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| - A video has circulated online claiming that drinking pineapple with hot water can cure cancer.
A Facebook user, Oyindamola Adeniyi, posted the video on the social media platform on October 19, 2022, with the caption that read:
“unripe pineapple is the best.”
The video, which was uploaded as a Facebook Reel, shows a man speaking on how to use pineapple and hot water for cancer treatment. The man, seen in the video holding an unripe pineapple, was heard saying:
“Cure cancer very fast, with pineapple and hot water. Cure cancer very fast with pineapple and hot water.
“With pineapple, you will kill every cell of cancer in the body. All you need to do is to cut the pineapple into small forms like these. Then, pack them into cup. Then, add some hot water. Just let the water fill the pineapple. Allow it to stay like some 5 or 10 minutes so that it will form together”.
The reel has since been viewed by several Facebook users and garnered over 800 likes, more than 900 shares and attracted 40 comments as of 8 pm on October 27, 2022.
CLAIM
Drinking pineapple with hot water can cure cancer.
THE FINDINGS
Findings show that the claim is FALSE.
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Medical experts told The FactCheckHub that there is no scientific evidence to show that drinking pineapple with hot water can cure cancer.
Dr Lazarus Ude Eze, a public health specialist and the Managing Director of TalkHealth9ja, said, “To (the best of) my knowledge, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim.”
Also, a physician with the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr Nathaniel Adewole told The FactCheckHub that the claim was false but gave no further explanation.
Similarly, an Abuja-based health expert, Dr Esele Akhabue, while reacting to the claim, explained that cancers are in various types and categories.
He said that for any research to back the claim, it must be type, category, and system specific.
“Squamous cell carcinoma? Multiple myeloma? Breast or Lung Cancer? Cervical or Prostate Cancer?
“Does it cure stage 2 or 3 using the TNM Classification?” Dr Akhabue queried.
He further explained that “a drawback to this claim will be that a person might have had his or her health restored to the normal or optimal state after being exposed to such a mixture during the cause of treatment, but there is no record of the cause and mechanism of action, duration of action and specific target cell function.
“This means that a good result attained most likely will not be reproducible for another.”
He added: “Finally, what’s the adverse effect to those who are either allergic or react to the mixture? If known for one individual, a randomised controlled trial should be done for about 100,000 people over 2 – 4 years before a concrete statement of such can be made.”
Further checks by The FactCheckHub revealed that several scientists and health experts didn’t support the claim as they said there was not enough evidence to show that pineapple is an effective cancer treatment for humans, even though it contains compounds that have numerous health benefits.
An American cancer specialist and author of the book “Beyond the Magic Bullet: The Anti-Cancer Cocktail”, Dr Raymond Chang had previously told AFP that research on the effects of pineapple on cancer cells is based on test tube studies.
ALSO READ: How true is the claim that eating Beans with ripe Plantains is ‘food poison’?
Chang said there was a need to distinguish clinical reality from laboratory experiments.
According to him, many natural items ‘kill cancer cells’ in an artificial laboratory environment, but they don’t work when practically applied to humans.
An official of the French National Cancer Institute had also said in a report that there were “no miracle foods” that could help cure cancer.
THE VERDICT
The claim that drinking pineapple with hot water can cure cancer is FALSE; there is no scientific evidence to support the claim.
Editor’s Note:
* Verdict changed to FALSE to reflect verification findings.
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