What effect does mistletoe have?
Preparations made from mistletoe are often used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in alternative medicine as cancer remedies. They are given as a supportive (adjuvant) to conventional cancer treatment.
Some studies do indeed indicate that mistletoe may be effective against cancer. However, critics of mistletoe therapy reject them, for example because the studies are flawed, have not been reviewed by experts or do not meet modern scientific requirements. Overall, there is no clear evidence to date that mistletoe can help against cancer.
According to folk medicine, mistletoe should also have a healing effect on other diseases. These include for example
Further, the medicinal plant seems to help with mental complaints such as palpitations and nervousness. The plant is also used in folk medicine to support cardiovascular function. Scientific proof of efficacy in this area is also lacking.
How is mistletoe used?
Standardized mistletoe preparations are also given exclusively as injections for degenerative-inflammatory joint diseases.
How often, how long and in what dosage the medicinal plant extracts are administered depends on the particular preparation and on the recommendations of the physician and manufacturer.
Folk medicine uses various preparations of the medicinal plant, for example tea, drops and tincture, dragées and tablets.
In anthroposophic medicine, elixirs, fresh plant press juices and fermented aqueous extracts of mistletoe are recommended for cancer treatment. This complementary healing approach goes back to Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf schools.
In case of illness, you should always talk to your doctor about the appropriate therapy.
What side effects can mistletoe products cause?
- Chills
- Fever
- Headache
- Chest pain
- circulatory problems, such as getting up quickly from lying down
- allergic reactions
- temporary swelling and redness at the injection site
What you should bear in mind when using mistletoe
Discuss the use of the medicinal plant with an experienced physician who has a great deal of experience in both conventional and complementary medicine.
Some mistletoe extracts must not be injected in cases of increased intracranial pressure (such as metastases in the brain or brain tumors), leukemia, renal cell cancer or melanoma. Most mistletoe preparations are also not recommended during pregnancy, lactation or in children.
In general, hypersensitivity to protein, high fever, chronic progressive infections, and in tumors of the brain or spinal cord are also considered contraindications.
How to obtain mistletoe products
For the use and dosage of all mistletoe medications, please read the package insert and ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice.
Mistletoe: What is it?
Mistletoe (Viscum album) belongs to the mistletoe family (Loranthaceae). They are evergreen semishrubs that grow as hemiparasites on coniferous or deciduous trees (depending on the subspecies) of the temperate zones in Europe and Asia.
Spherical in habit, the plant can reach a diameter of one meter. Its forked, yellow-green branches also bear yellow-green, leathery, elongated leaves that sit opposite each other in pairs at each end of the forked branches.
