How do you kill a killer? The conventional approach to battling cancer relies mainly on three weapons to kill malignant cells: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

For many people with cancer, these methods - even if they cause unpleasant side effects like hair loss and mouth sores - do work to halt the illness.

But anecdotal and scientific evidence is pointing to a new trend: Patients are turning to alternative regimes, ranging from nutritional strategies to meditation, to rally the body's own ability to heal.

The interest is significant: The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in the United States found, for example, that as many as 70 per cent of the 356 cancer patients interviewed had tried alternative therapies.

Here, several cancer survivors who chose to use a variety of non-conventional options recently told their stories to local author Betty L. Khoo-Kingsley. She has compiled their stories in her new book, Cancer Cured Naturally.

There is some evidence that these therapies could help: A University of California study looked at 93 men in the early stages of prostate cancer. None opted for medical treatment.

One group made extensive changes to their lifestyle, incorporating a vegan diet, vitamins and minerals, moderate aerobic exercise, meditation, yoga, taiji and a weekly support group. The other group changed nothing.

The men who changed their lifestyle and stuck to the changes for a year had lowered cancer markers. In comparison, the men who did nothing saw a rise in the same markers, suggesting that the disease had progressed, said the study.

Many doctors remain wary.

Oncologist Whang Hwee Yong from the Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre is concerned that patients who court such alternatives may reject conventional treatments altogether.

"Substituting conventional therapy with mind-body techniques or diet may do a lot of harm," warns DrWhang.

She adds that all things natural are not necessarily safe. A patient of hers, for example, secretly started taking a herbal remedy which damaged her liver. So, while medical treatment has been able to bring the cancer under control, the patient is facing liver damage.

Several centres around the world are now marrying the best of conventional therapy with alternative treatments to find a middle path.

Institutions like the Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of California Los Angeles, as well as the private British cancer consultancy Cancer Options, are just a few names trying this new approach, which may involve meditation to minimise side effects during active chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment or the prescription of nutrients and herbs to support the body's healing process as it recovers.

Of the alternative options, mind-body medicine, a vast field that includes meditation, prayer and counselling, is perhaps the least contentious: Most people, including the doctors MYB spoke to, agreed that faith and a person's mental attitude can make a difference in recovery.

"Working through their emotions and having a will to live does play an important role in healing and recovery," says Dr Adrian Wang, a psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre.

Eat and think right
A positive attitude can help when patients undergo medical treatment, say advocates like Ms Dee Page, a counsellor and Reiki teacher, herself a cancer survivor.

Ms Page said: "It is important for patients to understand how their feelings about treatment can enhance their experience positively."

One cancer patient, for example, described chemotherapy as an "evil fluid". Ms Page helped her to see the drug as an ally in the fight against cancer.

"We stuck one of those bright yellow smiley-face stickers on the bag of chemotherapy medication. She tolerated the treatment amazingly well and continues to keep well," she said.

Views diverge when it comes to specific diets, herbs and supplements.

Dietary manipulation may involve anything from juicing with organic vegetables, eating generous amounts of raw foods, macrobiotics and gut detoxification to supplementing the diet with antioxidants, medicinal mushroom extracts and liver-healing herbs.

Oncology nurse Patricia Peat, who founded Cancer Options, suggests that a good diet is an essential starting point.

According to her, this diet is rich in fresh, often raw, organic plant foods, deep sea fish, lentils and nuts, with little or no dairy, processed foods, sugar, salt and red meat.

Other practitioners have their own prescriptions, but there is general agreement that eating well is important.

Doctors warn against losing too much weight, as most patients will need the strength to undergo treatments.

"Just by looking at their blood count, I can tell which of my patients have suddenly restricted their diet," says Dr Whang. "They may be unable to take a full dose of chemotherapy."

Cancer as well as the treatments that are used against it are very stressful for the body, according to Dr Ajith Damodaran, a family physician who proposes that complementary therapies may be useful to support the body's healing process during recovery.

The main concern that emerged from the doctors and therapists MYB spoke to is that there are many snake-oil merchants who falsely claim to cure cancer and encourage patients to abandon medical treatment.

Several patients warned against alternative practitioners who are fanatical and inflexible in their approach.

How does a patient in search of healing tell apart the fakes from possible gems?

The answer is not an easy one. Several centres around the world that are championing the integration of different therapies for cancer care appear to be taking a considered and supervised approach, either by doctors trained in alternative medicine or via close collaboration between doctors and alternative therapists.

That way, treatments or products that do not work - or worse, that harm - are sifted out.

Patients should know all their options. This way, they are actively involved in their treatment decisions and believe in what they are doing, said Cancer Options' Ms Peat.

"It is the most intelligent approach," she said.

While such integrated approaches are not widely available in Singapore, there are small groups which provide help for those wanting to give it a shot, like Kampung Senang, a non-profit organisation that runs an organic farm, detox camps and a variety of natural health classes.

E-mail: pooja@bio-edge.com
The writer, a microbiologist, has worked in health care for 12 years. She is pursuing a degree in nutritional medicine.