A medical expert on Thursday warned that cancer patients who rely on herbal treatments have a lower chance of survival.
Citing a US-based study, Meridith Garcia said patients who use these nonscience-based “alternative medicines” to treat their cancer have a 2.5 percent higher chance of death than those treated by conventional treatment.
She attributed this to delay of such patients from getting conventional treatment, like chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
“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.
She also noted some 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 said.
This, she added, makes its use more dangerous for consumers since it usually does not spell its ingredients, as well as its possible side effects.
Despite these hazards, Garcia said, many cancer patients tend to use herbal supplements according to a study conducted by the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).
“Around one-third to two-thirds of their patients [who] go to PGH have tried alternative medicine. So it is a very common practice,” Garcia said.
To combat the said dangerous practice, Garcia together with the other ambassadors like newspaper columnist and priest Fr. Jerry Orbos and veteran actor Tirso Cruz III of the Voice of Within Foundation are advocating for science-based cancer treatment.
She noted cancer patients, whose disease will be diagnosed in its early stage, tend to have a higher chance of survival especially with the advent of more effective cancer treatments.
