­­The Cancer Directory: A Mine of Information on the Latest Orthodox and Complementary­ Treatments
Dr Rosy Daniel. Pub: Harper Thorsons 2005. ISBN 0-262-62104-5

Rosy Daniel's new offering certainly lives up to its title! At 400+ pages, it is a hands-on practical manual for finding your way through the extremes and complexities of cancer. Considerable care has gone into the layout, which has the feel and clarity of the best computer tutorials.

The depth and breadth of Dr Daniel's 20 years of experience with cancer at the Bristol Cancer Care Centre and as a consultant is very apparent in the detailed, caring and thorough way in which she guides the reader through every step of the journey, highlighting the common pitfalls that are to be expected and those that can often be avoided.

The orthodox approach to cancer is presented by Professor Karol Sikora - one of the early NHS advocates of the integrated approach to cancer care - and Patricia Peat, an oncology nurse who runs a consultancy to assist patients in their choice of treatments, both orthodox and alternative. An opportunity is missed to give due weight to the potential of orthodox treatments, notably radiotherapy, to cause cancer, which is unfortunate as this should be a vital factor in making a balanced decision on treatment choices.

There follows an extensive exposition of all the key alternative therapies available, and, crucially, advice on choosing from the almost unlimited possible combinations and on achieving the best outcome.

Part One of the Directory concludes with the valuable contribution complementary therapies can make to the management of symptoms and side-effects, a substantial section on generating long-term health, and a valuable chapter for the often neglected carers.

Part Two, a little under half of the book, is a tour de force of resources, giving a wealth of detailed UK-centred information on treatments, practitioners, clinics, charities, suppliers, support groups etc, along with a bibliography, references and an index. The thorough and contemporary nature of The Cancer Directory renders it an indispensable reference for every cancer patient.

Anti Cancer - A New Way of Life
Dr David Servan-Schreiber Penguin Books

This book is exceptional. Its power lies in the credentials of its author, an ambitious young medical research scientist with little interest in the welfare of patients until he discovered, by pure chance, that he had a brain tumour. Cancer often proves a turning point in someone's life - in his case it threw into stark relief the limited view and lack of care so endemic in orthodox medicine. It opened his mind to the whole world of complementary and alternative medicine and the many methods on offer to support people with cancer physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.

The combination of sound scientific discrimination allied with a truly caring interest in any treatment that could be of help, regardless of its provenance, makes for some of the best reading on the subject. Whilst being well stocked with excellent information and advice, the personal experience of Dr Servan-Schreiber is at the heart of this book and ensures that this is anything but a ‘dry’ read.

Above all, Anti Cancer inspires optimism, encourages people to look beyond the impersonal statistics of their prognosis, and, through sound scientific information, builds the confidence needed for people to regain their autonomy and start to exercise personal choice in their treatment programme. Readers with cancer are left with absolutely no doubt as to how much they can do to help themselves and to influence both the course and the outcome of their illness.

If you suspect that the spiralling cancer statistics in the western world are mainly a response to the way we live and want to know what we are doing wrong and how to change direction; if you are already a part of those dread statistics but don’t want to be a ‘victim of cancer’; or if you are a ‘cancer survivor’ who wants to know what you can do to minimise the chances of a relapse - then Anti Cancer is a ‘must read’.

Healing Cancer: The Top 12 Non-Toxic Cancer Treatments to Help You Beat Cancer
Simon & Enrida Kelly. Pub: The London Press 2004. ISBN 0-95446-368-4

This is an intelligently laid out book that provides cancer patients with a fast-track to devising a personal unorthodox treatment protocol. Its strengths lie as much in what has been left out as in the excellent material included. This slim, readable paperback aims to quickly direct readers towards a promising course of treatment. If you're looking for encyclopaedic coverage of alternative cancer treatments, then this is not the book for you.

The Kellys have honed down a selected group of therapies and laid them out in three sections:

• Supportive, immune-boosting, detoxifying, self-administered treatments
• Anticancer therapies that can be self-administered with professional guidance
• Anticancer therapies given by professionals (possibly requiring self-administered follow-up)

They recommend all patients to do all, or certainly most, of the treatments in the first group, to do as many as possible from the second group, and to choose one of the major anticancer treatments from the third group. In this way, patients are directed towards what has emerged as the 'best practise' of a broad, multi-pronged attack on their condition.

The carefully selected major therapies are well described and backed up with a personal interview with the key practitioner or developer of that treatment. This 'from the horse's mouth' view is very helpful in making what can be a tough, and possibly life-saving, choice between treatments.

The Kellys have been criticised for the omission of key treatments such as the Gerson, Contreras or Gonzalez protocols, and there could be grounds for this. Whilst Gerson was both genius and pioneer in laying the foundations for much of the current alternative and complementary approaches to health - the regeneration of the whole body system as opposed to the treatment of disease or symptoms - recent developments have moved away from the more 'one treatment fits all' Gerson approach.

Today's pioneers are leaning toward individually-tailored programmes developed to address the lack of consistency of response to Gerson, despite its undoubted successes. The best of current 'metabolic' programmes, such as Gonzalez's, are sophisticated developments that are having notable successes - hence the case for their inclusion in section three of this book.

All the necessary information to pursue any of the treatments is included. Budgetary considerations are a major factor for most people, and detailed information on treatment costs is included, along with an appendix of useful contacts and resources. The chapter entitled 'Perspectives on Chemotherapy' provides a head-on look at the facts, not from a point of knocking orthodox treatment but from one of being realistic about its potential to help the reader.

Despite the reservation regarding possible omissions, this book is highly recommended to anyone serious about maximising their chances of surviving cancer for its succinct clarity in easing the burden of choices and research for the reader.

