I am currently writing an opinion paper on the regulations of Nutraceuticals that would include herbal remedies and thought that this publication may be of interest to you. The journal article is from 2001 but it might get you on the right path.

Understanding the perceived need for complementary and alternative nutraceuticals: lifestyle issues. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11899764)

Dear Shervin, thank you for your answer. I tried to read that 2001 journal, but cannot find the pdf version. Can you please send me the paper? Thanks.

Other paper which you may also find interesting is: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11694644. Best wishes

Dear now i am doing research on natural product for cancer therapy and I found a very good result and outcome both in vitro and in vivo. However, all natural plant metabolite should be checked first for their toxicity then can be used for human trial. TQ

Thank you, Devang, Rahman, Riad, and Rohan, for your answers. Best wishes

Dear Victor,

Herbal remedies have been there for thousands of years and many of the currently used drugs are derived from plants, e.g. Quinine from (Cinchona ledgeriana) for treatment of Malaria and paclitaxel from (Yew trees) for treatment of cancer. However, safety comes first in all modes of treatment and every single natural product (even those consumed by people in their daily food) should be tested for its safety. Interestingly, drug-drug interaction and drug-food interaction are serious problems that may arise on taking herbal products with standard medication or food. Hence, approval of regulatory bodies is required for any product to be used as a treatment.

In conclusion, herbal products can be beneficial in treatment of cancer but can be harmful and lethal as well. Therefore, no consumption is advised without going through proper in vitro, in vivo and clinical trial testing that gives the certificate of approval to the drug.

Thank you, Rafid, for your answer. Yes i know that some herbal medicine do not pass the tests of standard medicines. Best wishes

Herbal products may be beneficial for cancer treatment. Due to it's low side effects it is more safer than other types of treatment. But dose maintenance is essential.

@Mohammad. Thank you for your answer, but perhaps you can be more specific on which herbal is beneficial for which type of cancer. Best wishes

Our international research collaboration CAM-Cancer (www.cam-cancer.org) is addressing the question of efficacy and safety of complementary and alternative medicine for cancer. We have an overview of around 70 treatments including herbal medicines on our website which is based on the latest research evidence and compiled using very rigorous methods.

Dear Barbara, thank you so much for the url. I will visit it soon. Best wishes

@Barbara. Your site is very informative. If you wish, i can inform you some indonesian herbs medicine which are traditionally used to treat cancer. Perhaps you are willing to study them.

@Barbara. Here is one example: phaleria macrocarpa ( mahkota dewa). See Pharmacogn Rev. 2013, at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3731883/. I see this one is not included yet in your database of herbs. Best wishes

Cancer spread after surgery to the same organ and also in other organs due to spread of cancer antigens. Chemotherapy along with radiation therapy and combination of other is beneficial to control the disease. However, it kills normal non-cancerous cells also. But is known that herbal extract having anticancer properties in control doses are benefical to control the disease. Herbal extract also prevents and cure DNA mutations caused due to carcinogenes. Although more research work is required to be done that what is chemical composition of herbal extract that is beneficial. Potency could be increased by removing antagonistic chemicals from the extract or making formulation of chemicals having synergisitic effects.

@Arvind. Thank you for your answers. Yes chemotherapy has side effects. I have read somewhere that chemotherapy's success rate is only around 50%. The meaning is that there is chance that 50% of all patients taking chemotherapy may die. Therefore new ways to treat cancer is needed. I think Barbara Wider is doing research in the right direction. Best wishes

Some may be, but its the molecule or some of then that may be active, such as chemo as paclitaxel, which now is completely sintetyzed. They may not be effective at all, or worse: eitheir toxic or increase toxicity of conventional treatment , or interect for ex with chemo and decrease its efficacy... Regards

@Aldo. Thank you for your answer and best wishes.

Dear all contributors: Thank you so much for all your answers and comments, allow me therefore to share a summary of this discussion in pdf file. Hopefully this discussion will stimulate further research on the potential use of herbal remedies for cancer treatment. best wishes

Unfortunately there is no cure or treatment of cancer either in allopathic or in herbal system of medicine, even radiations as well. However in some cases of cancer both help to decrease pain.

One single ingredient (drug or so called ‘magic bullet’) may not be necessary effective to kill the cancer cells ONLY especially when it spreads to other places and become malignant. Thus, the alternative ways is by taking the herbs or herbal preparations that are claimed to have anticancer properties by our indigenous peoples or ancestors (being in Malaysia). Herbal remedies can be prepared from a plant or mixtures of plants, and also can be prepared in many ways by different peoples. The issues for preparing the herbal remedies for treating cancer is yet to be solved..especially in term of its anticancer active ingredients and also ‘other inactive ingredients’ but may help to protect the normal cells (this approach is called ‘shotgun approach’. More than extracts/ herbal preparations can be prepared from the same plants but not all can be equally effective.

Thank you, Nurhanan. Best wishes

I had a participant in my study who said that he took almond kernels. If he could get them he would have a check cystoscopy and he would be all clear. If he could not get the almond kernels he would go for his next check cystoscopy and there would be numerous tumours in his bladder to be removed. He knew that they would not cure him of his bladder cancer but he said that they controlled it.

