Mistletoe as a Cancer Treatment
CELEBRITY’S CANCER
TREATMENT IS “RIGHT ON”
When actress-turned-health “guru” Suzanne Somers recently announced she was using mistletoe instead of chemotherapy to treat her breast cancer, many in the medical establishment cringed. The last thing they wanted was a celebrity influencing others to take this alternative treatment. They attacked the famous blonde saying she was irresponsible to publicize her choice and began trying to reverse the interest in mistletoe her announcement generated.
Well, the truth is, mistletoe has a lot of research behind it, more than eight decades as a matter of fact. In the 1970s, doctors found that 547 breast-cancer patients using mistletoe after tumor removal had significantly increased 5- and 10-year survival rates when compared with patients receiving only conventional treatment. Other studies involving breast, and many other types of cancers, show that mistletoe is at least as effective as mainstream “cures,” including interferon treatments, but without any known side effects -which you can’t say about radiation and chemotherapy.
Although there’s already plenty of published research to support mistletoe’s use, researchers are continuing to investigate it. In May, the Institute for Preventive Medicine in Germany published the results of 1,668 cancer patients treated with mistletoe. Patients taking the herb had up to a 56 percent higher survival rate than a control group. An interesting part of this study was the variety of cancers affected – colorectal, stomach, breast, and lung. Many mainstream treatments are specific to a type of cancer, but mistletoe seems to work equally well on many of them.
Other benefits of mistletoe over conventional treatments include its ability to help repair DNA damage caused by cancer, that it helps bolster the immune system, and that it helps fight the spread of cancer.
While you should always work with your doctor on your complete course of cancer treatment, don’t let the medical establishment or the mainstream media “shield” you from this promising alternative.
To find a licensed alternative practitioner in your area, call the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians at (703) 610-9037.
