A Review of Alternative Cancer Therapies
by John P. Thomas
Health Impact News
Effective Alternative Cancer Cures are a Threat to Modern Medicine
Conventional physicians want us to believe that there are only three treatments for cancer – surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. In fact, allopathic physicians have exclusively use these three approaches for the past 100 years with very little long-term success. Even though it is clear that even the US government admits that radiation and chemo both cause cancer, these therapies continue to be used with little concern about the new cancers that they cause.
For additional information on the operation of the pharmaceutical cartel that controls cancer treatment in the United States, please see:
The conventional cancer treatment system and the pharmaceutical companies that control it are dedicated to limiting the development of all other forms of cancer treatment. They have a chokehold on the development of alternative treatments, and they ruthlessly work together with the US FDA and various US government cancer research funding agencies to prevent new treatments from being approved for use by physicians. The reason is that most alternative cancer treatments are much less expensive than surgery, radiation, and chemo. They are also more effective and have many fewer (if any) unwanted side effects.
The great fear of the pharmaceutical industry, and the vast cancer treatment system that it controls, is that a non-patentable and inexpensive cure for cancer might put them out of business. Sadly, these organizations exist to turn a profit from cancer treatment, which is measured in the billions of dollars every year. They are in the business of treating cancer not curing it.
Alternative treatments for cancer have a history of curing cancer and it is this fact that big pharma wants to hide from the American public. Historically, many successful approaches have been developed for curing cancer. Some involve the use of herbs, minerals, oils, aromatic essential oils, dietary modifications, enemas, and the use of various types of equipment that destroy cancer cells while stimulating a natural immune response to cancer.
Many people have been permanently cured of their cancers from these alternative approaches. A cure means that the cancer never comes back. People lived for 20 or 30 years after treatment without a recurrence of cancer. This is in contrast with the modern medical definition of “cure,” which is measured in a five year period. The five year period is a convenient number of years, because the cancers that will be created by exposure to radiation and chemotherapy begin to appear after 5 years. In this way, these secondary cancers can be called a new disease and not a recurrence of cancer.
In many situations, chemotherapy actually kills the patient before the cancer does. [1] However, alternative treatments do not carry such disabling and health destroying consequences.
Fear is the driving force that supports the cancer treatment monopoly. Pharmaceutical companies use fear to keep people coming back for more and more poisonous treatments, because almost all conventional doctors tell their patients that their only chance for survival lies in surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. It is important to realize that the pharmaceutical cartel wants us to be afraid of cancer. When our fear is great enough, we will surrender our bodies and our lives to the modern healthcare system and say, “I don’t care what you do to me, just kill this cancer!”
When we realize that fear is controlling us, we can turn away from the grip of conventional cancer treatment and make other choices. Some people turn to alternative cancer treatments after it has become clear that conventional treatments are not working. Other people just skip conventional treatments altogether and go directly to safer alternatives.
The remainder of this article is divided into three sections. The first describes some of the alternative cures for cancer that have been successfully used by many thousands of people. The second section describes some of the steps that you can take to prevent cancer from developing or reoccurring. The third section describes how to avoid exposing yourself to things that will increase your risk for developing cancer.
Please Note! If you use an Internet search engine to research any of these alternative cancer treatments, you will find many websites that describe why these treatments are bogus and may actually kill you. Please don’t be discouraged by this negative propaganda. It is the pharmaceutical industry and the American Medical Association that is behind the creation of almost all of these websites.
In my opinion, when you find a certain therapy being criticized as being unproven quackery, then that is a pretty good sign that the alternative therapy is effective and safe. Big pharma would not waste their time preparing reports designed to warn people against using an alternative therapy unless that therapy is effective and has the potential for being a threat to their monopoly.
Alternative Cancer Treatments
I need to say from the very beginning that there are many different ways to approach curing cancer. Some of the treatments involve principles that seem to contradict one another. My goal is to present information that will help you consider alternative treatments, and I will not try to resolve differences in treatment theory. In recent years, I have found the research that supports the validity of the ketogenic diet (which will be discussed first) to be very impressive. It has proven to be a powerful treatment, however, other treatments have been successfully used for curing cancer. My bias is with the ketogenic diet, but I will not deny that many people have also been cured of cancer by using the other methods that will be described even when they did not use the ketogenic diet.
This article is an introduction to the topic of alternative cancer treatments. If you have cancer or are trying to help someone who has cancer, then you should do thorough research before deciding which alternative therapy is best for you or others. You will need to spend time reading and studying if you are working on your own. If you are able to find other people who have already walked down the alternative cancer cure road, then you will be able to benefit from their experience and knowledge.