Susan, thanks for your answer. Best wishes

Victor,

Your February 10 question is likely to inspire debates between "true believers" and skeptics in the face of little credible research proof (credible phase 3 trials) so speculations abound.

I believe that home remedies (alternative treatments, herbals, supplements) have not been proven effective at stopping cancer in credible phase 3 trials (and usually not even in phase 2 trials), so their odds of benefit are 0% to unknown%. If they were proven effective (credible phase 3 trials), they'd have been adopted by all oncologists worldwide and would be called medicine. I'm especially skeptical about things that have not made progress toward credible phase 3 trials despite having years or even several decades in which to do so.

There is some credible research progress on some things like curcumin (which had a setback when its leading champion in Texas was found to be faking data) for certain specific types of cancer, but I think most patients with other kinds of cancer will be disappointed. There are also fads of anecdotes that are dubious as to cause-and-effect and mechanism but might eventually lead to phase 1, 2, & 3 randomized controlled trials (e.g., CBD oil). I hope research on such things continues to the point of proven odds of benefit (and for which specific cancers with which specific attributes or markers) or disproving them, . . . although we rarely hear about failed experiments (due to publication bias against the non-newsworthy).

IMHO, it seems as if most promoters of home remedies and alternative "cures" you read on the Internet are more interested in selling their products, books, web site advertising, and self-image than in funding credible trials that can prove [in]effectiveness. I recommend always googling a treatment's name or key words along with the word "quack" or similar words to find out what skeptics say. After all, you shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bufTna0WArc

Yes, there is a small risk that some home remedies might be counterproductive in ways that are not yet known. For a time there was a suspicion that antioxidants could reduce the effectiveness of treatments that depend on reactive oxygen species (ROS) for potency, although more recent studies seem to say that that isn't the primary mechanism of action for many chemo's (although I think it is for some radiation). If you are considering such a thing for starters you'll want to research the specific treatment's mechanism of action. But you won't know what isn't known -- like research where fish oil seemed to help a lot with side effects of chemo, but then in a lab experiment seemed to help cancer cells survive:

- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21360698

- http://meetinglibrary.asco.org/content/79921-102

The latter is still being debated, but it does make you consider the possibility that things that reduce side effects by helping healthy cells might also support cancer cells, so it's best when research studies measure that, too. (A single surviving cancer cell is bad news, although if you're not going to get them all anyway then just surviving the side-effects of treatment might be the near-term priority.)

The real problem is that cancers can be very complex and adaptable, and in living people are not perfectly and exhaustively distinguishable vs. regular cells by treatments. That makes it hard to find effective treatments that really stop most cancers even for a while unless it can be completely cut out surgically or eliminated with targeted radiation or some kind of ablation. Fortunately we are entering a new era of research on targeted therapies of various kinds, so there is hope of better control for some patients in the future (which a small % of patients are already benefitting from for a period of months).

In any case, there can come a point where there is no medical treatment with even a small chance of benefit (or windows of time between them). At such times, assuming it isn't too costly in terms of $'s and scarce time and energy, and not harmful, taking a gamble on a home remedy that is making progress toward credible research can give a patient a psychological benefit if nothing else.

No doubt there is no permanent treatment for cancer, the herbal medicine is still far better than so called modern medicine.......

I personally believe Akhter's claim is an incorrect opinion. I don't think there is any credible clinical trial research evidence supporting that sweeping claim.

I speak from experience. I am alive 8 years so far because of modern targeted therapy for what began as stage 4 cancer (and still is). My first clinical trial Rx halted my cancer symptoms by the 2nd day of pills and controlled my cancer for 5 years with no significant side effects. A 2nd more potent one has slowed my cancer to a crawl for 2 years. (The old-school chemo infusions I tried in between usually does help patients like me very nicely, statistically speaking, but didn't do much for me, maybe a little more harm than good.) Yes, I tried a couple of experimental non-Rx things, but the periodic CT scans proved them ineffective. If I had relied on opinions like Akhter's I would have died several years ago, but truly modern medicine has extended my life to an almost-normal lifespan.

In contrast, to the best of my knowledge there is no known "herb" that would do anything useful to my cancer, though certainly there are some that could make me "feel" better (perception, not reality). At this point the only herbal approach I'm aware of that might be making some research progress, as far as I know, is one kind or another of cannibis extract ("Rick SImpson oil", CBD/THC oil, etc.), but my guess is that even that is probably only effective for a rare subset of patients if at all. I have not been following the subject closely the last few years so it would be nice if something useful showed up in clinical research trials, but I won't be holding my breath waiting.

Best hopes,

Craig

Kindly see the following PDF attachments.

Although herbs seem harmless, some can be potentially dangerous, especially to anyone taking medication for a heart problem. Taking herbal remedies is tempting. But informed consumers need to know that there are very few valid medical studies on herbal remedies, their safety, effectiveness or mechanisms of action.

For long time i did,t deal with herbal remedies for cancer, but after my visit to china. I find them add the herbel remedies to chemotherapy protocol with good results and observation.

Research indicates that Traditional Chinese Medicine offers significant treatment for most types of cancers including lung cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer and nasopharyngeal (throat and sinus) cancer .