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, 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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