Why do some people choose alternative medicine for their cancer treatment?

Epidemiology of Adverse Drug Reactions in Europe: A Review of Recent Observational Studies, 31^st March 2015

In Europe, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) cause a considerable amount of morbidity and mortality. It has been estimated that approximately 5 % of all hospital admissions are caused by ADRs, that 5 % of hospitalized patients will experience an ADR during their hospital stay, and that ADRs cause 197,000 deaths annually throughout the EU. These estimates formed the foundation of a major reform of the European regulatory system for pharmacovigilance, which was implemented in July 2012.

So… we have the pot veritably calling the kettle black here. The number of deaths from supplement misadventure is currently recorded as zero. Correct, zero. It's just that dangerous!!! Continue reading…

Death from Supplements? Physical Health, 8^thMay2019

According to the most recent report, ZERO Americans died from taking any supplement in 2013. That includes anything from substances that must be taken with care and medical guidance, such as kava kava or yohimbe, or ayurvedic medicines (which must be sourced with care to be sure they are free from heavy metals), to standard vitamins and amino acids, to the gentlest homeopathic remedies.

Of course, to most of us in the natural health world, this is unsurprising. Dietary supplements have an exemplary track record of safety. In fact, ANH International calculated that, according to the European Union's own data, we are more likely to be struck and killed by lightning than die from taking a supplement.

Properly prescribed (FDA-approved) prescription drugs, on the other hand, cause an estimated 1.9 million hospitalisations or hospital treatments and 128,000 deaths each year. And this is very incomplete data because it only concerns hospitals.'

So, continuing on this whole train of thought, we know that medications in general and for various reasons have a pretty epic mortality rate, but do cancer drugs in particular also fall into this bracket? What is their risk benefit ratio?

Do cancer drugs improve survival or quality of life?

You don't need to know, according to our broken regulatory system

This article was published in the British Medical Journal in 2017. It describes how cancer drugs offer minimal benefit and most that were approved between 2008 and 2013 had no evidence of survival or improved quality of life. Only 14-15% of these drugs had been shown to improve survival or quality of life. The other 85% did the opposite. Terrible odds if you ask me!! Why would anyone agree to them? Three other facts emerged in this paper. Firstly, regarding the drugs that did offer survival advantages, the gains were only marginal with improvement in survival sitting at just 2.1 months. Approximately 48% of this marginally increased survival group failed to meet the modest definition of "clinically meaningful benefit". Secondly, unrepresentative patient populations were used in trials – those who are younger and with less comorbidity than average clinical populations. When this marginal drug advantage is applied to a realworld population, the small benefit disappears completely. Finally, these outcomes are poorly correlated with survival and these drugs have no post marketing requirements for further trials to confirm effectiveness and safety.

Direct quote from the above article: