Most complementary therapies are unproven, says UK's only professor of complementary medicine

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 02 Aug 2004 - 14:00 PDT

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Edzard Ernst is the UK's only professor of complementary medicine - he says that the public should not place too much faith in complementary medicine's ability to cure. He said most claims made by complementary therapies are unproven. Some have been tested vigorously and do work well - but others have not.

Edzard Ernst warned people to be wary of web sites that claim to offer cures for cancer. He also mentioned the risks of herbal medicines affecting the way orthodox drugs work. If a claim sounds to be true it probably is (too good to be true), he said.

He advised people not to just accept a complementary therapist at face value. You should ask for proof of indemnity cover and experience. He also tells people to check exactly what the treatment plans are before they start.

Professor Edzard Ernst works at the Plymouth Peninsula Medical School, UK.

Edzard Ernst and colleagues studied 32 cancer web sites, all of them popular. They found that the information on them varied considerably.

He described his findings as "quite an eye opener and pretty scary stuff. A lot of unproven stuff is being recommended to cancer patients. Cancer patients, particularly those who are seriously ill, are desperate patients, and desperate patients will cling to any claim and promise that is being made to them. Therefore, I think bogus claims for alternative cancer cures are very, very dangerous."

He said such therapies as consuming powdered shark fin and apricot kernels were unproven.

More worrying, Edzard Ernst said, were web sites that told people to stop taking their regular cancer drugs. Edzard said there must be some people around who have come to an earlier than expected death as a result of following that advice.

Edzard Ernst said that what was needed was an approval scheme. Good sites could be given a seal which showed they were reliable.

Some complementary products undermine the activity of crucial life saving drugs. Edzard Ernst gave the example of St. John's Wort, which undermines the effectiveness of Warfarin and leaves the patient at much higher risk of a heart attack (patients who are already at high risk).

Edzard said patients should tell their GPs if they are on complementary therapies.

40,000 alternative/complementary therapists work in the UK. Many of them are unregulated. About one quarter of the UK population uses complementary therapy each year.

Edzard Ernst prefers the term, 'complementary' to 'alternative'. 'Alternative' suggests the patient should abandon his/her current orthodox treatment.