Rethinking Cancer Treatment

Book Review: How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine, Riverhead, 415 pgs.

by Nicolas Kats, ND, Lac.

Cancer treatment in the US is going through a revolution. This new approach includes the integration of natural medicine at a growing number of hospitals.

In the last four generations, the treatment of cancer was dominated by modern medicine. Three therapies were offered - chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. All are highly invasive, and may have severe side effects. Yet overall cancer mortality is a dissatisfying 50%. The severity of treatment and the high mortality rate of cancer has fueled a lively public interest in various natural therapies, such as diet, herbs, supplements, detoxification, and so on. Because MDs typically have had no training in natural medicine, and because there were few scientific studies supporting or disproving natural medicine, such approaches were rejected.

This rejection has forced the public to obtain natural medicine separately. Hence the term 'alternative medicine'. The result was a hodgepodge of valid therapies and junk. All sort of therapies were tried and changed at whim. Many went to clinics in Mexico or the Bahamas to obtain treatments banned in the US. Most therapists did not understand modern medicine, and were unable to work in concert with medical treatments. In short there was little or no communication between MDs and natural heath professionals.

Despite these limitations the public continued at a prodigious rate to continue with the dual approach of medical treatment and some form of natural medicine. In response to public interest in natural medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, national health departments, cancer researchers, and supplement and herb companies funded and carried out numerous scientific studies to test the validity of various natural therapies in various settings. The result is a vast outpouring of literature showing that many natural therapies are of great value in treating many diseases including cancer.

This flood of scientific validation, coupled with the huge public interest, has largely driven the recent movement to integrate natural medicine in the treatment of cancer. A number of US hospitals now offer integrated cancer centers where natural and modern medicines work in collaboration. These centers now run in Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, Minneapolis, MN, Tulsa, OK, Zion, IL, Goshen, IN, Seattle, WA, and Hampton Roads, VA. The last five are run by Cancer Centers of America, a group dedicated to integrated cancer care.

Integration offers the hospitals enormous advantages. Natural medicine improves the efficiency of modern therapies, and drastically minimizes side effects. The process and outcome for patients are much more favorable, and I expect these hospitals to show better survival rates than their competitors. The atmosphere now is that those hospitals offering integrated care are increasingly seen as leaders, on the cutting edge of progress in health care. Integration is what many cancer patients want, and they will be drawn to hospitals offering this.

This is the context in which I discuss How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine. The four authors of the book, Drs M. Murray, T. Birdsall, J. Pizzorno and P. Reilly, as NDs (naturopathic physicians), are uniquely placed to contribute to the dialogue of integrated care. This is because the ND and MD have the same intensive training in the basic medical sciences. No other natural health profession systematically does this. The ND understands modern medicine. And the ND specializes in a number of natural therapies, including diet, supplements, herbal medicine, chiropractic, physiotherapy, etc, most largely proven.

This book contributes to the dialogue of integration. Without this dialogue, modern medicine will tend to remain isolated, unable to include natural medicine. A consequence is that the public will continue to seek natural therapies elsewhere. For example, take the devastating side effects of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy selectively inhibits or kills rapidly dividing cells, generally a characteristic of cancer. Certain normal tissues also have this characteristic - hair follicles, red and white blood cells, and the lining of the digestive tract. Chemotherapy fails to distinguish between these healthy tissues and cancer, and it attacks both. Side effects include hair loss, anemia (inability to oxygenate all tissues and remove carbon dioxide, general fatigue), depletion of white blood cells (ie immunodeficiency, resulting in vulnerability to opportunistic infections and requiring massive antibiotics, and impairment of the immune system's ability to recognize and kill cancer cells), and digestive dysfunction (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and impaired absorption of nutrients). These side effects can be severe or fatal. They impair or negate the therapeutic objective of chemotherapy, which is to inhibit or destroy cancer cells. Modern medicine has long struggled with this problem. Natural medicine is effective at greatly reducing and repairing these side effects. In this example, the authors consistently cite therapies proven by studies.

For radiation and surgery the dynamics are similar.

These three examples make clear the case for the integration of cancer treatment.

Another nice feature of the book is the material on supplements and herbs. Protein smoothies, so important for weight maintenance and for immune support, is covered. Proteolytic enzymes are discussed in the context of surgery, metastasis, angiogenesis and lymphedema. Aloe vera gel is suggested for radiation burns. The immunostimulant properties of mushrooms are covered, with honors given to maitake.

In the section on prevention, diet is central. Fiber, fruits and vegetables, whole vs refined carbohydrates, animal meats, raw vs processed polyunsaturated fatty acids, are discussed, always with reference to studies. This section is valuable both for healthy people interested in prevention and as part of the long term plan for people with cancer.

The book's title How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine creates an illusion. It suggests that the reader will learn "how to" treat cancer with natural medicine. This won't work. Cancer is complex. There are many kinds. There are various stages, from localized to metastasized, and various grades of cellular differentiation. The cancer, the treatments, and the person's overall health, constantly change. There may be little time to act. Self-treatment, guided by this or other books, is inappropriate. Most cancer patients require the reassurance of competent professional guidance. This book is not a "how to" manual. It is an educational tool that demonstrates the value of complementary medicine.

The oncologist that picks up this book to learn "how to" use natural therapies will not get far. As medical doctor he does not have the training to understand natural medicine. He will be an alien in a strange land, and he will be disappointed. For him the value of this book is the demonstration that these therapies are scientifically proven, and that they effectively enhance his oncology practice.

A limitation of the book is its focus on cancer. The successful treatment of cancer requires also treating the whole person. In other words there are two ways to approach cancer - the cancer itself, divorced from the person - and the person apart from the cancer. For example, how to treat a person with cancer and a history of 20 years of digestive deficiency? Treating the cancer is self-evident, but what about the digestive deficiency? When digestion is poor the absorption of life-giving nutrients is compromised. If this problem continues, the prospects are poor. Resolving this problem will help the person and improve his prospects. NDs, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, and herbalists excel at looking at the whole person. This is a tremendous strength. MDs, along with the media and the public, are focused on cancer and exclude the person.

Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery may be characterized by one word; reductive. When repair and regeneration are needed, modern medicine is very weak. Natural medicine is the opposite. It is constructive. It excels in repair, regeneration, nourishment of specific tissues and organs. It has very few therapies that are used in a reductive way. These two ways of medicine - one reductive, the other constructive - form a striking polarity of opposite paradigms. Until recently they were separate.

Given the limitations of modern medicine it is essential to incorporate natural medicine. The integration of natural health professionals at hospital cancer clinics is enormously appropriate and highly welcome. How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine is a valuable contribution to this revolution.