Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I talk with Dr. McLaughlin about ___?
A: Dr. McLaughlin is retired, and while he graciously provided information and materials for this site (along with other people), he is not connected officially with pawpawresearch.com. He does not make himself available for consultations. The last time we checked, he does not even use email. His only current involvement in paw paw is usually limited to his own farm growing trees or speaking about his research.
Q: Why don't you sell the paw paw on this site?
A: This website is academic/informational only.
Q: Since you don't sell it, where can I buy it?
A: Please read this carefully--especially about the possible issue buying from Amazon and other sites using questionable practices.
Dr. McLaughlin licensed his patents only to Nature's Sunshine Products, who sells the product under the name "Paw Paw Cell Reg™" to the public through their distributors. The only distributor that we highly recommend is called Healthy Sunshine. They have two websites, one for its US customers, and one for customers outside the US.
- If you are in the United States, their website for you is www.healthy-sunshine.com. Here is the link to their Paw Paw Cell Reg™ page. Note: They also have an unadvertised special of free shipping if you buy 3 bottles (3 month's supply) at a time, so you may want to take advantage of that.
- If you are OUTSIDE the United States, the website for you is www.healthysunshineworldwide.com. They sometimes run specials as well, such as 5% off. Be sure to check for those.
Regardless of where you are located, Healthy Sunshine has a superb reputation, and they likely know the product better than any other distributor out there. You can rest assured that your needs will be met and the product is genuine (VERY important).
We have heard of a number of people buying their "Paw Paw Cell Reg" from Amazon. That is NOT advisable under ANY circumstances--even if it appears to be the same product. We have heard reports of tampered product, outdated product, or even fake product. In the words of one communication from the manufacturer--when you buy from Amazon, Ebay, and the like, you are essentially buying from an electronic yard sale.
We will even go further than that. There are some websites that sell the product below the authorized minimum price of Nature's Sunshine. One should be wary of purchasing an important product like this from any reseller that is using unethical business practices--as these are. The seller that we recommend sells at the LOWEST authorized price, does large volume (meaning product is fresh), knows the product well, and services its customers well. Beware of buying from unauthorized sources such as Amazon and unauthorized sales from websites selling at lower prices. Consider yourself warned.
Q: I have paw paw trees? Can I use them somehow for treatment?
A: Probably not. This is covered at length on this website. Dr. McLaughlin had to standardize the extract since the acetogenins vary widely from month to month and from tree to tree. It is about impossible for the "do it at home" person to know what he has or do some standardization process.
Q: What about paw paw and antioxidants? There are a lot of sites out there that list them and say not to take them with paw paw.
A: Sites that say this are using the old, outdated theory that was never tested. This question was settled about 10 years ago when Dr. Fred Valeriote of the Ford Cancer Clinic did research to examine this question. You can read about it here. Also, see the video page where Dr. McLaughlin answers this question.
Q: What is the difference between paw paw and graviola?
A: Quite a big one. Please see the page on the comparison between the two for a very detailed explanation.
Q: Can I have a copy of the paw paw lice remover recipe that is no longer sold?
A: Yes, we obtained it from the original manufacturer. The recipe contains 3 ingredients that they sell separately. You need Adobe Acrobat reader to read it, but you can get the paw paw lice remover recipe by clicking here. We added links to the document that will take you to the pages where the ingredients are sold.
Q: Can I have a copy of the salve recipe that was used for herpes?
A: From the best knowledge we have obtained from Dr. McLaughlin and the manufacturer, this salve was never put into production. It was made by opening the contents of paw paw capsules and mixing it with golden salve (available from the same manufacturer). From the information that we gathered, the exact mixture is not a huge deal since the purpose of the salve is simply to hold the paw paw extract powder in place on the affected areas. It is possible then, it seems, that you could even use something else to hold it in place.