The Ketogenic Diet in Cancer Treatment
The ketogenic diet was developed originally as a treatment for children with epilepsy. Over the years, it has proven useful for many other conditions. The standard American diet, which is recommended by the US Government and almost all conventional physicians, consists of high levels of carbohydrates and extremely low levels of fat. This diet is now considered to be one of the major causes of the epidemic of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and cancer which is afflicting the majority of Americans today.
The ketogenic diet is a high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet. When it is used as a cancer treatment, it is called a restricted ketogenic diet. The restriction means that the number of calories is limited and the amount of carbohydrate is extremely low. This diet brings about important changes in the ways cells in the body are nourished.
Healthy cells can use glucose or ketone bodies as their primary energy source. The primary types of ketones that are used as an energy source are acetoacetic acid, and beta-hydroxybutyric acid.
Cancer cells are unable to use ketones for their energy source. They rely on glucose and glutamine for metabolism. Thus, if they do not have access to glucose, they rapidly begin to die. When a person uses the ketogenic diet, they create a condition where there is a reduced level of glucose in the blood and there are elevated levels of ketone bodies. The result is that the cancer cells are denied their primary energy source (starved) while all the healthy cells in the body are nourished by ketones.
Many physicians do not understand that it is possible to have moderately elevated ketone levels and for the body to function normally. There is a difference between nutritional ketosis and pathological ketoacidosis. Nutritional ketosis occurs during times of fasting or during very low carbohydrate consumption.
In nutritional ketosis, the concentrations of ketone bodies will be in a range of 0.5 to 5.0 mM. This level of ketosis is not dangerous. It is the human body’s normal reaction to reduced carbohydrate availability. This is the condition that many people experience on an annual basis in parts of the world where food availability is limited during certain times of the year. It is also the condition that occurs with people who use periodic abstinence from food (fasting) as part of their religious practices.
On the other hand, pathological ketoacidosis is a consequence of other disease conditions such as poorly managed type one diabetes. In this case, the level of ketones will be in the range of 15 to 25 mM. These extremely high levels of ketones can be a serious health problem. The ketogenic diet does not produce this level of ketones. For a thorough discussion of the scientific literature related to the use of the ketogenic diet in cancer treatment I recommend the treatise on the subject by Dr. Thomas N. Seyfried, Cancer as a Metabolic Disease. [2]
With a high fat ketogenic diet, the body converts the fat into a non-glucose energy source. If a restricted ketogenic diet is used, then excess body fat will also be converted into an energy source and consumed. Our bodies have an amazing ability to produce all the energy that we need from the high fat, medium protein, low carbohydrate diet. The prolonged use of this diet will normalize weight, protect muscle tissue, and starve cancer.
The ketogenic diet requires a major lifestyle adjustment and the willingness to live through carbohydrate withdrawal. Most Americans are physically and emotionally addicted to sugar and to other carbohydrates that are converted into sugar. Thus, when a person begins using this diet, there will usually be a period of withdrawal, which is similar in experience to drug withdrawal. The symptoms pass rapidly after a few days, and a heightened sense of peace and mental clarity will soon be experienced as the body moves into nutritional ketosis.
These are some of the articles that Health Impact News has published on the use of the ketogenic diet for cancer treatment:
Pancreatic Enzyme Therapy
Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez has developed Individualized Nutritional Protocols for the treatment of cancer. He relies on various dietary formulas along with high doses of pancreatic enzymes. He does not believe there is a one size fits all diet for cancer. He has found that there are differences between types of cancer and some respond better to certain types of diets. For this reason, he requires a specific medical diagnosis prior to entering into his treatment program.
It is clear that Dr. Gonzalez is successful, because of how his research was sabotaged by the medical establishment.
Peskin Protocol
“Over 80 years ago, Nobel Prize-winner Otto Warburg, M.D., Ph.D., proved that a 35% reduction in oxygen caused any cell to either die or turn cancerous. American experiments from 1953 to 1955 confirmed the result.” [3] This principle is at the center of the work that Dr. Seyfried is doing with the ketogenic diet as it is used for cancer treatment as discussed in the previous section.
