Questionable cancer therapies (Continued from last week)
July 31, 2001 | 12:00am
Between 1980 and 1986 at least 13 patients treated with Gerson therapy were admitted to San Diego area hospitals with campylobacter fetus sepsis attributable to the liver injections. None of the patients was cancer-free, and one died of his malignancy within a week. Five were comatose due to low serum sodium levels, presumably as a result of the "no sodium" Gerson dietary regimen. As a result, Gerson personnel modified their techniques for handling raw liver products and biologicals. However, the Gerson approach still has considerable potential for harm. Deaths have also been attributed to the coffee enemas administered at the Tijuana clinic," the two doctors cautioned.
In the mid-1970s, hydrazine sulfate was proposed for treating the progressive weight loss and debilitation characteristic of advanced cancer. Based on animal data and preliminary human studies, it has also been claimed to cause tumor regression and subjective improvement in patients. However, three recent trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute demonstrated no benefit attributable to hydrazine sulfate.
The trials involved 243 patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer, 266 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, and 127 patients with advanced colorectal cancer. The largest of the three found that nerve damage occurred more often and that quality of life was significantly worse in the hydrazine sulfate group. After these studies were published, proponents claimed that they were flawed because patients were permitted to ingest tranquilizers, barbiturates, or alcohol, which allegedly would nullify the effect of hydrazine sulfate. The National Cancer Institute rejected these concerns, and an investigation by the United States General Accounting Office found no difference in survival times between the patients who had taken these drugs and those who had not.
In December 2000, the Annals of Internal Medicine published a case report of a 55-year-old man with cancer of the sinus near his left cheekbone. Instead of undergoing recommended medical treatment, he obtained hydrazine sulfate through a website and, for four months, followed the regimen published on the kathykeeton.com website. Two weeks later, he was hospitalized with signs of kidney and liver failure. Despite intensive hospital care, he died within a week.
Macrobiotic diets have been promoted for maintaining general health and for preventing and "relieving" cancer and other diseases. The diet consists of whole grains (50 to 60 percent of each meal), vegetables (25 to 30 percent of each meal), whole beans or soybean-based products (five to 10 percent of daily food), nuts and seeds (small amounts as snacks), miso soup, herbal teas, and small amounts of white meat or seafood once or twice weekly.
"Today’s leading proponent is Michio Kushi, founder and president of the Kushi Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. According to Institute publications, the macrobiotic way of life should include chewing food at least 50 times per mouthful (or until it becomes liquid), not wearing synthetic or woolen clothing next to the skin, avoiding long hot baths or showers, having large green plants in your house to enrich the oxygen content of the air, and singing a happy song every day. Kushi claims that cancer is largely due to improper diet, thinking, and way of life, and can be influenced by changing these factors. He recommends yin foods for cancers due to excess yang, and yang foods for tumors that are predominantly yin," explained Barrett and Herbert.
The diet itself can cause cancer patients to undergo serious weight loss and the only claims of cure come from those who also received responsible medical treatment. Recently, Kushi’s wife, Aveline, died of cervical cancer. She was reported to have undergone standard radiation treatment when the cancer was discovered. She resorted to acupuncture and other Eastern methods when the cancer spread to her bones and she was told that no standard treatment was available.
The claim is that abnormalities can be diagnosed at the cellular level and can be corrected by normalizing the patient’s metabolism. They regard cancer, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and other "degenerative" diseases as the result of metabolic imbalance caused by a buildup of "toxic substances" in the body.
"Metabolic" treatment regimens vary from practitioner to practitioner and may include a "natural food" diet, coffee enemas, vitamins, minerals, glandulars, enzymes, laetrile, and various other nostrums that are not legally marketable in the United States. No scientific study has ever shown that "metabolic therapy" or any of its components is effective against cancer or any other serious disease.
Harold Manner, Ph.D., a biology professor who announced in 1977 that he had cured cancer in mice with injections of laetrile, enzymes, and vitamin A, was its most famous proponent. He was affiliated with a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico until his death in 1988.
Pau d’arco tea is also known as taheebo, lapacho, lapacho morado, ipe roxo, or ipes. It is marketed as an ancient Inca Indian remedy, effective against cancer and many other ailments, prepared from the inner bark of various species of Tabebuia, an evergreen tree found in the West Indies and Central and South America.
