The Red Flags of Quackery

I'd use it as my avatar, but I don't think it could be read.

My BIL is convinced that papaya extract is restoring his mother's platelets. I found ten pages of google making this claim. On page 11, I finally found out that this claim came out of Indonesia where people claimed it restored platelet count after dengue fever. Of course, it seems that platelet count drops with dengue fever and rgoes up again once the patient recovers, but why spoil a good story with facts?

You're right. Google can be your friend or foe, depends on how you use it. (bolding is mine)


Fermented papaya preparation as redox regulator in blood cells of β‐thalassemic mice and patients[PDF] from ori-japan.comJ Amer, A Goldfarb, EA Rachmilewitz… - Phytotherapy …, 2008 - Wiley Online Library
... Fermented papaya preparation (FPP) was tested for its antioxidant effects: the scavenging effect
was determined spectrofluorometrically in a cell ... from β-thalassemic patients with FPP increased
the glutathione content of red blood cells (RBC), platelets and polymorphonuclear ...
Cited by 10 - Related articles - BL Direct - All 5 versions

… of oxidative stress in red blood cells from patients with β‐thalassemia major and intermedia and E‐β‐thalassemia following administration of a fermented papaya …[PDF] from ori-japan.comE Fibach, ES Tan, S Jamuar, I Ng… - Phytotherapy …, 2010 - Wiley Online Library

... Fermented papaya preparation (FPP), a natural health food product obtained by biofermentation
of carica papaya, has been shown to limit oxidative ... RBC ( Amer et al., 2003; 2006) as well as
platelets (Amer and Fibach, 2004) and polymorphonuclear leu- kocytes (Amer and ...
Cited by 5 - Related articles - All 4 versions

[PDF] Dengue fever treatment with Carica papaya leaves extracts[PDF] from apjtb.comN Ahmad, H Fazal, M Ayaz, BH Abbasi… - Asian Pacific Journal of …, 2011 - apjtb.com
... Keywords: Dengue fever Carica papaya Leaves extracts Platelets Potential activity The main
objective of the current study is to investigate the potential of Carica papaya leaves extracts
against Dengue fever in 45 year old patient bitten by carrier mosquitoes. ... Cited by 4 - Related articles - View as HTML - All 3 versions

Thrombocyte counts in mice after the administration of papaya leaf suspensionK Sathasivam, S Ramanathan, SM Mansor… - Wiener Klinische …, 2009 - Springer
... Despite the initial up- trend of the platelet counts in the control groups, the consistent rise of the
thrombocyte counts in the group treated with the papaya-leaf formulation was higher and
significant in compar- ison, reaching p values as low as 0.000002, indicating a potential of ...
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Fermented papaya preparation for β-thalassemia?ST Olalla-Saad - Expert Review of Hematology, 2010 - expert-reviews.com
... FPP) is a natural health-food product obtained by biofermentation of Carica papaya, which may
reduces in vitro and in vivo oxidative stress. FPP has been used in mice and reduced the oxidative
stress of red blood cells, polymorphonuclear leukocytes and platelets. ... Related articles - All 2 versions

17 Role of Oxidative Stress in β-Thalassemia and the Antioxidative Effect of Fermented Papaya PreparationE Fibach, A Goldfarb… - Dietary Modulation of Cell …, 2008 - books.google.com
... by biofermentation of carica papaya. FPP was reported to be endowed with a potent free
radical-scavenging property, as ascertained by recent experimen- tal and clinical studies
[32–36]. We tested FPP for its antioxidative effects in vitro and in vivo on RBC, platelets, and PMN ... Related articles

Decreased hemolysis following administration of antioxidant—fermented papaya preparation (FPP) to a patient with PNHH Ghoti, H Rosenbaum, E Fibach… - Annals of hematology, 2010 - Springer
... 1259 6. Amer J, Zelig O, Fibach E (2008) Oxidative status of red blood cells, neutrophils, and
platelets in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglo- binuria. Exp Hematol 36:369–377 7. Aruoma OI,
Colognato R, Fontana I et al (2006) Molecular effects of fermented papaya preparation on ...
Cited by 3 - Related articles - All 3 versions

Effect of genistein and daidzein on platelet aggregation and monocyte and endothelial functionN Gottstein, BA Ewins, C Eccleston… - British Journal of …, 2003 - Cambridge Univ Press
... platelets. British Journal of Phar- macology 115, 101–106. Rimbach G, Park YP, Guo Q, Moini
H, Saliou C, Takayama K, Virgili F, Qureshi F & Packer L (2000a) Nitric oxide synthesis and
TNF-alpha secretion in RAW 264·7 macrophages: Mode of action of a fermented papaya ...
Cited by 76 - Related articles - BL Direct - All 8 versions

Sulfation of genistein alters its antioxidant properties and its effect on platelet aggregation and monocyte and endothelial functionG Rimbach, PD Weinberg… - … et Biophysica Acta (BBA …, 2004 - Elsevier
... 2.5. Platelet isolation and measurement of platelet aggregation. ... Platelets were treated with different
concentrations of genistein, genistein-4′-sulfate and genistein-4′-7-disulfate (5, 25, 50 μM)
and platelet aggregation was measured with a whole blood aggregometer. ...
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High-yield precipitation synthesis of tungsten oxide platelet particle and its ethylene gas-sensing characteristicO Nimittrakoolchai… - Materials Chemistry and Physics, 2008 - Elsevier
... fruits can be in the range of several ppm for mango and banana and tens of ppm for papaya and
durian [25]. Therefore, our WO 3 thick film sensor had sufficient sensitivity for evaluating a ripening
stage of these fruits. 4. Conclusions. The hydrous WO 3 platelet particles were ...
Cited by 14 - Related articles - All 4 versions