Dr. Brian Peskin also starts with the research of Dr. Otto Warburg on cellular respiration. Dr. Peskin uses the principles of the ketogenic diet in his protocol for cancer treatment. His therapy is a high fat low carbohydrate diet that includes three other aspects. He has found that the standard American diet is highly deficient in certain “parent oils,” which are needed in small amounts to build healthy cells and to provide for proper cell respiration. The absence of healthy oils damages cellular respiration and contributes to cancer formation. He has developed a blend of oils, which provide what the body needs to provide for proper cellular respiration. Also, most Americans are deficient in certain minerals. He uses supplements to provide for these deficiencies. Finally he uses a combination of herbs that are similar to Essiac Tea (described later) to assist with cleansing and detoxification of the body. He presents thoroughly researched evidence that fish oil may not be the best source of omega 3 oils. This makes his research somewhat controversial for some people. His book, The Hidden Story of Cancer, provides extensive scientific documentation of all his claims. Don’t neglect to read the appendices.
Gerson Diet
The Gerson diet is a cleansing diet. It is based on the premise that a person who has cancer has very high levels of toxins in the body and these need to be removed in order for the cancer to be healed. It uses certain combinations of fruit and vegetable juices, and frequent enemas. People using the Gerson diet will consume specially formulated vegetarian meals, large amounts of fruit and vegetable juice, and 4 or more coffee enemas per day. It originally included daily consumption of raw liver juice, which has been recently removed from the diet. Some alternative healthcare providers believe that the original success of this therapy was linked to the inclusion of raw liver, and it should be included to obtain the full benefit of the therapy.
It was developed by Dr. Max Gerson in the 1920s and 1930s and is now available from the Gerson Institute located in Mexico. The Gerson diet can be done at home when a person has a committed care provider to assist with the therapy. Some people go to Mexico and then continue the therapy at home after they begin to recover.
Laetrile and Amygdalin (B17)
This treatment involves a naturally occurring substance that is found in certain nuts and seeds. Amygdalin is found in apricot kernels, cherry pits, some apple seeds, and a special type of almond seed called “bitter almond.” (Regular almonds do not contain amygdalin.) The bitter almond was the best source for amygdalin, but the USDA ordered all bitter almond trees to be destroyed, supposedly because of a concern about cyanide poisoning. (Amygdalin contains cyanide.)
Amygdalin is a glycoside. It consists of a molecule that combined glucose with cyanide. As discussed earlier, cancer cells must have glucose to survive. Thus, when the molecule of amygdalin enters a cancer cell, the molecule breaks apart and releases the cyanide. The cyanide then kills the cancer cell. The cyanide is not released in a healthy normally functioning cell, because a cancer cell contains a special enzyme, which must be present to release the cyanide. Thus amygdalin is harmless to a normal cell.
Laetrile, also called vitamin B17, is a synthesized version of the naturally occurring amygdalin. There were a number of doctors in the US who successfully treated cancer with Laetrile, but they were required to discontinue the practice, because they were using cancer treatments that were not approved by the US FDA. Some of these doctors moved to Mexico so that they could continue treating patients.
Antineoplaston therapy
Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski, a physician in Houston Texas, developed his antineoplaston therapy in the 1970s. He used it to cure many types of cancer until he became too successful. His treatment has a high rate of success with no side effects. It is now used to cure one of the most difficult forms of brain cancer.
Dr. Burzynski has been involved in a battle with the US FDA for several decades in the attempt to get this treatment approved for cancer treatment. The FDA first tried to remove his medical license. When that failed they have been working hard to destroy his clinic by cutting off patients from the treatment that he offers.
The pharmaceutical cartel is so threatened by this treatment that the US government filed twelve patents on the use of antineoplaston even though Dr. Burzynski already had filed his own patents many years earlier. Dr. Burzynski is still trying to get his treatments approved by the FDA, but it is currently not approved. A film has been made documenting his remarkable discoveries in cancer treatment, and his battle against the Texas Medical Board and the US FDA (see trailers below).
For more information on Dr. Burzynski see:
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and the Ketogenic Diet
Researchers found that the ketogenic diet significantly decreased blood glucose, slowed tumor growth, and increased mean survival time by 56.7% in mice with systemic metastatic cancer. While hyperbolic oxygen therapy by itself did not influence cancer progression, when it was combined with the ketogenic diet, it produced a significant decrease in blood glucose, tumor growth rate, and a 77.9% increase in mean survival time compared to controls.
Researchers concluded that this combination of therapies had significant anti-cancer effects and should be further investigated as a potential non-toxic treatment or supplemental treatment for patients with systemic metastatic disease. [4]
Unfortunately, the FDA is trying to restrict the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (a treatment with virtually no side effects) in cancer treatment.
Essiac Therapy
Essiac Tea became popular in Canada and the United States when the herbal tea formula was used by a Canadian nurse to cure many forms of cancer. The formula was given to nurse Rene Caisse by a Native American medicine man. There are various formulas that are now on the market with various names. Most contain the original four ingredients, while others have made additions to the formula.