"Tabebuia woods contains lapachol, which has been demonstrated to have antitumor activity in a few animal tumor models. However, no published study has shown a significant effect on cancer in humans. Studies during the early 1970s found that lapachol is not as readily absorbed by humans as by rats, and that plasma levels high enough to influence tumors would be accompanied by anticoagulant effects," explained the two doctors.
This addition to the list is interesting since it points out to a known practice in the Philippines. The authors said, and I fully quote: "Psychic surgery is claimed to remove tumors without leaving a skin wound. Actually, its practitioners use sleight-of-hand to create the illusion that surgery is being performed. A false finger or thumb may be used to store a red dye that appears as ‘blood’ when the skin is ‘cut.’ Animal parts or cotton wads soaked in the dye are palmed and then exhibited as ‘diseased organs’ supposedly removed from the patient’s body."
"However, one Philippine ‘healer’ has been reported to use human blood, which raises the possibility that HIV or hepatitis B could be transmitted. The American Cancer Society has concluded that ‘all demonstrations to date of psychic surgery have been done by various forms of trickery.’ Most ‘psychic surgeons’ practice in the Philippines or Brazil, but some have made tours within the United States. A few have been prosecuted for theft and/or practicing medicine without a license."
Powdered shark cartilage contains a protein that is said to inhibit the growth of new blood vessels needed for the spread of cancer (angiogenesis). Laboratory experiments confirmed a modest positive effect yet no conclusive evidence demonstrated that feeding shark cartilage to humans significantly inhibits angiogenesis in cancer patients.
In1993, 60 Minutes aired a program promoting the claims of William Lane, Ph.D., author of the book Sharks Don’t Get Cancer. The highlight was a Cuban study of 29 "terminal" cancer patients who received shark-cartilage preparations. Patients were filmed doing exercises and reporting "feeling better" several weeks after the treatment had begun.
"The fact that ‘feeling better’ does not indicate whether a cancer treatment is effective was not mentioned. Nor was the fact that sharks do get cancer, even of their cartilage. NCI officials subsequently reviewed the Cuban data and concluded that they were incomplete and unimpressive," Barrett and Herbert opined.
They added that "in May 1997, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting, researchers reported a study that found shark cartilage ineffective against advanced cancer in adults with a life expectancy of at least 12 weeks. The researchers concluded that shark cartilage was inactive in patients with advanced stages of cancer, specifically in breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancers. The study was sponsored by the Cancer Treatment Research Foundation, Cartilage Technologies (a manufacturer), and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. A few months later, Cartilage Technologies announced that it would support no additional research on shark cartilage as a cancer remedy."
Linus Pauling, Ph.D is the man behind the claim that vitamin C is useful in the treatment of cancer. In the mid-1970s, Pauling published claims that high doses of vitamin C are effective in preventing and curing cancer. Pauling and a Scottish surgeon, Ewan Cameron, reported in 1976 and 1978 that a group of 100 terminal cancer patients treated with 10,000 mg of vitamin C daily had survived three to four times longer than historically matched patients who did not receive vitamin C supplements.
"The Mayo Clinic conducted three double-blind studies involving a total of 367 patients with advanced cancer. All three studies found that patients given 10 g of vitamin C daily did no better than those given a placebo. Despite many years of taking huge daily amounts of vitamin C, both Pauling and his wife Ava died of cancer – she in 1981 and he in 1994," Herbert and Barrett mentioned.
E-mail mylene@bender-and-strands.com for questions and comments.
In the mid-1970s, hydrazine sulfate was proposed for treating the progressive weight loss and debilitation characteristic of advanced cancer. Based on animal data and preliminary human studies, it has also been claimed to cause tumor regression and subjective improvement in patients. However, three recent trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute demonstrated no benefit attributable to hydrazine sulfate.
The trials involved 243 patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer, 266 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, and 127 patients with advanced colorectal cancer. The largest of the three found that nerve damage occurred more often and that quality of life was significantly worse in the hydrazine sulfate group. After these studies were published, proponents claimed that they were flawed because patients were permitted to ingest tranquilizers, barbiturates, or alcohol, which allegedly would nullify the effect of hydrazine sulfate. The National Cancer Institute rejected these concerns, and an investigation by the United States General Accounting Office found no difference in survival times between the patients who had taken these drugs and those who had not.
