American Cancer
Society (ACS)
Nutritional Medicine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service,
October 7, 2011
Half Truth is No Truth at All Overcoming Bias
Against Nutritional Medicine
Commentary by Andrew
W.
Saul
Editor, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service
Freedom of the
press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
(Abbott Joseph Liebling)
(OMNS, Oct 7, 2011) An internet
search for "orthomolecular medicine" can bring up some remarkably
official-looking misinformation.
A prime
example is the American Cancer Society's webpage on orthomolecular
medicine, which is incomplete, negative and fallacious.
http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/orthomolecular-medicine
Read it and see for yourself. A tad
biased, perhaps? Carefully search that same ACS orthomolecular
medicine page for the word "intravenous." The word is not even
there, even though the US National Institutes of Health sponsored
research which clearly showed that intravenous vitamin C selectively
kills malignant cells. The study concluded that "Vitamin C at high
concentrations is toxic to cancer cells in vitro." (1) In vitro
refers to a laboratory culture. For a real-world test, the same team
then gave IV vitamin C to cancer patients, and it worked very well.
(2) You would think that the American Cancer Society would find this
at least a little intriguing, and maybe even mention it. But no: no
mention at all.
On the other hand, the American
Cancer Society is blatantly bullish on chemotherapy. Odd, really,
since a peer-reviewed study showed that conventional chemotherapy
contributes only 2.1% to five year cancer survival in the USA. (3)
The ACS webpage has not been updated since 2008, yet all three of
these studies were published well before then. Perhaps readers may
be able to help ACS modernize and improve the accuracy of their
presentation. You can send a message to the American Cancer Society
at
http://www.cancer.org/Aboutus/HowWeHelpYou/app/contact-us.aspx
Some websites are not satisfied with
telling half the story. They marginalize nutritional medicine
physicians as promoters of an "unproven" therapy, or even attempt to
characterize them as quacks. Wikipedia, popular though notoriously
unreliable, is a good example.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine However,
word is getting out. If you go to the very bottom of the page, below
the reference section, you can view the page's ratings. On a 5-point
scale, readers have rated Wikipedia's orthomolecular page in the
neighborhood of 1.6 for Trustworthiness, Objectivity, and
Completeness.
Sources claiming that orthomolecular
medicine is without scientific basis and in the realm of "faddism"
should be embarrassed by such a display of their ignorance.
- Since 1987, there has been a
chair in orthomolecular medicine at Ben Gurion University in Tel
Aviv
http://ppphs.org/haim-robert-belmaker . In 2006, an
orthomolecular medical chair was established at the Kansas
University Medical Center
http://integrativemed.kumc.edu/bio-drisko.htm . Emanuel
Cheraskin, M.D., D.M.D., was himself chairman of the Department
of Oral Medicine, University of Alabama Medical School
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_cheraskin.html . Carl
Curt Pfeiffer, M.D., Ph.D., was chair of the Pharmacology
Department at Emory University
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_pfeiffer_ed.html .
- Linus Pauling
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_pauling_ortho.html ,
who gave orthomolecular medicine its name in 1968, is the only
recipient, ever, of two unshared Nobel Prizes.
- Pioneering orthomolecular
physicians Hugh Riordan
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_riordan.html , Humphry
Osmond
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_osmond.html , and Abram
Hoffer
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_hoffer.html were all
board certified in psychiatry.
- Other famous orthomolecular
practitioners and researchers include:
Ruth Flinn Harrell, Ph.D. (Down
syndrome; learning disabilities)
http://www.doctoryourself.com/downs.html
Lendon Smith, M.D. (pediatrics)
http://www.doctoryourself.com/smith1.html and
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_lsmith.html
Wilfrid Shute, M.D.; Evan Shute,
M.D. (cardiovascular disease)
http://www.doctoryourself.com/estory.htm and
http://www.doctoryourself.com/shute_protocol.html and
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_shute.html
Frederick Robert Klenner, M.D.
(viral illnesses; multiple sclerosis)
http://www.doctoryourself.com/klennerbio.html
Robert F. Cathcart III, M.D.
(viral illnesses)
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_cathcart.html
William Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D.
(arthritis)
http://www.doctoryourself.com/kaufman.html and
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_kaufman.html
William J. McCormick, M.D.
(bacterial illness; cardiovascular disease)
http://www.doctoryourself.com/mccormick.html and
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_mccormick.html
Roger J. Williams, Ph.D.
(alcoholism)
http://www.doctoryourself.com/rjwilliams.html and
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_williams.html
You can learn more about these and
many other distinguished advocates of nutritional medicine, such as
Drs. Harold Foster, Josef Issels, David Horrobin, Alan Cott, Archie
Kalokerinos, Henry Turkel, Ewan Cameron, and Cornelius Moerman, by
going to
http://orthomolecular.org/hof/index.shtml
Why is OMNS highlighting all these
researchers? Because others try to direct your attention away from
them. We think you should be aware of their work and look into it.
And do be sure to visit the American
Cancer Society's gift shop.
http://www.acsgiftshop.com/
(Andrew W. Saul taught
nutrition, health science and cell biology at the college level, and
has published over 100 reviews and editorials in peer-reviewed
publications. He is author or coauthor of eight books and is
featured in the documentary film Food Matters. His website,
http://www.doctoryourself.com, is peer-reviewed.)
References:
1. Padayatty SJ, Sun
H, Wang Y, Riordan HD, Hewitt SM, Katz A, Wesley RA, Levine M.
Vitamin C pharmacokinetics: implications for oral and intravenous
use. Ann Intern Med. 2004 Apr 6;140(7):533-7. Full text free
download:
http://www.annals.org/content/140/7/533.full.pdf
2. Padayatty SJ, Riordan HD, Hewitt
SM, Katz A, Hoffer LJ, Levine M. Intravenously administered vitamin
C as cancer therapy: three cases. CMAJ. 2006 Mar 28;174(7):937-42.
Free full text:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1405876/?tool=pubmed
3. Morgan G, Ward R, Barton M. The
contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult
malignancies. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol) 2004;16:549-560.
Abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Morgan%20G%2C%20Ward%20R%2C%20Barton%20M.%20The%20contribution%20of%20cytotoxic%20chemotherapy
Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
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medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness.
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Editorial Review Board:
Ian Brighthope, M.D.
(Australia)
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (Canada)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
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James A. Jackson, Ph.D. (USA)
Michael Janson, M.D. (USA)
Robert E. Jenkins, D.C. (USA)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA)
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA)
Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India)
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA),
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