Today my mother forwarded me one of the most outrageous emails that I have ever seen. I don’t know who wrote it, but whoever it was is a liar and a fool. The email spread a myriad of misinformation about cancer and its treatments. I found its claims quite laughable; I also know a thing or two about medicine. This sort of chain email is particularly dangerous for a vulnerable lay person. When someone is diagnosed with cancer they are terrified (rightly so). They have heard about the hideous side-effects of most treatments, and if someone offers them a more pleasant alternative, they want to believe it. If they believe some unscientific voodoo and choose to ignore the advice of an oncologist, they can expect that their illness will be fatal. If they proceed with the witch doctor’s advice until the symptoms of the cancer have become unbearable, there may be little that an oncologist can do to help them.
The lesson here is simple: don’t listen to unqualified lunatics. If you have cancer, listen to your oncologist. If you doubt the diagnosis or treatment plan of your oncologist, get a second opinion from another oncologist. This is the only rational way to proceed, and is more or less the only way to prevent your cancer from killing you.
Here is the email I received:
Dear All,
Excellent article on cancer. Pls. pass it on.
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY AND ELIMINATE
CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE
WAY .Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up
in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors
tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after
treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because
they have not reached the detectable size.2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person’s lifetime.
3. When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed
and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours.4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional
deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental,
food and lifestyle factors.5… To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and
including supplements will strengthen the immune system.6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also
destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow,
gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys,
heart, lungs etc.7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy
cells, tissues and organs.8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumour
size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not
result in more tumour destruction.9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the
immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence
the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become
resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to
spread to other sites.11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not
feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.WHAT CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food
supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful
etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would
be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a
chemical added to make it white in colour.. Better alternative is Bragg’s aminos
or sea salt.b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal
tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and
substituting with unsweetened Soya milk, cancer cells are being starved..c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and
it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also
contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
harmful, especially to people with cancer.d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and
a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline
environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable
juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach
down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to no urish and enhance growth of
healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try
and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat
some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a
better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water-best to drink
purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes.
Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied
and leads to more toxic buildup.13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or
eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of
cancer cells and allows the body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Florescence, Essiac,
anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the
body’s own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin
E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body’s normal
method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive
spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger,
unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic
environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax
and enjoy life.16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily,
and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular
level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.(PLEASE FORWARD IT TO PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT)
This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life.
Regards,
(Name Redacted)
Here is my response. I hope that my mother sends it to everyone on the forward list, and that those people send it to everyone who sent it to them. The above nonsense can be deadly if a vulnerable person reads it and takes it seriously.
NO, NO, NO
Please forward THIS to everyone you care about.
There is no one-size-fits-all explanation for cancer. This is an oversimplification and as such represents very dangerous misinformation.
Cancer cells are cells that have mutated DNA which has interfered with the cell’s ability to regulate its multiplication. There are 101 ways for this to happen. Scientists have identified genes (i.e. BRCA1, BRCA2, Familial nonpolyposus Colon Cancer, familial adenomatus polyposis colon cancer), viruses (i.e. certain strains of HPV) and toxins that play a role in cancer development. There is no evidence that there are special “cancer foods” or that some crazy nutritional regimen will prevent tumors.
The author is partially correct insofar as they claim that cancer cells develop multiple times during a person’s life. What actually occurs is neoplasia,d that is, semi-uncontrolled and limited cell growth. One example of neoplasia is a wart, another is a colon polyp. Geneticists explain many cancers by what they call the “two-hit hypothesis,” which holds, in essence, that there must be two genetic mutations in a cell in order for it to lead to uncontrolled cellular proliferation. Quite frankly, cancer is a very complicated subject with a myriad of causes, understood and misunderstood, and the only a qualified oncologist should give anyone advice about what to do with regards to a particular cancer.
I will address specific bits of misinformation contained within the email:
1) A strong immune system is by no means a gurantee against the formation or proliferation of cancer. It is indeed true that a pathologically weakened immune system often precipitates certain forms of cancer. This illustrates the role of a healthy immune system in controlling certain forms of neoplasia; it does not mean that cancer and immunology are inextricably linked–the issue is far more complicated than that.
