"The burdock root is comprised mainly of carbohydrates, largely INULIN (not insulin), mucilage, starches and some sugar. Inulin is the principle active ingredient in burdock root and it has been shown to have remarkable curative powers in lab studies. Inulin helps strengthen the organs, especially the liver, and its natural sugars help to regulate blood sugar metabolism. Some diabetics claim that they have been able to eliminate the need for taking insulin ... Inulin is also regarded as a powerful immune system regulator,
and when teamed up with echinacea it is a powerful immune system booster. Inulin is thought to attach itself to the surface of white blood cells and make them work better. It is even thought that Inulin can activate T-Cells in the attack against cancer cells." Burdock seed contains a number of ligands, including arctigenin, which has been shown to induce differentiation in mouse myeloid leukemia (M1) cells. In their report on their studies of terminal differentiating agents from methanolic extracts of over 200 plants tested, Kaoru Umehara and his colleagues at the University of Shizuoka found that burdock seeds showed a marked differentiation. They have the power of inducing activity toward M1 cells at very low concentrations, though they were inactive towards a human promyelocytic leukemia cell line. Arctigenin has also demonstrated potent cytoxic effects against another human leukemia cell line while showing no toxicity to normal lymphocytes. Arctigenin was less effective in inhibiting the growth of a human T lymphocytic leukemia cell line. Studies have shown antitumor activity with burdock in animal tumor systems, with various fractions inhibiting Yoshima sarcoma in mice by as much as 61%. Japanese researchers tested burdock and nine other vegetable juices for their ability to prevent chemicallyinduced chromosomal mutations in rat bone marrow cells. Significant suppression of the incidence of mutations was found using the fresh or boiled juice from onion, burdock,
eggplant, cabbage, and welsh onion. Burdock was also found by another team of Japanese researchers to reduce the mutagenicity of chemicals activated by the metabolism, as well as those whose mutagenicity is not dependant upon metabolic activity. Purification of the "burdock factor" increased its effectiveness and reduced the level of mutagens by 24%, whereas fresh juice reduced mutagens by 17%.
