Potatoes could hold a ‘powerful’ new treatment for cancer

Scientists claim a potentially “powerful” treatment for cancer might lie in potatoes, according to new research published Wednesday.

Academic researchers from Poland report that glycoalkaloids — naturally occurring chemicals found in potatoes — have some cancer-fighting properties and could also help patients with the devastating side effects of treatments. 

A new peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers in Pharmacology reexamined the properties of medicinal plants — including the evidence on glycoalkaloids, which are also prominent in foods like tomatoes, peppers, goji berries and huckleberries.

While chemotherapy is largely a success at killing cancer cells, it comes with a wide array of harsh side effects such as nausea, hair loss and fatigue. The drugs used in the treatment ultimately kill healthy cells while targeting the cancerous ones.

This led neurobiologist and lead study author Magdalena Joanna Winkiel and her colleagues at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań to identify new compounds with chemotherapeutic potential.

“Scientists around the world are still searching for the drugs which will be lethal to cancer cells — but at the same time safe for healthy cells,” Winkiel said in a statement.

The researchers focused on five glycoalkaloids that they believe could be used to develop drugs — solanine, chaconine, solasonine, solamargine and tomatine.

Findings show that solanine could potentially stop carcinogenic chemicals — those that cause cancer — from turning into carcinogens in the body. Studies on one type of leukemia cell found that solanine killed them with small doses.

Chaconine could potentially treat sepsis due to its anti-inflammatory properties, according to the researchers, and they believe solasonine works in a similar way.

Tomatine helps regulate the body’s cell cycles, so it can be used to help kill cancer cells.

While early stages of research have proven these chemicals to be “powerful clinical tools” if given in the correct doses, research has not yet been done on how they would fight chemicals in human cells.

Tests need to be done on human cells to establish exactly which glycoalkaloids are “safe and promising enough to test in humans,” according to the study.

“It is not easy despite the advances in medicine and powerful development of modern treatment techniques,” Winkiel added. “That is why it might be worth going back to medicinal plants that were used years ago with success in the treatment of various ailments.”

Plants have been commonly used to fight cancer — including the chemotherapy drug Taxol, which is made from tree bark.

Winkiel explained that if these naturally occurring chemicals can’t replace the drugs currently used to fight cancer, “maybe combined therapy will increase the effectiveness of treatment. There are many questions, but without detailed knowledge of the properties of glycoalkaloids, we will not be able to find out.”

While the research proves that the chemicals found in potatoes have properties that can fight off cancer, there is no evidence that suggests eating a certain amount per day will kill cancer cells — or even if a healthy diet might prevent them to begin with.

“More research needs to be conducted to explore new, more selective, and less toxic cancer therapies and improve the effectiveness of applied treatment methods because cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide,” the study says.