Natural Products for Cancer Patients - Separating Hope from Hype

[Guest guest]

Natural Products for Cancer Patients - Separating Hope from Hype

 

Introduction

http://www.doctormurray.com/newsletter/1-20-2003.htm

 

It has been a year since How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with

Natural Medicine was published. Our goal in writing this book was

for it to serve as the authoritative blueprint for a comprehensive

plan in dealing with cancer from a natural medicine perspective.

While the book has received much accolades and moderate success in

sales volume, I am very disappointed that it is not touching more

lives.

 

While I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak to thousands

of cancer patients, I have also been deeply saddened as I have heard

so many cancer patients tell me of their use of products that in my

opinion provide no significant benefit and only empty promises. I

know there are far more people that are using these sorts of

products than those who are following our program. In writing the

book, we debated whether we should critique some of the products and

treatments that are overly hyped. In the end, we decided that it was

more important to highlight the positives of our program.

 

Our goal was to provide a valuable resource with the latest

information on dietary and supplementation strategies to prevent

cancer, along with the critical guidance the cancer patient

desperately needs. We presented an evidence-based " natural " program

unlike any other. We reviewed over 10,000 scientific studies in

writing the book to provide proven recommendations on the proper use

of vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other natural measures to fight

cancer as well as enhance the effective of conventional cancer

treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Two of my

coauthors, Dr. Paul Reilly and Dr. Tim Birdsall, have worked in the

trenches with thousands of cancer patients - they know what works

and what does not. Yet, it seems that more people are drawn to

products and programs that provide little scientific study or

rationale but are marketed with wildly unsubstantiated claims. That

saddens me.

 

The Medical Profession's Response to Our Book

 

During my year long book tour, my hope was buoyed by the tremendous

response to the doctors and other medical professionals that have

either read our book or attended one of my lectures. I spoke at

several medical institutions in the last year, including the

prestigious Cleveland Clinic. One of the other key goals of the book

was for it to be a bridge between patients who utilize natural

medicines and their oncologist. We did make some small inroads in

this area, but we need to get it into more patients and more

oncologists' hands.

 

Physicians were responsive to our book because it presents a

rational approach without hype, but with tremendous hope. We believe

that in the treatment of end-stage diseases like cancer, that

sometimes heroic measures are definitely necessary in the form of

chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. We also believe that at all

times it is critical to use the healing power of nature in the

treatment of cancer. Failure to support the body, mind, and soul of

cancer patients is one of the critical shortcomings of conventional

oncology. Fortunately, we address this shortcoming by providing a

program that incorporates not only nutritional support, but also

recommendations on how to deal with the psychological, mental, and

emotional aspects of cancer treatment.

 

My Frustration

 

Obviously, I am quite proud of the book, but I am extremely

frustrated by its limited success. I am very much disappointed that

cancer patients are putting their faith into unproven, potentially

dangerous " natural " treatments instead of the program that we

present. In Chapter 8, The Super Eight: Fighting Cancer through Key

Natural Products, we highlighted what we considered to be the top

natural products to battle cancer. These are listed in what we

believe is their order of overall effectiveness. We based our

ranking on five key criteria:

 

clinical evidence of effectiveness

scientific rationale

safety

compatibility with conventional therapies

our own clinical experience

At every lecture that I gave this year, I was asked about a handful

of products that were not discussed in the book. My standard

response was that if it was not mentioned in the book it did not

necessarily mean that the product was without benefit, but that in

our opinion it simply did not measure up to the natural products

that we did discuss. My professional life is centered on natural

medicine, I am keenly aware of a product's merits and shortcomings.

Myself and my coauthors took the process of evaluating products to

put into the book with great responsibility. Cancer is a serious

disease. We wanted to provide recommendations that would provide the

greatest benefit.

 

Table 1. The Super 8 Natural Medicines for Cancer Treatment †

 

Proteolytic enzyme complexes

Curcumin (from Curcuma longa)

Quercetin

Maitake D- or MD-fraction

PSK/PSP

Polyerga

Modified citrus pectin

Ip6 (Inositol hexaphosphate)

† Note, while these " Super 8 " are important, they certainly do not

represent the only products that we recommend nor do they all have

to be used in a cancer patient in most circumstances.

 

Proteolytic Enzymes vs. Unproven Products

 

To illustrate the value of our recommendations over marketing hype,

let's first take a look at proteolytic enzymes (or proteases) -

various enzymes that digest (break down into smaller units) protein.

These enzymes include the pancreatic proteases chymotrypsin and

trypsin, bromelain (pineapple enzyme), papain (papaya enzyme), and

Serratia peptidase (the " silk worm " enzyme).

