What is herbal medicine?
Herbal medicine uses plant or plant-derived preparations to treat, prevent, or cure various health conditions and ailments.
What is the link between herbal medicine and conventional cancer treatments?
Herbal medicines come from the original source of some powerful U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved chemotherapy agents. Some examples of conventional cancer drugs derived from herbal medicines include paclitaxel, docetaxel, and albumin-bound paclitaxel from the Pacific Yew Tree, vincristine, vinblastine, and vinorelbine from the red periwinkle plant, camptothecin from the Chinese tree Camptotheca accuminata, and podophyllin from mayapple.
How does integrative oncology use herbal medicine?
Herbal medicine is currently used by integrative oncology in six major ways1.
- In primary prevention of cancer in patients at high risk for malignancy with antioxidants and immunomodulators
- As phytopharmaceuticals with direct anti-cancer effects
- As adjuvants to improve the cytotoxic activity of cancer drugs
- As immunomodulators to enhance endogenous immunological anti-cancer activity
- To treat radiation-related reactions and fatigue
- To mitigate the hematological, neurological, and gastroenterological toxicities of chemotherapy drugs
What are the most effective herbal medicines for cancer patients?
The most effective herbal medicines for cancer patients are optimally customized for each individual through diagnostic testing and expert input by a qualified provider. Research studies show benefits for improve quality of life and cancer survival with some herbs.
Based on published research studies evaluating herbs against cancer, botanicals with the highest level of preclinical and clinical evidence as anticancer and immunomodulatory agents include the following1.
- Garlic
- Curcumin
- Green tea
- Mistletoe
- Quercetin
- Bromelain
- Milk thistle
- Astragalus
- Ashwagandha
- Medicinal mushrooms
“Naturopathic physicians who specialize in integrative oncology agree that herbal therapy plays a significant role in secondary prevention. Based on their safety and scientific evidence, most NDs include them in their core protocol for preventing cancer relapse in patients who have received primary conventional treatment… The following botanicals are administered orally. Doses in common use are provided as well.”
-Botanical Medicine chapter in Integrative Oncology
| Garlic | 3200 mcg allicin bid |
| Curcumin | 3000-9000 mg/day |
| Camellia sinensis | 500 mg bid |
| Quercetin | 750 mg bid |
| Bromelain | 750 mg bid |
| Silymarin officinalis | 260 mg bid |
| Trametes versicolor | 1500 mg bid |
What is an example of customized herbal medicine for cancer patients?
Donald Yance, CN, MH, RH (AHG), an herbalist with expertise in treating cancer patients, applies fundamental objectives to botanical and nutritional therapeutics focused on suppressing ‘Cancer Energy’ and increasing ‘Vital Energies’ to lengthen the lifespan and increase quality of life2. Herbal remedies are chosen based on each individual’s presenting symptoms and constitutional evaluation. Key markers and growth factors are measured and tracked to determine the cancer course and therapeutic results.
Casting a broader net over diagnostics, Yance focuses on three categories in his clinical practice with people affected by cancer.
Branch 1: Human Being
Evaluates three vital energies within the human energy.
- Vital Force—Efficiency of digestive systems and lungs to create energy, blood, and tissue
- Vital Spirit—Balance and harmony of endocrine and neuroendocrine system
- Vital Essence—Strength and connection of spiritual energy within and throughout
Branch 2: Environment
Examines the human relationship with the external environment and the impact of stress
- Exposure to pollution (home, work, recreation)
Air, water, radiation, noise, smoke
Electromagnetic, artificial light
Metals
Pathogens (viral, fungal, bacterial), toxins
Drugs (prescription and non-prescription)
- Endocrine disruptors, xenoestrogens
- Stress: emotional, psychological, physical
- Relationships: partner, family, friends, community, co-workers, nature, food
- Geographic location
- Exercise: outdoor/indoor, type
- Sunlight
- Travel, activity, sleep, silence, sounds
Branch 3: Biological Terrain
Incorporates molecular profiling, uses target-specific medicines, alters terrain least hospitable to cancer, and strengthens terrain most conducive to health.
Yance’s botanical medicine in cancer therapies includes five categories of approaches.
- Tonics: Enhance and harmonize
- Endocrine/Immune System Activators/Modulators, pathway regulators
- Organ System Enhancers (build-up)/Protectors/Detoxifiers
- Alternatives: Improve cellular nutrition and lymphatic drainage
- Cytotoxics: Antimetabolites, apoptotic inducers
“The ultimate reality is that botanical medicine goes far beyond the grasp of mere intellect. Herbal medicine is a kinship between the intellect (mind), and the mystical (spirit), and this needs to be acknowledged before the true healing potential of botanical medicine can be fully embraced by the modern medical world. The great gift of herbal medicine is that it humbly offers to us it’s healing power, and mystical wisdom, of which we can only partially understand.”
– Donnie Yance
What is the history of herbal medicine?
Although herbal medicine does not have a specific point of conception, currently an estimated 80 percent of the world’s population relies on medicinal plant preparations for their primary healthcare needs, according to the World Health Organization.
In the early 1900s, more than 3,000 botanical doctors were practicing in the United States. Today, few doctors have expertise in herbal medicine. However, the number of health care providers with knowledge about herbal medicine is increasing.
The earliest known writing about natural products as potential anticancer agents comes from Egypt during the middle of the second millennium BC where the physician Papyrus Ebers listed more than 700 drugs and mostly from plants1.
For More Information
- Top Related Cancer Information has a section called Cancer Drugs, Herbs, and Supplements with more information on the topic
- Integrative Oncology by Donald Abrams, MD and Andy Weil, MD
- Life Over Cancer by Keith Block, MD
