Use of alternative treatments for cancer

In the past few years I’ve read several reports that indicate a rising trend in the use of complementary therapies by cancer patients. So I was not really surprised to come across the news last week of a recent study that shows how most cancer patients who use complementary therapies have an improved sense of well-being.

Claiming to be the “first study to specifically inquire about patients’ attitudes regarding the effectiveness of alternative treatments,” the Bastyr University (Kenmore, WA) researchers interviewed 365 people undergoing treatment for cancer. Some form of alternative medicine was used by 70% of the subjects, and of that group, almost all attributed optimism about their overall treatments and a personal sense of well-being to the use of the complementary treatment.

Most of the subjects used alternative treatments in addition to a treatment of conventional medicine, and about 20% of them were under the care of an alternative medical provider.

In an e-Alert just a couple of weeks ago (“Sugar in the Morning, Sugar in the Evening” 9/4/02), I first told you about Bastyr University and a special program they’ve developed to teach the fundamentals of alternative medicine to mainstream medical students in a brief summer session they characterize as an alternative medicine “camp.” For more than 20 years Bastyr has trained doctors of natural medicine and have helped promote the effectiveness and safety of complementary and alternative medicine.

It’s a shame we can’t enroll all of the commissioners of the European Union for a semester at Bastyr.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute