Can Herbal Medicine Cure Cancer?

Can Herbal Medicine Cure Cancer?

Ida Ayu Ika Wahyuniari

ikawahyuniari@unud.ac.id

            Cancer is a disease that has been feared by society until now. This chronic disease causes suffer from pain and other complaints that are prolonged and progressive. In addition, many side effects of cancer treatments that occur such as hair loss, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite that can not guarantee complete recovery in these patients. Even though cancer patient has been declared medically cured, one day, the cancer can reappear and become more virulent. Therefore, there is a stigma in the community to find alternative therapies for cancer treatment, one of which is herbal medicine. Many herbal treatments are developing in the community and are said to be able to treat cancer. In fact, sometimes cancer patient stop the medical treatment due to consume herbal medicines. Is this correct?

            The etiology of cancer is multifactorial. One of them is exposure to free radicals and consumption of carcinogenic substances that can damage cells into DNA level. Free radicals can be sourced from air pollution, UV rays, pesticides, cigarette smoke, and psychological stress. While carcinogenic substances  are preserved foods, food preservatives and flavoring ingredients, burning or smoking meat, pickles, or cigarettes. Thus, consumption of vegetables and fruits as well as herbal medicines which mainly contain antioxidants and mind without stress can prevent DNA damage in order to reduce cancer risk. This lifestyle is important not only for individuals who have a family history of cancer.

            In addition to cancer prevention, the use of herbal medicines is often used by cancer patients to increase endurance, reduce side effects of medical treatment, and prevent recurrence of cancer. Based on previous studies, herbal medicines have the same molecular targets as those used in medical treatment. The issue often arises in the community that certain herbal medicines can cure cancer even through the preclinical testing phase is only in experimental animals and has not yet through drug discovery phases in human. What are the stages of drug discovery?

            Herbal medicines must go through a long stages of drug discovery to be said to treat cancer. The first stage is testing on cancer cell culture for looking at biological activity and its toxicity. If it has a good effect, then proceed to animal studies that induced by cancer in order to assess the effect of herbal medicines, mechanism of action, its toxicity, and the body’s response to experimental animals. If it has been proven effective and has low toxicity, then 4 phases of clinical trials in humans can be continued. Phase I was tested on dozens of healthy people to see the safety of the drug. Phase II is continued to test the efficacy and side effects of drugs in 100 to 300 cancer patients. Phase III continues to involve thousands of cancer patients. If the drug is proven to be effective and safe, then Phase IV will be continued to monitor the safety of the use of cancer drugs that have been released in the community. The process of drug development from preclinical testing to being marketable takes a long time to a dozen years with a large cost. Therefore, the public should wisely assess whether herbal medicines being marketed have passed the stage of clinical trials for cancer treatment.

            Excessive promotion also influences people’s judgment on herbal medicines. It is often said that herbal medicines have no side effects even though they have not gone through the stages of drug discovery to clinical trials. But this is not entirely true. Several studies have shown side effects that can arise due to the use of certain herbal medicines, such as toxic to the kidneys, liver, and can even cause pro-oxidant effects that can damage body cells if used in excessive doses.

            According to the description above, let us be wiser in using herbal medicines, especially if you want to be used as cancer drug. Consult with the doctor if you want to use certain herbal medicines in order to get more accurate information.

(Citated from various sources)