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In this comprehensive, practical approach to combating and preventing cancer, readers can assess their risks through a screening questionnaire, learn to change their internal environment to thwart cancer, and discover the science behind the emotions and attitudes that play a significant role in prevention and treatment. Divided into three sections-prevention, treatment, and coping with side effects of treatment-How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine offers precise combinations of food, vitamins, herbs, minerals, and supplements; daily meal plans; and shopping lists, as well as specific recommendations for breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancer.
Before you drink the "kool-aid" read below....Reviewed by Carlos Villanueva, 2009-03-03
(This is actually a review obtained from the [...] blog written by
Dr Harriet Hall)...
In the interests of fairness and intellectual honesty, I've forced
myself to read a lot of really bad books. The True Believer tells
me his guru's book is the Real Stuff. He tells me I have a closed
mind and won't look at anything outside establishment dogma, and if
I only read the book and understood Dr. Quack's evidence and
arguments, I would be a True Believer too. I have tried, really I
have. I've given the Dr. Quacks every chance to convert me, and
I've hoped to learn something new, but I'm always disappointed.
I've come to the point that I feel like I'm reading the same book
over and over: it is always a mixture of real science,
pseudoscience, and speculation, based on cherry-picked evidence and
argued with the same logical fallacies.
I recently got hooked into reading another one by a correspondent
who had called me an "ignorant relic" for writing a "grossly
ignorant article" about alternative medicine. I suggested he read
R. Barker Bausell's book Snake Oil Science and a couple of others,
which he promised to do. Then he said, "If I am willing to buy
three books that you have suggested and read them and you are not
willing to read what I have suggested, then that pretty much says
all that needs to be said."
I was willing, even though the very title of the book suggested
that its message was incompatible with the scientific evidence as I
know it: How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine. The
authors are big names in naturopathic and herbal medicine: Michael
Murray, Tim Birdsall, Joseph Pizzorno, and Paul Riley. It's nowhere
near as bad as some of the bad books I've read, but it is a good
example of the genre and I'll use it to illustrate why I call them
bad.
It offers "an arsenal of disease-fighting tools for prevention,
treatment, and coping with side effects" (Yes, it offers tools; but
do those tools work?) And it promises to "change your internal
environment so cancer can't survive." (Wow! If it could really do
that, every oncologist in the world would enthusiastically adopt
these methods and the authors would be eligible for a Nobel
prize.)
Its coverage of cancer risk factors and screening tests is
reasonable, and it doesn't discourage conventional cancer
treatment. It recommends conventional preventive measures like
exercise, weight control, and healthy diet, and points out the need
for extra attention to good nutrition during cancer treatment. It
doesn't descend to the level of Andrew Weil's promotion of "stoned
thinking" and intuition as a source of knowledge. It appears to be
grounded in science and its recommendations are evidence-based. The
problem is that it accepts evidence of exceedingly poor quality,
and it accepts evidence that has been superseded by other
contradictory evidence (which it conveniently fails to
acknowledge).
A trivial example, but one that illustrates their loose approach:
they tell us acupuncture dates back 5000 years to The Yellow
Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, attributed to the emperor
Huang Ti in 2697 BC. They don't mention that modern scholars have
determined that the book was written much later, probably in the
second century BC. The older date enhances their claim that
TCM [Traditional Chinese Medicine] has been practiced for
millennia, longer than any other medical system. There must be
something valuable in it! [Logical fallacy]
They fully accept the claims of TCM. They fail to mention that the
so-called acupuncture meridians have never been detected, and they
speak of the mythical qi as if it were as real as blood pressure.
They accept the totally unsubstantiated concept of "energy
medicine." They think there is no fundamental clash between Western
medicine and TCM, that just as light can exist as particles or
waves, health problems can affect both chemical balance and energy
balance. [false analogy]
They state
External hydrotherapy treatments have been shown to produce
profound effects on immune function. In particular, applications of
hot water have been shown to boost the number and activity of
natural killer cells - key white blood cells in the fight against
cancer.
As a reference, they cite this study. This was a preliminary study
with only 10 subjects and no controls, and the number of NK cells
only increased in 5 patients. A search of PubMed yielded only one
other study of hydrotherapy and immune function, this one also
uncontrolled and involving only 11 subjects.
You would have to put on the strongest rose-colored glasses to
interpret these two questionable studies as evidence of "profound
effects." And that is exactly what these authors do throughout the
book. Their rose-colored glasses over-interpret the significance of
every study that supports their bias while they filter out any
contradictory information.