This is the link to the official Essiac website. There is quite a bit of information about Essiac on the internet, which explains how to use the formula for treating cancer.
Iscador (Mistletoe) Therapy
The following information is from the Stram Center for Integrative Medicine, which uses mistletoe therapy. I do not know anything about this particular clinic and I am not giving it an endorsement. It simply has a good bit of information about Mistletoe.
Mistletoe therapy is the most frequently used complementary treatment in cancer patients in Germany and Switzerland. Iscador was first used for cancer therapy in 1922 by Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman based on anthroposophy. (Anthroposophical medicine views the occurrence of cancer, or any illness, as a disease that involves the whole human being, physically, mentally and emotionally.)
Iscador is prepared by fermenting an aqueous extract of the whole mistletoe plant with Lactobacillus plantarum. Mistletoe is one of the most widely studied complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies for cancer. Mistletoe extracts have been evaluated in numerous clinical studies and improvements in survival, quality of life, and/or stimulation of the immune system have been frequently reported.
Most physicians who identify themselves with anthroposophical medicine use Mistletoe as part of the cancer therapies that they offer. Please use the following link to read the full article about Mistletoe therapy.
Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) Therapy
Dr. Tullio Simoncini is an Italian physician who has found that plain old baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) has a powerful ability to eradicate cancer from the digestive tract and other parts of the body. His research shows that tumors are mostly fungal in nature, and the baking soda is particularly effective for removing cancer. His therapy injects the baking soda directly into the cancer cells. In spite of his very impressive body of clinical research and success rates for over 20 years, he has been largely ostracized in Italy.
Hoxsey Therapy
Hoxsey Therapy is a mixture of herbs which cures cancer. It began to be sold in 1920s by Mr. Harry Hoxsey. Mr. Hoxsey said that the treatment came from his great-grandfather, who observed a horse with a tumor on its leg cure itself by grazing upon certain wild plants. John Hoxsey gathered these herbs and mixed them with other folk remedies that were used for cancer. The therapy aims to restore physiological normalcy to a disturbed metabolism throughout the body, and to help detoxify the consequences of cancer. At one point, Mr. Harry Hoxsey had 17 clinics located in the United States. He was shut down by the US FDA. A clinic now exists in Mexico.
Vitamin D Therapy
Most people who live in northern latitudes are seriously deficient in Vitamin D. The following links discuss how vitamin D can be used to prevent cancer and how it can be used as an important part of cancer treatment.
Vitamin C Therapy
Sometimes very simple types of treatment can be very powerful. The problem with vitamin D and vitamin C therapy is that drug companies can never expect to make a huge profit on these types of treatments. Nevertheless, vitamin therapy can be an important part of cancer treatment.
Scientists at the University of Kansas Medical Center recently determined that high doses of vitamin C, administered intravenously with traditional chemotherapy, helped kill cancer cells while reducing the toxic effects of chemotherapy for some cancer patients. See:
Dental Revision
There are alternative cancer treatment physicians in Europe who will not treat patients with cancer until they have a dental revision. This means patients must have all the mercury/silver dental fillings replaced with nontoxic materials, and all other metal structures must be removed from their mouths. All root canal teeth must be removed, because they are an ongoing source of toxic waste products from residual bacterial infection. The toxins from root canal teeth stress the entire body. In many situations, mercury, root canals, and metal in the mouth will prevent alternative cancer treatments from being effective. These foreign substances also support the existence of cancer, because of their ability to interfere with the subtle energy systems of the body.
Medical Cannabis
Cannabis is a controversial subject, and really needs an article all itself. Few people understand all the political and therapeutic issues surrounding cannabis. Many people distinguish between “medical cannabis” and “marijuana.” Medical cannabis involves research into particular varieties of the cannabis plant and its therapeutic value. Many varieties are lower in THC, the component that makes people “high”, while recreational varieties of marijuana have been cultivated to maximize the amount of THC for recreational purposes. For more information see:
The medical use of cannabis to cure cancer was made famous by the popular YouTube video
Run From the Cure by Rick Simpson. For a review on the impressive body of research showing that cannabis cures cancer, see:
Colloidal Silver
Colloidal Silver has a long history of use as a natural antibiotic, but has been opposed by the FDA. Research shows it has value in fighting cancer as well.
