Soursop is a fruit of an evergreen flowering tree known as Annona Muricata and commonly found in the tropical areas of Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Uganda, Somalia and the Caribbean. The fruit belongs to the family of Pawpaw. The fruit is also known as “Graviola tree fruit”.

Some preliminary findings have helped researchers to conclude that the fruit is a natural cure for cancer (especially colon cancer) and it is, “10,000 times stronger than chemo”. One of the studies conducted by Cancer Centre, published in the “Journal of Medicinal Chemistry”, in 1997, says that compounds found in soursop proved to treat breast cancer 250 times more effectively than chemo.

The fruit is called by other names as well such as graviola (Brazilian Portuguese), guanábana (Spanish), anona (European Portuguese), corossol (French), Brazilian pawpaw and in some cultures it is also known as Thorny Mango.

It is a spiny green colored fruit which is white from the inside. It tastes like a combination of pineapple and strawberry with an underlying creamy flavor of banana or coconut. The fruit is commonly used in making exotic drinks and sherbets.

You can find tremendous amount of valuable nutrients in it such as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamin A, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.

The fruit is beneficial for curing fungal and bacterial infections, stress, depression, nervous disorders, blood pressure and sleeping disorders. According to a study published in the Journal of Dietary Supplement in 2008, graviola extracts are effective in the treatment of parasitic and microbial agents.

Researchers claim that the fruit can bring a revolution in the field of medicine, especially for treating cancer. Following are some of the claims made by researchers about this miraculous fruit:

It can naturally treat cancer by destroying cancer cells, without any side effects such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss and weight loss
During the treatment it does not cause any harm to your immune system, it rather boosts your immunity and protects you from deadly infections
It provides you with extra strength to fight with the disease and you may feel healthier during the course of treatment
It also keeps away from depression that most of the cancer patients develop during the treatment

The graviola tree extracts have been tested in almost 20 laboratories by America’s largest drug manufacturers, since 1970s and has proven to be beneficial in the following ways:

It effectively targets and destroys malignant cells in almost 12 types of cancer such as breast, lung, pancreas, prostate and colon
The commonly used drug that helps combat cancer, as a part of chemotherapy is Adriamycin. The Annona muricata tree contains compounds that have 10,000 times more strength to combat cancer than Adriamycin.
Unlike chemotherapy the graviola extracts only targets the cancer cells and destroys them. It does not do any damage to the healthy cells.

The fruit is beneficial but still there are some side-effects associated with the consumption of this fruit. There are high levels if annonacin found in this fruit that may cause Parkinson’s disease if consumed in large quantities. This finding has been published in the journal, “Movement Disorders”, in the year 2002.In some cases it may even prove harmful for the body’s cells by stopping it from producing ATP.

You may find soursop in grocery stores or health food stores. The graviola extracts are found in the form of herbal medicine sold under the brand name Triamazon, according to Cancer Research UK.

Source

For more detail and a balanced evaluation on Graviola fruit see the following published paper:

Cancer Research SA Position Statement

It lists three additional studies plus the formal FDA position, which is that Graviola is not approved for therapeutic anti-cancer purposes because there have been insufficient human trials to prove that it is safe.