Frankincense and Cancer – What You Need to Know About This Essential Oil

As they made their iconic trek from the Far East to witness the invaluable gift of the newborn King, the three wise men from the biblical account of Jesus’ birth brought their own gifts. One of them, frankincense, has a value far beyond a fragrant incense. It shows powerful anti-cancer effects that, even today, make this precious oil truly fit for a king.

Frankincense Essential Oil Uses

Frankincense, also known as olibanum, has been used for thousands of years and is a popular type of essential oil used to help:

• fight disease-causing inflammation: anti-inflammatory effects in chronic inflammatory diseases

• support heightened immunity: dose-related increase in delayed hypersensitivity and antibody titres

• relieve chronic stress: reduced anxiety scores in patients undergoing shock wave lithotripsy

• reduce pain: decreased daytime and nighttime pain scores in a randomized controlled trial

• prevent dangerous infections: antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, E. coli, and C. albicans

• reduce the signs of aging: improved photo-aged skin by reducing fine wrinkles and roughness

• decrease the appearance of scars: accelerated burn wound repair in a rat model

But many people remain unaware of the added cancer-fighting potential of this precious serum, which researchers from the University of Leicester in the UK (among others) confirmed through rigorous scientific testing.

Also known as boswellia, frankincense contains a unique compound in its nutrient profile called acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid, or AKBA for short. Scientific research has identified AKBA as a promising anticancer agent. With funding from the government of Oman, researchers from the University of Leicester investigated how frankincense might serve as a safe and effective therapy for women with ovarian cancer—one of the leading causes of cancer in women.

Frankincense and Cancer: Frankincense Essential Oil Benefits

Even in patients with late-stage ovarian cancer, which is exceedingly difficult to treat using conventional methods, the researchers discovered that the AKBA in frankincense oil demonstrated clear efficacy. A 2019 study confirmed that AKBA decreases the malignancy of taxol-resistant human ovarian cancer by inhibiting multidrug resistance proteins.

Here’s what Kamla Al-Salmani, lead author of the paper and a PhD student at the University’s Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine department, said about their findings in late 2013:

After a year of studying the AKBA compound with ovarian cancer cell lines in vitro, we have been able to show it is effective at killing cancer cells. Frankincense is taken by many people with no known side effects. This finding has enormous potential to be taken to a clinical trial in the future and developed into an additional treatment for ovarian cancer.

Frankincense Essential Oil and Cancer

Related research has shown that AKBA is effective against other forms of cancer as well. For breast cancer, studies demonstrate that AKBA induces significant cytotoxicity and apoptosis in breast cancer cell lines while showing less toxicity to normal cells. For colon cancer, AKBA suppresses colitis-associated colorectal cancer by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway and remodeling gut microbiota. For prostate cancer, AKBA effectively suppresses chemoresistant prostate cancer cells by blocking Akt and Stat3 signaling pathways, with an IC50 value of approximately 17 μM. A broader review of anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities of frankincense confirms that boswellic acids inhibit the progression of multiple cancer types through various mechanisms.

This evidence suggests that frankincense isn’t just a supplemental treatment to accompany chemotherapy and radiation; in some cases it may actually be preferable as a replacement. The reason is that frankincense shows demonstrable effectiveness in areas where chemotherapy isn’t all that effective, particularly with regard to ovarian cancer. Dr. Mark Evans, who heads the program of which Al-Salmani is a student, explained that certain cancer cell lines that don’t respond to chemotherapy are notably responsive to frankincense.

Though commonly mixed with a carrier oil such as saponified coconut oil or jojoba oil and applied topically, frankincense can also be consumed orally by putting one or two drops of the oil into a beverage. Purity and quality are extremely important when using essential oils—especially if you are ingesting them. Essential oils are complex mixtures that can pose health risks at certain doses, and regulatory agencies recommend consulting a healthcare professional before use. Always be sure to consult with a qualified healthcare practitioner versed in the proper use of essential oils before undertaking such a regimen—especially for cancer-fighting purposes.

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Editor’s Note: This article was initially published in 2022 and has been updated in 2026.