Natural Approaches to Cancer Care – Part 3 - by Stan Giles

(Some other aspects of treating patients with cancer)

Other anti-cancer supplements

Essiac Tea  

Essiac is a combination of four herbs – Sheep Sorrel, Burdock Root, Slippery Elm Bark, and Rhubarb Root. These herbs have all been shown to have anti-cancer activity.  Essiac is also anti-parasitic.  The use of Essiac in cancer treatment followed the discovery in the 1920s by a Canadian nurse Rene Caisse that one of her patients had recovered from cancer after taking these herbs  which a Mojibwa Indian Medicine Man had prescribed for her. 

Caisse later treated her own aunt, who had terminal stomach cancer, with this preparation. Her aunt survived a further 21 years.  In the following years Nurse Caisse treated thousands of patients with Essiac tea with much success. She saw 30 patients a day and  she survived financially through voluntary contributions. Some of the reported benefits of Essiac are: cessation of pain, increased appetite (emaciated patients gained weight), improved sleep, a feeling of well-being, increased energy, a decrease in depression, anxiety and fear, a decrease of nodular masses and a prolongation of life.  Unfortunately there is no body of research available on the efficacy of Essiac, although there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence; this includes cancer patients who completely recovered and patients whose symptoms were greatly alleviated.  In addition Caisse received support from such medical luminaries as Dr Frederick Banting (who discovered insulin).  Essiac (Caisse spelled backwards) is relatively inexpensive and is easily available as a tincture or in dry tea form for reconstitution.

Echinacea. Germany has a well-recognised naturopathic profession and  there is an abundance of research done in Germany on alternative / naturopathic / herbal products.  One German study showed that Echinacea and Eleutherococcus (Siberian ginseng) increased the ability of white cells to destroy yeast cells by 30-45 per cent, but only Echinacea enhanced the ability of the immune cells to actively seek out and find the yeast pests ('The Effects of Plant Preparations on Cellular Functions in Body Defence,' Arzneimittelforschung, vol. 44(3), pp. 361-366, 1994). Interestingly enough, one of the most popular uses of Echinacea in medical practice has been to combat yeast infections. Research completed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Hanover, Germany, revealed that Echinacea could help destroy tumour cells and control opportunistic infections in immuno-deficient mice.  It is generally agreed that echinacea should be used for no more than 8 weeks continuously or it becomes less effective.  There should be a break of one or two weeks before recommencing it. 

 Neways VMM contains extracts of Echinacea Root, Rosemary Leaf, Hyssop, Thyme and other herbal remedies to support the immune system.  I have found clients frequently muscle -test positive for VMM