People who are faced with a new diagnosis of cancer frequently turn to the internet to learn about treatment. Although there is good and reliable information about cancer and cancer treatment on the internet, it is much more common for people to find websites promoting various natural and alternative treatments for cancer as opposed to medically proven treatments such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Is there evidence that any of these alternative treatments work as well as or better than traditional cancer treatment?
This post will explore the most commonly recommended natural and alternative cancer treatments and present the evidence, if any, that any of them work.
CBD and THC
There is some evidence in tissue culture studies that cannabinoids like CBD and THC inhibit cancer cells. There have been some limited clinical trials in humans using cannabinoids as treatment. None of these trials has shown any beneficial effect on any cancers in humans.
Chinese Herbal Medicines
Traditional Chinese medicine uses a completely different framework than western medicine for health and disease. It has been used and developed for thousands of years. It focuses on restoring natural balance of the opposing forces of yin and yang. Treatment is individualized based on the imbalance diagnosed by the practitioner. In China, traditional Chinese medicine is frequently used as an adjunct to cancer treatment with surgery, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Combinations of herbs are used as well as things like acupuncture and qigong. There is some evidence that the some of the herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine have some anticancer properties, but because of the individual nature of treatment it is almost impossible to do randomized trials. There is no good evidence that traditional Chinese herbal medicines alone successfully treat any cancers. There is evidence that people in China who use traditional Chinese medicine as an adjunct to other cancer treatments have fewer side effects from anticancer drugs and have better quality of life during treatment.
Ayurvedic Medicine
Another old (5000 year old) system from India that also teaches that disease is due to imbalance that can be corrected with traditional Indian herbal medicines. There are no clinical trials that show the Ayurvedic medicine cures or treats any cancers.
Special Diets
Many types of diets have been proposed to treat cancer. There is no evidence that any dietary changes treat any cancer. Plant based diets have been shown to decrease the risk of getting certain cancers, but there is no evidence plant based diets successfully treat any cancer.
Other unproven and disproven cancer treatments
There are numerous other alternative or natural cancer treatments that have been proposed by many different groups. They are in fact too numerous to mention separately in this post. There is an excellent Wikipedia article that has a comprehensive list of unproven and disproven cancer treatments. Here is a link to that web page: List of unproven and disproven cancer treatments.
Bottom Line
People who use natural and alternative cancer treatments tend to substitute those for proven medical treatments like surgery, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. As a result, people who use these therapies as an alternative to proven treatments have quicker progressions of cancer and die sooner than people who use proven therapies. Some alternative therapies used as an adjunct to proven therapies may improve quality of life during treatment. Because some herbal medicines can interact with chemotherapy drugs, it is important that your cancer treatment doctor knows that you are using one of these alternative therapies as an adjunct to the treatment he/she is giving you for your cancer.