Cancer patients who turn to herbal treatments have lower chance of survival, a medical expert warned.
In a report by Business Mirror, Meridith Garcia, a medical expert, said a US-based study showed that patients who use nonscience-based “alternative medicines” to treat their cancer have a 2.5 percent higher chance of death than those treated by conventional treatment.
Instead of undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapies right away, patients would rely first on herbal treatments.
“Sometimes they have this false reassurance…that they are getting better only to find out later that the cancer has spread and that is when they come to a medical oncologist and then it is very difficult to treat already,” Garcia said during a forum conducted by the Hope From Within Foundation in Manila.
Garcia said health supplements do not go through the same stringent requirements from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) as registered drugs do.
“These usually bear the label ‘no therapeutic claims.’ Meaning it was only approved as food item that cannot deter any disease,” Garcia was quoted in the report.
Citing a study by the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), Garcia said many cancer patients tend to use herbal supplements according to
Garcia, together with other ambassadors like newspaper columnist, Fr. Jerry Orbos and veteran actor Tirso Cruz III of the Voice of Within Foundation are advocating for science-based cancer treatment.
