Associated Press is reporting some studies found that 60 percent of cancer patients try unconventional remedies and about 40 percent take vitamin or dietary supplements, which do not have to be proven safe or effective and are not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
 
People who try these unproven treatments risk not only money but also sometimes their only chance at beating the disease by foregoing conventional treatment or concurrently doing other therapies, according to the study. Harmless-sounding vitamins and "natural" supplements can also reportedly interfere with cancer medication or affect hormones that help cancer grow, the study reports.
 
While no alternative treatments can cure cancer, some reportedly can assist in easing symptoms.  One study reportedly found ginger capsules to ease nausea if started days before chemotherapy.
 
A recent trend is more troubling, however.  With the aid of the internet, online retailers and virtual "quacks" are selling fringe treatments and miracle cures supported by so-called testimonials rather than scientific proof.
 
"What I am noticing in the last year or two is a resurgence of these things. It's coming back," said Barrie Cassileth, integrative medicine chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a longtime adviser to the American Cancer Society.  Cassileth’s research has reported that about 7 percent of cancer patients go straight to an alternative approach, sometimes traveling to Mexico, the Bahamas or Europe for treatments not allowed in the United States.  And because of the slow spread of some cancers, people can be fooled into thinking their alternative approach is working, thereby wasting precious legitimate treatment time.
 
Alternative therapies can harm cancer patients in many ways, according to doctors.  Medically they can delay the time until the patient seeks effective treatment.  Financially they siphon off money that can be better utilized in other treatments.  Psychologically they can raise false hopes, and physically, they can interfere with the effectiveness of chemotherapy, radiation or hormonal treatments for cancer, doctors have reported.