum

Medicinal and aromatic plants - Industrial profiles

Editor: A. Büssing

280 pages, hardback, ISBN 90-5823-092-9, 116 Euro

Viscum album is used as a remedy for at least 2,000 years, nowadays predominantly in complementary cancer therapy. Despite an obvious discrepancy between the popularity of mistletoe extracts and their classification as a non-conventional treatment modality with unproven efficacy in oncology, mistletoe is one of the most widely used adjuvant treatment of neoplastic disorders especially in the German speaking areas. This book contains a series of expert dissertations on mistletoes from Africa, Argentina, Europe and Korea, history, cultivation, development and processing, description of relevant compounds, pharmacology and toxicology, and current market trends, i.e. development of a recombinant toxic lectin from Viscum album.

Which well known plant never touches the ground, does not follow a 12-month vegetation cycle, stays green year round, blooms in the winter, and sells predominately in December? The answer, of course, is mistletoe. Current research questions the efficacy of this highly controversial plant. "Rejected by clinical oncologists but used by practitioners and cancer patients, it is applied as a remedy to treat a broad spectrum of different diseases, such as epilepsy, diabetes, hypertension, arthrosis, hepatitis, HIV infection, labour pains, and cancer."

Now a new book on the therapeutic uses and industrial applications of Viscum has been published. Rarely mentioned in traditional books on herbal medicine mistletoe research remains questionable. Because the "extracts may exert different effects than purified substances" individual immune responses vary greatly. There is a great need for further investigation. Currently no clinical data are available documenting long-term therapy treatment.

Whether the extracts of Viscum become a major player in the fight against cancer, this book makes for provocative reading. Researchers in pharmacognosy and phystochemistry will find this book documented with references to hundreds of research articles invaluable. While most articles feature the European point of view, there is one article from Japan and another from South Africa. Although none of the articles originate from the United States, American research is well represented in the bibliographies, as are traditional Chinese uses for this herb.

Responding to the increased demand for information on medicinal and aromatic plants this fascinating look at this highly controversial plant is the 16^th volume in the series Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Industrial Profiles. This series brings together articles scattered through a variety of sources, is international in scope, and includes many little known sources. Each article is well documented and is introduced by the editor Arndt Bussing, head of the Department of Applied Immunology at the foundation Krebsforschung Herdecke, University of Witten/Herdecke. Mistletoe: the Genus Viscum is illustrated with color photographs of the plant, line drawings, and chemical structures. With few exceptions most references are current, dating from 1990 to 2000.