Dr. Mercola March 01 2008 120,175 views
Millions of U.S. cancer survivors take vitamin supplements. However, there is little evidence that supplements help, and worries that some may actually fuel the disease.
A review of 32 studies conducted between 1999 and 2006 found that 64 percent to 81 percent of cancer survivors take extra vitamins or minerals (excluding multivitamins). But little is known about how megadoses of vitamins affect cancer.
A 1995 report showed that cancer cells in a petri dish thrive in the presence of vitamin C, and subsequent studies have suggested that vitamin C supplements may lower survival rates. A study of vitamin E showed patients with cancers of the head and neck who took supplements increased their risk for developing a second cancer.
The American Cancer Society says use of vitamins and supplements during cancer treatments should be avoided.
Cancer treatments are not what I typically focus on, for a variety of reasons. I also do not focus on recommendations for specific supplements, for the simple fact that the vast majority of supplements on the market are synthetic versions that can do more harm than good.
It’s important to keep in mind that there is a major difference between natural whole-food supplements and pharmaceutical grade, synthetic vitamins and minerals.
That said, there’s little doubt in my mind that most studies trying to scare you into thinking that taking vitamins and mineral supplements will kill you faster than any drug will, is based on the use of synthetic supplements, in combination with strong financial interests. Conventional cancer treatment represents a multi-billion dollar a year industry. These vast profits are fiercely protected by the industry giants, and it’s already been proven, over and over again, that financial ties can radically color the outcome of any study.
But conventional cancer treatments in no way address the underlying causes of cancer.
Cancer is a nutritional/toxic/environmental/emotional condition, which, in a great number of instances, can be successfully reversed through the application of a sound nutritional approach and common-sense lifestyle changes.
Chemotherapy -- the LEAST Successful Cancer Treatment?
According to the National Cancer Institute (a component of the National Institutes of Health, and funded by the U.S. Congress), about 500,000 people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year. Many people are also unaware that cancer -- NOT heart disease -- is the number one risk of death for most everyone reading this article.
Chemotherapy, which has been one of the principal treatment methods for the past 50 years, works by killing all cells -- throughout your body -- that multiply and divide rapidly. This would include cancer cells, but also other rapidly multiplying and dividing cells, such as:
This overkill approach is the cause of the astounding overall failure of chemotherapy.
In 2004, the Journal of Clinical Oncology published a revealing study about chemotherapy’s success rates when looking at how many cancer patients were still alive after 5 years. It states:
RESULTS: The overall contribution of curative and adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adults was estimated to be 2.3% in Australia and 2.1% in the USA. CONCLUSION: As the 5-year relative survival rate for cancer in Australia is now over 60%, it is clear that cytotoxic chemotherapy only makes a minor contribution to cancer survival. To justify the continued funding and availability of drugs used in cytotoxic chemotherapy, a rigorous evaluation of the cost-effectiveness and impact on quality of life is urgently required.
I think you’d be hard pressed to find anything still being touted as your best shot at a cure with an average success rate of just over 2 percent, if it wasn’t for the fact that big profits were driving the recommendation.
The heartbreaking reality is that chemotherapy and other conventional cancer therapies rarely work, and some drug treatments also promote the spread of cancer. But somehow the rationale to “avoid these agents because they might promote the disease” does not apply when it comes to drugs.
This is a pervasive and hard to change double standard, visible again in the CA – A Cancer Journal for the Clinician listed above, which concludes by stating:
“Pending the publication of suitable trials, clinicians must be guided by existing data in the context of a fundamental principle of medicine, "Primum non nocere." (First do no harm)
And yet, conventional cancer treatments can in no way, shape or form ever be considered harmless.
"...as a chemist trained to interpret data, it is incomprehensible to me that physicians can ignore the clear evidence that chemotherapy does much, much more harm than good."Alan C Nixon, PhD, former president of the American Chemical Society
Taking a Look at Definitions and Exceptions
Dr. Ralph Moss, author of the book, Questioning Chemotherapy, has documented the ineffectiveness of chemotherapy in treating most cancers. There are a few, rare exceptions, however, where the treatment can be of value, including:
These types of cancer account for 2 to 4 percent of all cancers occurring in the United States. This leaves some 96 to 98 percent of other cancers, such as breast, colon, and lung cancer, which are barely touched by chemotherapy. In many cases “life extension” equates to just another 6 to 18 months of life.
Effective cancer treatment is also a matter of definition. The FDA defines an "effective" drug as one that achieves a 50 percent or more reduction in tumor size for 28 days. In the vast majority of cases there is absolutely no correlation between shrinking tumors for 28 days and the cure of the cancer or extension of life.