Steps to Take to Prevent Cancer or its Recurrence
Chemotherapy Recovery
It is best to avoid the damage that comes from conventional cancer treatment, but many people have already been exposed to the carcinogenic effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The following links describe how to restore the damage and rebuild the immune system.
Cholesterol
We have been conditioned to believe that cholesterol is “bad” and something to be avoided. And yet, we would cease to live if we eliminated all cholesterol from our body. We have especially been conditioned to believe that there is “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol (LDL cholesterol).
However, there is research now showing that LDL cholesterol levels too low may lead to an increased risk of cancer. The pharmaceutical industry has a $100 billion market in cholesterol lowering drugs to artificially lower your cholesterol. See:
Magnesium
There has been considerable research done in recent years linking modern food with low levels of magnesium in our diet, suspected of causing many health problems. Dr. Carolyn Dean has been a pioneer in this research (see:
Magnesium—The Missing Link to Better Health.)
There is evidence that low levels of magnesium also are linked to cancer:
Foods for Preventing Cancer
There are many foods that can be used as part of a cancer treatment program. Here are some links that you may find of interest. I think it is very important to remember that cancer is a systemic disease, which will require a systemic approach to cure. I had a friend who had terminal cancer, and he heard that grapefruit was good for treating cancer, so he told his wife to go and by two of them for him. Two grapefruits or a head of broccoli will not cure stage four cancer. Cancer is a serious disease and it requires a serious commitment to bringing about the cure. Such a commitment will require a total lifestyle transformation as you correct the conditions that led to the formation of the cancer.
Things to Avoid to Reduce Cancer Risks
We live in a world of cancer causing products. They are in conventional food, the water, the air, in our clothing, our automobiles, our homes, the office equipment we use, and in the phones that we use for communication. There is great wisdom in taking reasonable precaution against the factors that can contribute to cancer formation. Sometimes an individual factor may not be a serious risk, but when many factors are combined, they could put a high level of stress on your body and open the door for cancer growth. There are many other factors that could contribute to cancer growth, but the items listed here will be a good starting point.
Conclusion: Don’t Become Another Cancer Statistic
In part one of this article, I shared some of my experiences as I accompanied my wife and a friend through terminal colon cancer. In this article I want to share one additional experience, which I believe may help those who are contemplating the use of alternative cancer therapies.
My wife and I were waiting in one of the examination rooms that were used by the oncology department. It was in a very old part of the university medical complex and the walls between the examination rooms were not soundproof. We could hear a muffled conversation from the next room. Then there was a sudden increase in volume as the patient began to yell at the doctor. It has now been over eighteen years since I heard this man’s statement, and I doubt that I will ever forget it.
In tremendous anguish and fear he yelled the following comment to his doctor. “You don’t understand! I am dying! You have got to do something!”
My wife and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything. She was in the same place as this man. She knew that she was dying. As it turned out, she would be dead within two months.
My point in sharing this is that we cannot expect doctors that are employed by the standard American cancer treatment system to save us from cancer when we have reached the point of death. I believe most physicians would like to save their patients, but they do not have the tools to make this possible.
If you get cancer and reach the point where you are ready to yell at your doctor because you are dying and you expect him to save you, then you will be disappointed. The truth is that when it comes to curing cancer, you cannot be a passive spectator. You need to take action to reform your life. A cure for cancer is possible. Even advanced metastatic cancer can be cured, however, you must make a serious decision to take every step possible to bring about the cure. Rarely will that cure be found in radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or in surgery. It will be found in the kinds of treatments that I have reviewed in this article.
My wife never left the position of being a passive participant in the healthcare system. She refused chemotherapy and its unwanted side effects, but she was unwilling to aggressively seek out alternative treatment. She did accept some alternative therapies that I could administer at home. But she would not use programs that would require intensive intervention. In part, she expected to be encouraged by her doctors to seek alternative treatment, and of course, such encouragement never came.
My hope is that you will never find yourself in a doctor’s office and yelling at him, “I am dying! You have got to do something!” Please use the alternatives that are available to you. Please tell others about the alternatives. Even if they don’t listen, you offered them something that could save them from becoming just another cancer statistic.
References
[2] Cancer as a Metabolic Disease, Thomas N. Seyfried, 2012, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken NJ.
[3] The Hidden Story of Cancer, Brian Peskin, Ph.D., Pinnacle Press, Houston TX, 2011, page xvii.
[4] Poff AM1, Ari C, Seyfried TN, D’Agostino DP.; “The ketogenic diet and hyperbaric oxygen therapy prolong survival in mice with systemic metastatic Cancer,” PLoS One. 2013 Jun 5, PMID: 23755243.
