Watch out for deodorants. Avoid power lines. And bras. Make sure you get your goji berries. And don’t forget the shark cartilage pills. Having to deal with misinformed advice like this is unfortunately all too common for people with cancer.
There is plenty of accurate and useful information for patients – and those close to them – on the internet. Sadly, there are also a lot of half-truths, exaggeration and nonsense.
“When somebody is diagnosed with cancer, or they have a close friend or family member who is, they often go on the internet where they encounter a kind of information black hole,” says Nell Barrie, a science communicator at Cancer Research UK (CRUK). “Unless they are an expert, it can be hard to know what is good, trustworthy information and what is myth, hype and conspiracy theory.”
False information about the causes of cancer and ways to treat it can cause needless anxiety for patients who already have a lot on their plates. Worse, it can lead some to make treatment decisions that do them harm. Here’s what science has to say about some of the most dangerous, prevalent and ridiculous myths circulating around cancer and its treatment.
Cancer treatment kills more than it cures
Some “alternative” medicine proponents claim that chemotherapy doesn’t work or that it causes more harm than good. Frequently cited as evidence is an outdated study full of methodological holes that concluded it only contributed 2.1% to five-year survival rates in adult malignancies in the US.
Chemotherapy can have nasty side effects, but it can also cure cancer and prolong survival. Some eight out of 10 children diagnosed with cancer in England and Wales survive beyond five years, mostly thanks to chemotherapy.
Surgery and radiotherapy are also tough to go through, but provide the best chances of remission and increased life expectancy for cancer patients. “The most concerning myths are those that might persuade people to give up treatments that could really help them in favour of things like vitamin supplements or coffee enemas,” says Barrie.
Cancer is modern and manmade
In brief, no it isn’t. For one thing, a papyrus from ancient Egypt, dating back to around 1600BC and thought to be a copy of a much older document, describes cancer and its treatment.
It’s true that “modern” factors such as smoking, diet, inactivity and air pollution can increase a person’s risk of cancer, and these lifestyle-related causes appear to be responsible for a growing proportion of deaths from the disease globally. However, sunlight, bacteria and viruses are also common causes. Cancer is becoming more common, however, that’s more to do with DNA damage having longer to develop due to increased human life expectancy.
A related myth is that we have made no progress in the fight against cancer. Even a cursory look at the statistics shows this to be untrue. Thanks to research to develop better treatments and to find new ways to prevent the disease and diagnose it earlier, cancer survival in the UK has doubled over the last 40 years.
Superfoods prevent cancer
If anyone took the claimed health benefits and anti-cancer properties of all of the latest so-called “superfoods” at face value, they’d probably spend most of their time and money shopping. They’re also likely to be very disappointed with the return on their investment.
Goji berries, blueberries, chocolate, oily fish, green tea, garlic, pomegranate juice – the list goes on. In most cases there is no evidence that consuming these foods reduces the risk of developing cancer. In others, there have been suggestions of effects in small, sometimes poor quality studies, but the overall evidence is mixed, unclear or lacking. One common mistake is suggesting that an apparent effect observed when a substance is put alongside cancer cells in a laboratory petri dish necessarily translates to the vastly more complex environment of a living human body.
There are miracle cures – and big pharma is supressing them
It doesn’t take much searching on Facebook or YouTube to find people making dubious claims about cancer cures based on homeopathy, fasting, light therapy, magnets, herbs, colon cleansing and even sticking candles in your ears. Weird and wonderful though they may sound, there is no reliable evidence that any of these are in any way effective.
Some cancer drugs have been developed from substances found in the natural world, but only after being purified and tested in rigorous clinical trials to ensure they are safe and effective, and to work out the best doses.
And if there is a giant conspiracy of pharmaceutical company executives, politicians and senior physicians hiding evidence of cheap or free miracle cures, why do pharmaceutical company executives, politicians and senior physicians still get cancer?
Sharks don’t get cancer
This particularly ludicrous one sprang from research in the 1970s showing that rabbit cartilage can inhibit angiogenesis – the growth of new blood vessels that malignant tumours rely on. This led to work on sharks because their skeletons are composed almost entirely of cartilage, followed by the 1992 publication of a bestselling book called Sharks Don’t Get Cancer: How Shark Cartilage Could Save Your Life. The facts are they do get cancer and shark cartilage doesn’t treat cancer. Sadly this has not prevented the killing of millions of sharks by those after a fast buck.
While there are still snake oil salesmen, ill-informed social media “gurus” and lazy reporters spreading misinformation, there are also cancer charities, informed scientist bloggers and critical journalists hitting back. CRUK has more details about these myths on its website. As well as seeking to minimise the distress and potential harm that fake cancer news can cause patients, the charity also sees countering its spread as central to its core mission of saving lives.
“We want people to donate money to fund research to help us beat cancer,” says Barrie. “If people are misled by some of these claims, they won’t see the progress that has been made or understand how important further research is, and ultimately won’t be motivated to help us achieve our goal of reducing cancer deaths.”
If you’ve heard something you’re unsure of, CRUK offers a dedicated cancer helpline where expert nurses answer questions about cancer in confidence, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, on 0808 800 4040 – so no question you have about cancer goes unanswered