How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine
Dr Michael Murray et al. Pub: Riverhead Books 2002. ISBN 1-57322-343-3

Anyone wanting to avoid or take on their cancer by way of diet and supplementation would be hard pressed to find a better manual than this. Compiled by four doctors, it is easy to read without being simplistic, evidence-based and authoritative.

The book is sensibly divided into three sections - Prevention, Treatment and Coping with Side Effects of Orthodox Treatments, and gives sensible advice on precautions and interactions.

A self-assessment questionnaire enables the reader to gauge how at risk they are, and simultaneously informs them of the risk factors they are exposing themselves to, and of the mechanisms of cancer. The fundamentals of a sound cancer-preventive diet are laid out, with recommendations for additional supplementation to counter unavoidable risks and to make up for some of the shortcomings of 'modern' agriculture.

Most usefully, specific advice for prevention of particular cancers that may be a known risk for the reader is included. Many practitioners would not now support the advice given re sunlight exposure, which is founded in the era of sun avoidance - it is now considered too important a source of vital Vitamin D to be avoided, particularly in cloud-bound Britain. Sensible precautions against burning or over-exposure, however, are vital. It would have been good also to hear their take on cooking methods, particularly the use of microwaves as well as the potential of thermography as an alternative to X-ray mammography as a means of screening for breast cancer.

For the cancer patient, there is an overview of conventional treatment options and strategic advice on dealing with family, friends and specialists. The mind/body connection and the importance of exercise are highlighted for their key role in any cancer strategy. Basic dietary recommendations for all cancer patients are followed by 'The Super Eight' - eight natural products that the authors have found to score highest in a range of criteria from clinical effectiveness through to safety.

An excellent and comprehensive section outlines strategies, in detail, for coping with most of the side and after-effects of orthodox treatment; and a mine of useful information is contained in the appendices, which includes menus and meal plans, supplement plans, daily routines etc.

Finally and importantly, there is an open letter to physicians from the four authors, provided as a support to patients wishing to broaden the scope of their treatment, but also to pursue the 'best practice' of openness with their physician, who sadly may not be as supportive of these approaches as one might hope!

This is an American book, but there is very little content that does not apply equally well in the UK. Thoroughly recommended.

Say No to Cancer
Patrick Holford. Pub:Piatkus 1999. ISBN 0 7499 1953 1

Whilst not the latest 'nutrition for cancer' book on the block, Say No to Cancer is still an excellent starting point for anyone wishing either to tackle cancer head on with every resource at their disposal, or who simply wants to do all they can to avoid this most fearsome 'lifestyle' disease of our era.

Patrick Holford is one of our foremost crusaders for nutritional revolution. His starting point is a certainty of the enormous part that poor nutrition plays in the explosion of cancer over the 20th century and his faith in the preventive and restorative powers of high quality nutrition. Furthermore, he is convinced that it is simply no longer sufficient to avoid junk food and to eat well, since it is now virtually impossible to obtain food with high nutritional value that is free from toxins.

Add to this the increasing levels of carcinogens we are constantly exposed to every day from plastics, exhaust fumes, cleaning products etc, as well as radiation, and you reach his rationale for eating the best and then supplementing this with essential selected vitamins and minerals. By the time you finish this book you will be in no doubt that we now live in a war zone - to stay healthy in our hostile environment, we need to fight back.

Holford describes in layman's terms current understanding of the ways in which cancer is caused, and goes on to look at the major 'dos and don'ts' of eating in relation to this. He then tackles the lifestyle choices that can limit your exposure to carcinogens - this will be an eye-opener to anyone still under the illusion that governments are keeping us safe from harmful chemicals.

Holford goes to great lengths to dispel the media scare story 'myths' cooked up around certain supplements and cancer, before devoting attention to the benefits that careful supplementation with well targetted nutrients can bring. He also, importantly, seeks to clarify the synergistic manner in which they operate.

Included is a short chapter entitled 'Herbs and Natural Cancer Remedies' that can provide a useful, but necessarily lightweight starting point for looking into other alternative methods of tackling cancer. Example recipes and menus are followed by summaries of supplement regimes and lifestyle changes. The book ends with excellent sections detailing specific nutritional support for orthodox treatments - damage limitation, immune system recovery, minimisation of side effects and enhancement of treatment action - as well as for each of the main cancer types.

Say No to Cancer is a well-researched and well-referenced resource. Many chapters end with a helpful bullet-point summary and useful tables are included showing, for example, which nutrients are specifically known to be useful for each cancer type. An easy read and excellent value for money.

 

Conventional Cancer Cures - What's the Alternative?
Chris Woollams. Pub: Health Issues Jan 2005. ISBN 0-9542968-7-7

Available from Cancer Active: Magazines and Publications.
­ 
This, the fifth book from Chris Woollams, is mainly assembled from a collection of articles originally included in his ICON magazine. Hence it actually has several authors, some of them at the forefront of developing cancer treatments. Its magazine origins make for a relatively easy read, despite covering a very wide range of alternative treatments from around the world, sometimes in some detail.

As Chris has a background in bio-chemistry, he brings a keen personal interest in the mechanism of treatments, particularly vitamins and supplements. All the articles are, in common with the rest of his work, well researched, although this is by no means a text book, and it is not referenced.

Amongst the staple alternatives, there are also some lesser-known jewels of information to be had here, notably the article on Phenergan - a venerable and completely safe drug developed for other purposes that turns out to have potential against even very late-stage cancers. Perhaps the best feature of this drug is its ridiculously low cost - a rare quality that renders it accessible to anyone.

There are some useful contact details at the back of the book, but sadly no index.