They state that faith and the power of prayer have been "validated
by several rigorous scientific studies" showing that prayer affects
everything from the mutation rate of bacteria to the size of
tumors. This is simply not true. Claims for the medical efficacy of
prayer have been repeatedly and thoroughly debunked. Yet these
authors say,
In our opinion, given the scientific support of prayer's beneficial
effects, not praying for the best possible outcome may be the
equivalent of deliberately withholding an effective drug or a
surgical procedure.
They stop short of advising us which God to pray to.
For patients undergoing surgery, they say "It is very important to
use gotu kola to prevent the formation of adhesions." They say it
has "demonstrated impressive clinical results in promoting wound
repair." The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, after
reviewing all the published studies on gotu kola, concluded that it
is "possibly effective" when used topically for wound healing and
prevention of keloids, and "possibly safe." I couldn't find a shred
of evidence anywhere that it can prevent the formation of adhesions
internally. As far as I can tell, the authors just made that up,
extrapolating from the idea of wound healing.
For cancer prevention, they recommend everyone take 17 supplemental
vitamins, 14 supplemental minerals, flavonoids, daily green drinks
(green tea, dehydrated barley grass, wheat grass, chlorella,
spirulina), probiotics, fish oil supplements, and for extra
protection against specific cancers, curcumin, quercetin, ground
flaxseed oil, lycopene, etc. The evidence to support these
recommendations is sketchy at best (I'm trying really hard to say
this politely).
I'll stop with these few examples. It would take a book twice as
long as theirs to properly critique all their questionable
statements.
This book is a strange mixture. It contains a lot of good science
and good advice, but it also contains statements that are clearly
false, and much of it consists of unjustified extrapolations from
preclinical or preliminary studies. It unwisely makes clinical
recommendations for the entire human population on the basis of a
few animal or in vitro studies.
It epitomizes the difference between "evidence-based" and true
science-based medicine. It is easy to find studies that serve as
"evidence" for any viewpoint, but the true scientist weighs those
against other contradictory studies, assesses the study design and
the quality of evidence, asks if the data have been replicated
elsewhere, looks at prior plausibility and compatibility with other
scientific knowledge, and tries to judge what the entire body of
scientific evidence means. As Ioannidis showed in his landmark
article, most published studies are wrong.
The book has the appearance of science and authority and it cites
lots of references. It is written to impress the general public,
and I'm sure it sounds very convincing to someone who is not well
versed in the subjects covered. But its defects are obvious to
anyone who truly understands the scientific method. The authors
have an obvious bias; they are not objective, some of the things
they say are demonstrably false, and the book is not a reliable
source of information or advice.
There are two kinds of science book: one aims to educate the public
by explaining the current state of evidence and the consensus of
the scientific community. The other has an agenda: it uses (and
mis-uses) science to persuade readers to believe something that the
authors believe but that the scientific community as a whole has
rejected. I have learned to tell them apart at a glance.
Unfortunately, the general reader hasn't.
Essential but ExpensiveReviewed by S. Fischer, 2009-02-23
It's great to find a book like this if you are battling cancer. I have used much of the information in my fight. I just wish the health care industry would get it together enough to help people with the high costs of these complementary medicines! After getting a call from the insurance company's collection agency it's hard to find the money for complementary medicine that has to come 100% out of pocket.
Good for anyone concerned about his/her healthReviewed by Ann Edwards, 2009-01-12
Cancer can strike anyone. This book is easy to read and has a
tremendous amount of health tips for cancer prevention and
treatment methods that don't involve poisonous chemotherapy and
radiation burning. There are also chapters on how to naturally
support your body during traditional treatment i.e. surgery, chemo,
radiation.
Prevention is far better than having to treat the disease itself.
Written in layman's terms. Especially good if you have a family
history of cancer.
GiftReviewed by K. Wallace, 2008-10-06
I sent this to my mother who has lung cancer. She says this is the best book on cancer she's seen & wishes she had the book earlier when she was going through radiation & chemo. I know she highly recommends this book.
Extremely helpfulReviewed by E. Campisi, 2008-05-05
I really appreciate the fact that this book is research based and
advocates complementary medicine. I feel it really helped me sort
through treatment options and show me how I could help my mother
after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She's currently
doing cyberknife therapy, and now I know which supplements can help
her with radiation therapy, and what I need to give her now (I
chose curcumin or quecertin, vitamins, Ip6 and Maitake mushrooms,
and am a Reiki practicioner so I do Reiki on her every night. Even
Reiki is mentioned in the book!).
If you're trying to figure out what to do, get this book first.
It's also approved by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America,
which practice allopathic along with naturopathic medicine in
treating cancer.