However, when the cancer patient hears the doctor say "effective," he or she thinks, and logically so, that "effective" means it has a good possibility of curing them.
But all it means is temporary tumor shrinkage.
What Else Do We Know About Supplements For Cancer?
Needless to say, there are a variety of supplements that have received favorable press, based on positive study results. Most, however -- and this may be key -- are found to be preventative, more so than curative in nature.
Black cohosh and CoQ10 are two supplements that have been found to have potential in the treatment of cancer. Other supplements have been shown to be helpful in reducing your risk of contracting a variety of different cancers, including:
The one supplement that appears to have the most overwhelming support for both reducing your risk, and aiding in your treatment of cancer, however, is vitamin D from sunlight.
How to Virtually Eliminate Your Risk of Cancer
I believe these relatively simple risk reduction strategies can help you to VIRTUALLY ELIMINATE your cancer risk, and radically improve your chances of recovering from cancer if you currently have it.
You won’t read or hear much about these elsewhere because they have not been formally "proven" yet by conservative researchers. However, most people don’t know that 85 percent of therapies currently recommended by conventional medicine have never been formally proven either. And, as discussed above, conventional cancer treatments are clearly not in the best interest of most patients suffering from the disease.
I have a question about White Blood cell counts and supplements. I have been on many supplements, vitamins, etc for about 1.5 years. My White blood cell count has been steadly dropping for the last 12 months from about 3 to 1.7 (normal range is approx 4 to 11). My red cell count is fine and my plateletts have been fine for the most part (going up and down). My oncologist thinks it is the supplements that I am taking (about 15 different kinds) and he asked me to stop for 2 weeks. I did and it went up from 1.7 to 2.4. He then asked me to wait another 2 weeks (without taking any of the supplements) and retest. The next retest showed it stayed the same at 2.4. So he asked me to wait another 2 weeks and I demanded that if it has not approaching 3 then we will do a bone marrow biopsy. He has some experience in benign hematology and really thinks there is some combo of supplements that is causing this. Has anyone ever heard of supplements suppressing white blood counts?
I once asked a female doctor if she would run a test on my vitamin D levels. I thought she was the demon in the exorcist, I thought her head would spin off her neck. She frowned at me and asked why, "that vitamin D is rarely low in the U.S, with all our "fortified" foods, etc, and "just go out in the sun" she said. She flatly refused. I told her, I work 12 hours a day in a high rise. That it was hard for me to get outside every day, and that I didn't eat "fortified" foods, because most of them were crap.
Needless to say, I NEVER went back to her, I was disgusted with how degrading she was to me. I have lost a lot of respect for most doctors today. There are good ones I'm sure, but you really have to HUNT them down. Most don't advertise that they are "natural" leanings. Gee, I wonder why. I love Dr. Mercola for the stance he has taken on health, and I have sent his info to many people who have flat out thanked me. I helped a friend in Texas lose 80lbs without even seeing him by giving him info from this site and Rubin Jordan. Also, before the weight loss he was told he had fatty tumours on his liver......He had an MRI several weeks ago. Guess what? NO MORE tumours! The doctors were shocked at his bloodwork and cholesterol readings. They wanted to know how he did this. He said, "I EAT REAL FOOD, NO SUGAR...etc." - he said one of the doctors was writing it down. [These were military doctors].
wow! doctors know even less than we thought. Should have guess with all the dollars drug companies and others throw at them during and after their educational process.
Kfarias, I had a similar experience with a doctor.
She was upset that I only went to her when I was ill, which is very seldom. I reported her to the insurance company (believe it or not they keep tabs- she had three other complaints)
Doctors forget that savvy patients KNOW that you cannot do preventive assessment or diagnose disease in five minutes or less, by saying ah-ha repeatedly, without actually touching a patient and while scanning the next five patient's charts. We also know how unreliable the many tests they order are.
We are packed in the office, unapologetically made to wait unrealistic amounts of time, treated to all sorts of indignities and generally handled, well, like lab rats.
If we gather all the knowledge within this website, the logical assumption is that doctors are unwittingly making us ill. They rely on medications we do not need because they do not have the knowledge base to properly diagnose natural imbalances brought about by exposure and life styles. Nor do they want to dedicate the time to continue studying the ever-evolving field of medicine.
We need to be at the wheel. It's our journey.
Response to Mama Bear: You are right about the American Cancer Society. I'm wondering how many other companies are in the same boat. They keep saying that they want to find a cure for cancer, and it's been known to many in America that we have a cure, but the FDA won't allow the natural cures to be used because they don't profit from it.
