Browsing through Pinterest, it is easy to find pins suggesting miraculous natural treatments for cancer. For example, drinking alkaline water kills cancer cells (1,2). Clicking on the pin does not take you to evidence backing this claim, instead it directly opens a website selling water alkaline ionizers (3). Another pin claims pharmaceutical companies keep homemade remedies secret to keep their profits high (4). The truth is, most cancer researches are backed by government funds (e.g. NIH) and not pharmaceutical companies.
There are multiple studies on herbal extracts and those products are on their way to reach the market. I personally published an article on a shrub extract and showed that it slowed bladder cancer cell growth in the lab. It is crucial to look for the words “in the lab” when reading about a medical discovery. There is no guarantee that a product showing good results in the lab will have similar results on the human body. This has been proven by thousands of medical discoveries that were miraculous in the lab but failed in the human body.
Boosting a product sale by making up false medical claims is unethical, and also illegal. Avoid blogs like (6), were a primary lab discovery is used to boost site traffic or sell their product.
- https://pin.it/426qy7zc6ijixm
- https://pin.it/tamvqorpgyzf4p
- http://kangenalkalineionizers.com/
- http://hussis.com/104-year-old-japanese-retired-chief-of-a-pharmacy-said-the-world-needs-to-know-that-alkaline-water-kills-cancer-here-is-how-to-prepare-it/
- Zheng Y, Ishiguro H, Ide H, Inoue S, Kashiwagi E, Kawahara T, Jalalizadeh M, Reis LO, Miyamoto H. Compound A Inhibits Bladder Cancer Growth Predominantly via Glucocorticoid Receptor Transrepression. Mol Endocrinol. 2015 Oct;29(10):1486-97. doi: 10.1210/me.2015-1128. Epub 2015 Aug 31.
- https://hapinews.xyz/104-year-old-japanese-oncologist-accidental-discovery-the-juice-that-kills-cancer-in-48-hours/
It is a common misconception that herbal remedies cannot be dangerous. This is false simply because some of the most dangerous medicines are derived from plant (e.g. digoxin, atropine). A website claims that a natural pain medication can be extracted from wild lettuce from your backyard. Interestingly the website bashes the addictive nature of pain pills at the same time it claims wild lettuce has opium like properties (1). Keep in mind that opium is an extremely addictive and dangerous substance; morphine and heroin are both opium derivatives and their danger is no secret.