In December 2000, the Annals of Internal Medicine published a case report of a 55-year-old man with cancer of the sinus near his left cheekbone. Instead of undergoing recommended medical treatment, he obtained hydrazine sulfate through a website and, for four months, followed the regimen published on the kathykeeton.com website. Two weeks later, he was hospitalized with signs of kidney and liver failure. Despite intensive hospital care, he died within a week.
"Today’s leading proponent is Michio Kushi, founder and president of the Kushi Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. According to Institute publications, the macrobiotic way of life should include chewing food at least 50 times per mouthful (or until it becomes liquid), not wearing synthetic or woolen clothing next to the skin, avoiding long hot baths or showers, having large green plants in your house to enrich the oxygen content of the air, and singing a happy song every day. Kushi claims that cancer is largely due to improper diet, thinking, and way of life, and can be influenced by changing these factors. He recommends yin foods for cancers due to excess yang, and yang foods for tumors that are predominantly yin," explained Barrett and Herbert.
The diet itself can cause cancer patients to undergo serious weight loss and the only claims of cure come from those who also received responsible medical treatment. Recently, Kushi’s wife, Aveline, died of cervical cancer. She was reported to have undergone standard radiation treatment when the cancer was discovered. She resorted to acupuncture and other Eastern methods when the cancer spread to her bones and she was told that no standard treatment was available.
"Metabolic" treatment regimens vary from practitioner to practitioner and may include a "natural food" diet, coffee enemas, vitamins, minerals, glandulars, enzymes, laetrile, and various other nostrums that are not legally marketable in the United States. No scientific study has ever shown that "metabolic therapy" or any of its components is effective against cancer or any other serious disease.
Harold Manner, Ph.D., a biology professor who announced in 1977 that he had cured cancer in mice with injections of laetrile, enzymes, and vitamin A, was its most famous proponent. He was affiliated with a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico until his death in 1988.
"Tabebuia woods contains lapachol, which has been demonstrated to have antitumor activity in a few animal tumor models. However, no published study has shown a significant effect on cancer in humans. Studies during the early 1970s found that lapachol is not as readily absorbed by humans as by rats, and that plasma levels high enough to influence tumors would be accompanied by anticoagulant effects," explained the two doctors.
"However, one Philippine ‘healer’ has been reported to use human blood, which raises the possibility that HIV or hepatitis B could be transmitted. The American Cancer Society has concluded that ‘all demonstrations to date of psychic surgery have been done by various forms of trickery.’ Most ‘psychic surgeons’ practice in the Philippines or Brazil, but some have made tours within the United States. A few have been prosecuted for theft and/or practicing medicine without a license."
In1993, 60 Minutes aired a program promoting the claims of William Lane, Ph.D., author of the book Sharks Don’t Get Cancer. The highlight was a Cuban study of 29 "terminal" cancer patients who received shark-cartilage preparations. Patients were filmed doing exercises and reporting "feeling better" several weeks after the treatment had begun.
"The fact that ‘feeling better’ does not indicate whether a cancer treatment is effective was not mentioned. Nor was the fact that sharks do get cancer, even of their cartilage. NCI officials subsequently reviewed the Cuban data and concluded that they were incomplete and unimpressive," Barrett and Herbert opined.
They added that "in May 1997, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting, researchers reported a study that found shark cartilage ineffective against advanced cancer in adults with a life expectancy of at least 12 weeks. The researchers concluded that shark cartilage was inactive in patients with advanced stages of cancer, specifically in breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancers. The study was sponsored by the Cancer Treatment Research Foundation, Cartilage Technologies (a manufacturer), and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. A few months later, Cartilage Technologies announced that it would support no additional research on shark cartilage as a cancer remedy."
"The Mayo Clinic conducted three double-blind studies involving a total of 367 patients with advanced cancer. All three studies found that patients given 10 g of vitamin C daily did no better than those given a placebo. Despite many years of taking huge daily amounts of vitamin C, both Pauling and his wife Ava died of cancer – she in 1981 and he in 1994," Herbert and Barrett mentioned.
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