My aunt and her husband are running a race for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and would like our support. I don't know anything about them. My fear is that a lot of these organizations are making money off of people when there are already natural cures out there. I don't have anything to back that up to show her though. She said on her website link that she's doing this race in honor of her two sisters who died to cancer (my mom was one of them). Well, my mom and her other deceased sister didn't die because of a cancer they didn't know how they got. They both died because they were chain smokers and have smoked since their early teen years. Instead of running a race for cancer, I feel if my aunt really wants to change things, she needs to be working with an organization that targets teens who smoke or might be tempted to pick up the nasty habit. Now, that might make more of an impact.
The good thing about her and her husband training and running is that they are getting the needed exercise (they are both overweight). I'm proud of her for that.
In regards to not supporting organizations that pretend to seek a cure for a disease- as a Registered Nurse for 35 years, I want ot make the comment that most of these organizations, including the Red Cross and United Way, are just big money generating organizations for BigPharma and conventional medicine. I belong to Life Extension Foundation because they put their profits into real research on vitamins and other supplements. I will not support these "runs for a cure" because of this. Furthermore, encouraging recent "survivors" of cancer to do these marathons is very controversal when you think about how fragile their immune systems already are. Extreme exercise causes a drop in immune function. How can this be good for anyone?
What do doctors know about nutrition? Heheheheh. For the most part...little, or nothing that they are willing to share with us. After a heart attack and the standard pharamceutical cattle call, I felt awful! When I asked 3 different doctors about natural alternatives to the sinister statin (Lipitor), channel blockers, etc, THE best response I got was when a doctor (heart specialist) got up, walked over to the pamphlet rack and handed me a brochure on the "food pyramid". I handed it back to him, saying that I still had the one that they gave me in 5th grade and walked out.
When I asked if there was a natural way to clean out the remaining plaque, I was told "No". When I asked about taking supplements, I was told they are a waste of time and money (even though it would take 75-100 lbs of food every day to get the necessary support).
You hear things like, "Do you smoke?", but you never hear "How much sugar/MSG (by any of its 15 different names)/artificial sweeteners, etc do you consume?" AND YOU NEVER SEE A DOCTOR PULL OUT LITMUS PAPER AND TEST YOUR pH! Pathogens cannot survive, or grow in an alkaline enviroment. Good foods, exercise and supplements help to take you alkaline. Bad foods, like sugar, processed foods, artificial sweeteners and "professional medications" make our bodies acid. Virtually all sickness is bred in an acidic body. The day that a doctor tells me that "we" need to get you alkaline, is the day the FDA stops allowing poisonous additives into foods to make us sick, stops marketing largely untested medications for imaginary sicknesses (psst: cholesterol is good for you). In an alkaline environment, no so-called "universal health care" plan will work. What's the point? Learn about your pH level. We're on our own...
Correction! In my previous post, I ended by stating "In an alkaline environment, no so-called "universal health care" plan will work."
Brain cloud.
Should have stated "In an ACID environment, no so-called "universal health care" plan will work.
Sorry....
Right on! Try to find a Naturopathic Doctor (that is trained in the use of supplements).
To Audrey and others:
I recently got an email advertising the following book:
"Cancer Breakthrough USA" by Frank Cousineau
This book details 7 alternative clinics that are curing all sorts of cancers (even terminal cases) by non-toxic natural means.
Maybe Audrey should give a copy to her relatives who are "running" for a cure.
Here's the link: cancerbreakthroughusa.com/order.html
If the American Cancer Society, after 40 years of failure, had any morals, they'd stop taking people's money, or at least start supporting what does work.
Dr. Otto Warburg, whose name has been bandied about so often that his significance has been unjustifiably minimized, was a biochemist in cancer research. He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for proving that a cancer cell cannot exist in an oxidizing, healthy cell. Dr. Waburgh was the director of the Max Planck Institute for Cell Physiology in Germany. In "The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer" 1967,
Dr. Warburg proposed that normalizing the metabolism of cancer cells was the key to effective treatment cancer and the means to accomplish this was to increase the oxygen content of the cells. Dr.
Warburg stated that as the first priority of treatment, "-- all growing body cells be saturated with oxygen" and the second priority was to avoid further exposure to toxins.
THERE ARE MANY CAUSES OF CANCER, BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE PRIME CAUSE . . . THE LACK OF OXYGEN AT THE CELLULAR LEVEL.
