If you're one of the millions of people in the United States afflicted with cancer, you may wonder if an herbal alternative health treatment may help you better manage your symptoms. Essiac is an herbal treatment made up of four herbs that some alternative health practitioners believe may alleviate, and possibly eliminate, cancer symptoms. However, Essiac's use is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a legitimate cancer treatment. Therefore, you should not delay conventional medical cancer treatments to try Essiac, or use the herbal tonic as a stand-alone treatment, the American Cancer Society says.
Identification
Essiac is an alternative cancer treatment that consists of four herbs: sheep sorrel, Indian rhubarb root, slippery elm inner bark and burdock root. These herbs are blended together and sold by various manufacturers as a nutritional supplement that has anecdotal evidence of treating cancer, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine's National Institutes of Health, or NIH.
History
Rene Ciasse, a public health nurse practicing in Canada in 1922, treated a patient who claimed that she was cured from cancer by a Canadian Ojibway Indian medicine man's herbal tonic. Ciasse acquired the formula from the patient and reportedly used it to cure her aunt of stomach cancer, who lived for 21 more years. Ciasse went on to treat cancer patients with Essiac for many years in conjunction with numerous doctors. Although Ciasse and the doctors reported numerous anecdotal success stories, evidence that Essiac worked as a cancer cure never materialized, says EssiacInfo.org.
Theories/Speculation
Essiac supporters claim that the herbal concoction cleanses your blood, detoxifies your body and eliminates excess mucus in your internal organs, nerve channels, tissues and lymph nodes. Essiac advocates also believe that the herbal formula relieves pain, reduces the size of cancerous tumors, increases your appetite, stimulates well-being, lubricates your bones and joints, relieves inflammation and extends your chances of surviving cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
Clinical Trials
A clinical trial performed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under head researcher K.S. Kulp revealed that Essiac, and its more complex sister tonic, Flor-Essence, actually increased breast cancer cells in human tumor cell cultures, the NIH reports. The National Cancer Institute, NCI, also tested Essiac in lymphocytic leukemia tumors present in laboratory mice. NCI reported that no anti-cancer cellular activities transpired in the tumors, and also found that high doses of Essiac killed the laboratory animals.
Warning
Although the American Cancer Society reports that Essiac rarely provokes serious allergic reactions, you should speak with your doctor before supplementing your cancer treatment regimen with it. The herbs in Essiac could possibly negatively interact with your prescription drugs and initiate dangerous health concerns, the ACS says.
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