Is it true that tobacco tea has potent anticancer properties?

Question

One of my friends works in the medical field, and he said that a little known fact about tobacco is that if you make tea out of the cured leaves it's one of the most potent anti-cancer foods there is. Apparently it has even more cancer fighting antioxidants than pomegranate juice, plus it's rich in B vitamins. Has anyone else heard this?

Answer 1

If this were true, the tobacco producers would be all over the news media, touting their new "miracle cure."

Medical research is working toward identifying any 'anti-malignancy' preparations, and obviously, if your statement were true, it would not be "a little known fact" Instead, it would be front page news.

Answer 2

Well there are health benefits to smoking tobacco, and im not talking about those crappy mass produced cigarettes, i mean the organic or pure tobacco.

so its believable but i wouldn't try it.

p.s. i also heard tobacco is a good source of protein.

Answer 3

You would also extract out the nicotine, which is deadly.

There is enough nicotine in the tobacco of a single pack of cigarettes to kill you if you extract and drink it in a tea.

I think he's m,is-remembering something he has read or heard.

Answer 4

you kidding me most tobacco is radioactive even with out smoking it can easily cause cancer.

http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tob...

Answer 5

In medieval times, most herbs would be used only for a few conditions in which it was deemed effective—not for a vast range of disorders from head lice to hemorrhoids, from hysteria to tetanus, as happened with tobacco. Secondly, writings on this subject commonly imply that nicotine is the only active medicinal constituent, yet the various species of Nicotiana contain many other alkaloids. Thirdly, the leaves and juice were much used for skin disorders, possibly including basal cell cancer. Might tobacco leaves contain an anticancer agent, as proved to be the case with periwinkle (vinca alkaloids)?

So, although not fully tested, they might have a specialised medicinal use as a reverse to the cancer damage made by smoking it.

Have no idea however, how many antioxidants is in the actual tobacco plant.

PS. Emerging evidence suggests that regular nicotine treatment may be helpful in improving symptoms of OCD, although the pharmacodynamical mechanism by which this improvement is achieved is not yet known, and more detailed studies are needed to fully confirm this hypothesis. Anecdotal reports suggest OCD can worsen when cigarettes are smoked as a way of obtaining nicotin.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Imagine a tobacco-based coffee-like drink. The product would have the following requirements and advantages: Tea-containing tobacco - Patent 4694842The product consists essentially of tobacco leaves, tea leaves and.....

Fulfills the physical pleasures of tobacco. Namely taste, smell and nicotine. Allows satisfying rituals associated with coffee drinking to accompany consumption of tobacco. Allows users of the substitute tobacco product to blend in unnoticeably and unoffensively with non-smokers.