2) Cancer does not automically indicate that a person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. The vast majority of cancer cases occur in otherwise healthy individuals with no signs of nutritional deficiencies. Those who claim that everyone is chronically nutritionally deprived are generally confidence men with a product or book to sell. They are interested in nothing more than the health of their bank accounts.
3) Eat a balanced, healthy diet and you will get all of your daily vitamin requirements. If you don’t eat right, take a multivitamin. Anythign else is necessary only in certain circumstances and shouldn’t be undertaken without the advice of a physician.
4) Chemotherapy and radiation are but two medical treatments for cancer. There are multiple types of anti-neoplastic drugs, and multiple methods of employing radition for the destruction of tumors. Every drug has its side-effects and risks, and those must be weighed against their benefits. It is irresponsible to try to scare people with oversimplifications about an entire class of drugs and/or medical treatments. There is no substitute for the advice of a qualified oncologist, and anyone else offering advice is very dangerous.
5) An effective way to control cancer cell proliferation is NOT to starve yourself, or to follow any voodoo diet. That is simply not the way the body works. Neoplastic cells will break down healthy tissue (fat, muscle etc) in order to multiply. You will not starve cancer cells by starving yourself.
6) Whoever wrote this nonsense has no idea what sugar is. They advise avoiding sugar, and then advise substituting it with molasses. Both contain sucrose. This sucrose is further metabolized to glucose. Almost everything in your diet is broken down into glucose, and when you don’t consume enough glucose your body produces it by a process known as gluconeogenesis. This whole bit about sugar is utter rubbish on even the most basic scientific level.
7) Cancer cells do not feed on mucous. This is absurd.
8) The pH of the body is roughly constant. Unless you consume an inordiant amount of meat and thus induces ketoacidosis, or starve yourself and cause the body to break down muscles, your body will not have an acid environment. Anyone who tells you anythign about altering your body’s pH outside the context of gastric and/or intestinal issues is either grosly misinformed or willfully lying to you.
9) You cannot alter the pH of your body by your diet except in extreme and unhealthy situations. If your pH is altered by your diet, you will become very ill and probably receive a trip to the emergency room via ambulence. Moreover, by pH of the body, what does the author mean? The pH of the blood? The pH of the lymphatics, or the spinal fluid? The body does not have one uniform pH.
10) The pH of distilled water is 7.0, i.e. Neutral
11) Undigested meat does not stay in the intestine. The intestine moves its contents along in a very efficient fashion. It is true that meat can get compacted in the intestine if there is a lack of fiber in your food. This has nothing to do with things that stay in your colon and rot.
12) There is no such thing as a “live enzyme”. Enzymes are not living things. The vast majority of ingested enzymes are destroyed by the hydrochloric acid in your stomach. Whoever wrote that must have meant probiotics, i.e. exogenous bacteria which is sometimes necessary after a course of antibiotics. This is normal gut flora, and it is not necessary to replace it on a regular basis if you are on a balanced diet and not receiving medication that kills your gut flora.
13) Cancer cells do not have “tough membranes”. Protein has very little do with membranes. Cell membranes are made up of two layers of lipids. Proteins are incorporated into those lipid bilayers. The amount of protein in your diet will not lead to more integral membrane proteins. They are not controlled by the availability of proteins but by the expression of genes.
I’ve grown tired of refuting every claim in this email, but suffice it to say that almost every word of it is scientifically invalid. I worry that someone who actually has cancer will take the advice of this email and ignore the advice of their oncologist. If they forgo treatment, they will most likely die. That email has the potential to kill people.
John’s Hopkins University is not the origin of this email. Whoever wrote this email willfully lied in claiming that it comes from John’s Hopkins University. No legitimate medical professional would peddle such nonsense.
Do not take the advice of that email. It is dangerous and could result in your death. Do not forward that misinformation to others; it could kill them. If you have cancer, visit an oncologist and follow their advice. Myths and misinformation cannot save you; if you follow the advice of the witch doctors who peddle in them, you will most likely suffer an untimely death.
I would very much like to speak with the irresponsible lunatic who wrote the original email. If you are reading this, and know who wrote that, please give me their phone number and/or email address. I would like to set my alarm clock to 3:00AM and call them to explain how their misinformation and lies could kill people.