Dr. Warburg's second priority to avoid further exposure to toxins is more difficult. We are exposed to toxins every day in the food we eat, water we drink and air we breathe. Every foreign invader that enters the body must be oxidized to pass through the body thus using valuable oxygen- oxygen needed for proper functioning. These unnatural substances include processed foods and preservatives (to extend life); food dyes; hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated foods; most vegetables oils (some rancid almost immediately); polluted water; chlorine, fluoride, lead, aluminum, etc. in water; polluted air (especially in the inner cities);smoking; excessive alcohol consumption; exercising to fatigue (moderate exercise is important); shallow breathing; pesticides; bleaching of napkins, toilet paper; etc. etc. etc.
KAC, you are so right! Primary Cause of cancer - lack of oxygen at the cellular level. Lab tested - If you take a healthy cell put it a container and subtract 35% of its oxygen it becomes cancerous, to kill it you add in more oxygen than you took out. All other things are secondary causing the primiary.
Cancer cannot be cured, that's a misnomer, it can only be prevented, encapsulated or destroyed. Everyone gets cancer cells, it depends on the surrounding environment & your immune system, strong or weak. A alkaline environment produces oxygen, a acidic one depletes oxygen and cancer cells love sugar. The American Cancer Society is a front and fund rasier for the Rockefeller's, they will never promote anything other than "A Cure is around the corner sent in money", they have attacked anything that will hurt the profits of Big Pharma. American Cancer Society is one of the most profitable non-profit associations in the country, its holdings are vast. Do you think the CEO's of all related associations want to give up there six figure incomes, perks to actually do what's right? Most of the ingredients in vitamin supplements come from the drug companies, they are synthetic, low grade, & in small doses; they don't want them to work; they only want to sell us on the expensive chemo or radiation. Avg. cancer treatment $300,000, alternative treatment $500.00, you do the math. It has also been proven that chemo is 5.8% effective, that means chemo is 94.2% INEFFECTIVE, radiation 11.2% effective, 88.8% INEFFECTIVE, what makes these a good treatment, PROFIT!! Cancer is big business! Drs. O. Warburg, K. Brewer, M. Rath, L. Pauling, H. Neiper and so many others have proved cause and treatment that works, the main stream medical, FDA, and drug companies don't want us to know or have a choice. Dr. Hans Neiper said the FDA, AMA & drug company officials come to Germany to see him for his alternatve treatment, interesting.
I have lost 3 loved ones before I found out the truth
I just wanted to respond to those who have given me negative points for my comment regarding "The China Study". I wholeheartedly believe in taking Whole Food supplements for improvements to ones health. I also follow "The Maker's Diet and the "Total Health Plan" and take probiotics, digestive enzyme, and cod liver oil everyday. I have been able to reverse or reduce all of my health problems this way, which include heart disease, diverticulitis, duodinitis, ulcer disease, high BP, severe arthritis, and a list of ailments too long to post here. I simply found the book interesting and the author exposes some of the corruption in the "American Cancer Society" and the FDA.
Look up studies about how many doctors and oncologists would actually take chemo themselves. That's interesting reading.
I like Ridgewalker's comment on alkalinity. To my knowledge that's a proven fact. Cancer cells don't survive in an alkaline environment. Look up alkaline forming foods. There are lists available. Watermelon is one of the best. Actually drinking lots of good water is better than anything.
Pulsed magnetic energy also raises the alkalinity in our body cells. One of the known attributes of this type of energy session and it does the work a lot faster than food, and in many cases time is of the essence. I've personally heard stories from patients left to die of cancer by general medicine making miraculous recoveries with this.
I invite everyone to read this much ignored...even censored...yet definitive study on Vitamin C...the 1971 Klenner report on Vitamin C...
www.orthomed.com/klenner.htm
After reading this and several of the above posts, it is not difficult to understand how important it is to view your health through the ph lens...It is, in fact, the singulary most important place to launch a healthy effort...
Dizzyizzy1 said,"They're getting bolder and bolder about killing us all aren't they?
She's right. The Elite and the Bilderbugs are trying to downsize the population. They are in cohoots with the Big Pharma and the food industry. Its also about power, not money, as they already have the money, they want control and power. This site is very good, Alex Jones. He tells what is going on in the world. For those people who have eyes to see and ears to hear, they know what is going on. I like to know what is going on in the world so that I can steer away from the danger. They are dumbing people down in the brain, how? Its in the food and water. They don't want the sheep to baa baa..They want dumb sheep to go to the slaughter. Here is the site http://prisonplanet.tv/ if you can't get on that way, just google Alex Jones
Coconutbev
On a related subject, here's a good music video in support of Ron Paul.
www.youtube.com/watch