The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Science doesn’t support the anecdotal benefits of Essiac

    Essiac Herbal Tonics are commercially available complex mixtures of herbal extracts sold as dietary supplements and used by cancer patients based on anecdotal evidence that they can treat or prevent disease.

    Let’s look look at the evidence since 2005.

    October 2005

    • Physicians from Toronto report a “case of a 64-year-old man whose hormone-refractory prostate cancer responded well to Essiac tea.”

    August 2006

    • Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California report, “Essiac Herbal Tonics can stimulate the growth of human breast cancer cells through estrogen receptor mediated as well as estrogen receptor independent mechanisms of action.”

    August 2006

    • Researchers from the University of Toronto report that Essiac “did not significantly demonstrate its purported physiological modifying effects.”

    December 2006

    • Researchers from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor report, “Essiac does not appear to improve health-related quality of life or mood states. Future studies are needed to determine whether other clinical outcomes, such as cancer reoccurrence, are affected by Essiac.”

    The bottom line?

    February 2007

    • A study from the Vancouver General Hospital concludes, “Essiac has no marked antiproliferative [prevent spread of cancer cells to surrounding tissue] effect on the models tested.”

    8/9/07 18:13 JR

    Leave a Comment

    You must be logged in to post a comment.