 

We chose proteolytic enzyme complexes (e.g., Zymactive or Wobenzyme)

as our number 1 natural product because we felt that it offered the

greatest benefit to the widest range of cancer patients. Good

clinical studies have shown that proteolytic enzymes improves the

general condition of patients and their quality of life, and

produces slight to modest increases in life expectancy.1 For

example, let's take a look at a study in patients with stage 3 colon

cancer. Now, normally this stage of colon cancer has a very poor

outcome with conventional medicine alone. In the study, 166 patients

received a mixture of proteolytic enzymes along with a combination

of chemotherapy drugs while 99 matched patients served as the

control group. The results were astounding. The group receiving the

proteolytic enzymes displayed a three year increase in survival

rate. That is absolutely REMARKABLE.

 

O.K., so based on the results of this trial and others we see that

mixtures of proteolytic enzymes can dramatically improve the odds of

beating cancer. Now, can the products that are overly hyped such as

Graviola, PolyMVA, Cesium, Essiac, or MGN3 provide that

documentation? No, and that is where it gets difficult for me. Why

would anyone in their right mind choose a program or product that

has not been documented to provide clinical benefit over something

that has?

 

I could choose any of these products to pick on, but since I was

just got an e-mail from a son of a man with stage 3 colon cancer

asking me about Graviola, I will focus on this product.

 

Graviola refers to the plant Annona muricata - a small, upright

evergreen tree that grows primarily in the Amazon. The medicinal

preparations are made from the bark, leaves, roots, fruit, and fruit

seeds. It is the leaves and stem that are recommended to cancer

patients. Numerous websites and marketing brochures will cite the

research on the anticancer compounds in graviola known as

acetogenins.

 

While it is true that these compounds have anticancer effects it

comes with a price. Keep in mind that many conventional drugs used

in chemotherapy come from plants, such vincristine and vinblastine

from the periwinkle plant and paclitaxel from the Pacific yew tree.

Would it be appropriate to make these powerful drugs available over-

the-counter? These drugs work as cytotoxic agents directly poisoning

rapidly dividing cells. While the major goals of the natural

products we highlight in the book is similar (destruction of the

cancer), the path that we chose to recommend is a little different.

Instead of targeting cancer cell destruction by toxic means like

chemotherapy agents, we are trying to engage the body's own cancer

fighting mechanisms. When chemotherapy is necessary it should be

done with controlled dosages of approved cytotoxic agents and not

via ingesting a potentially toxic herb.

 

So, am I saying that graviola is dangerous. If the product contains

acetogenins it is. The actual level of acetogenins in these products

is probably very low, similar to the taxol quantity in Pacific yew

bark. Although acetogenins apparently have more specificity to

cancer cells, their mechanism of action is definitely cytotoxic.

They work by interfering with the mitochondria - the energy

producing units of our cells. While graviola products claim to be

clinically tested, when I conducted a detailed search of data from

the National Library of Medicine, I could not find any entries of

clinical trials. Furthermore, when I went to various websites that

provided " clinical references " all that I could find were the test

tube studies of the purified acetogenins. These are not clinical

trials.

 

While marketing data also claim a high degree of safety, it is

highly suspect. For example, nowhere did I find mention of the fact

that regular consumption of graviola has been linked to a from of

Parkinson's disease.2 Specifically, the frequency of treatment-

resistant Parkinson's disease is much higher in areas that consume

the fruit and infusions of graviola. Experimental studies have

documented that graviola extracts exert some of their cytotoxic

activity on brain cells that produce dopamine - the key

neurotransmitter that controls physical movement. Until this issue

is cleared up, I think it is irresponsible for marketers to be

selling graviola products. Of course, this statement as many others

I have made over the years will surely anger people selling products

that I don't think of as legitimate.

 

While graviola may be proven to be legitimate at some point, here is

my key point with it as my example - THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON

TO GAMBLE WITH PRODUCTS WITH QUESTIONABLE SAFETY OR EFFICACY WHEN

SAFER MORE EFFECTIVE PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE.

 

Final Comments

 

Believe me, my reason for writing this editorial is not shameless

self promotion because I want to sell more books, it is simply that

I am frustrated by people looking for answers in the wrong places.

The more that I have learned about natural medicine, the more that

it has fueled a greater appreciation for the wonder of Nature and

the belief that there is a purpose to life. It is that awe that

motivates to spread the word of effective medicines from Nature. I

passionately want people to get the best results with natural

medicine - that is what motivates me.

 

 

Key References:

 

Leipner J and Saller R: Systemic enzyme therapy in oncology: effect

and mode of action. Drugs. 2000;59:769-80.

Lannuzel A, Michel PP, Caparros-Lefebvre D, et al. Toxicity of

Annonaceae for dopaminergic neurons: potential role in atypical

parkinsonism in Guadeloupe. Mov Disord 2002;17(1):84-90.

 

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