Book Review Graphic Cancer and Natural Medicine
Cancer and Natural Medicine
A Textbook of Basic Science and Clinical Research
by John Boik
(Oregon Medical Press: $45.00; 315 pp.)

Reviewed by Al Stone


Back in the days of the barefoot doctors East/West integration probably meant the openness of the practitioners opinions to deviate from the medical traditions of their family or lineage to that of another. Perhaps it was the willingness of the doctor who used herbs that grew near the Yellow River to incorporate herbs that grew far away near the Bramaputra River.

Now, the divergence between Eastern and Western medicine comes from a more essential philosophical difference. The gap calls for pioneers to create bridges so that two divergent cultures and medical philosophies can better benefit from the research and understanding of health care that each has to offer.

The new book, Cancer and Natural Medicine, represents one pioneering effort on the part of Mr. John Boik. He brings to the table extensive research into the causes of cancer, the efficacy of treatment with natural medicine, and theories supporting how these natural remedies might work.

Written for laypersons with a solid understanding of Western science, biochemistry most specifically, Cancer and Natural Medicine explores cancer from three perspectives.

The first part represents the basic scientific understanding of cancer, how it occurs and up-to-date theories describing why.

In this section, I learned about the different treatment principles with which Western medicine approaches cancer. With the better understanding of these principles that are specific to the numerous types of neoplasms, a practitioner of complementary medicine can better anticipate the patient's needs as the patient makes their way through the healing process whether or not they are being treated with Western medicine.

For instance, there may be some therapies in which the usual (Chinese herbal) blood activators might be contraindicated. One of the methods by which Western medicine is researching ways to destroy or control the growth of a tumor is by limiting its angiogenesis, or its ability to vascularize itself. Without new vessels for blood supply, the tumor will not grow. If the vascularization is destroyed, then the tumor dies. One possible interpretation of the (Western) action of Blood activating herbs could be described as the growth of new arterioles. If the Western treatment principle of your cancer patient is to limit angiogenesis, then the complimentary medicine practitioner might choose to limit the intake of blood activators.

Although this advice isn't specifically given in Cancer and Natural Medicine, the richness of this textbook is reflected in the numerous ideas that it gave me while reading it.

As an introduction to oncology, chapters presented in Cancer and Natural Medicine include:

The second section of the book describes the many natural therapies, from nutrients to flavonoids and acupuncture to meditation that have proven to promote some sort of anti-neoplastic effect.

These Chapters include:

Finally, in the third section of the book, we find clinical applications of what has been presented in the book. Although specific acupoints or herbal formulas are not given, there are tables upon tables with which the creative practitioner can integrate past experience with the information presented in this book.

The herbs are listed not by their traditional Chinese functions or properties, but by their constituent ingredients whose anti-neoplastic actions have been discussed elsewhere in the book.

Additionally, there is another table in which the herbs are categorized by their actions, be they inhibiting angiogenesis or stimulating the immune system.

The following represents the actions listed on this table full of natural cancer remedies, many of which are made up of traditional Chinese herbs.

Interestingly, Mr. Boik begins this section with information on research design and some sources for information on how to conduct research on natural agents' efficacy on cancer. This whole book is essentially a compilation of existing research that has been logically organized and systematically presented in such a manner that every step Mr. Boik makes has the support of one of hundreds of published research articles. It is no secret that, although Mr. Boik has done an excellent job of compiling a great deal of research, the discipline of TCM still lags behind in credible research that can be respected by our allopathic peers in the West. No doubt, Mr. Boik has come to this same conclusion and hopes to provide practitioners with some ideas as to how to change this.

Best of all, research doesn't need to mean a quarter of a million dollars or a super colliding semiconductor smashing atoms at near the speed of light. Research can be made up of as something as simple as case studies, and this is an activity with which we can all donate information to the growing body of credible research regarding TCM in the West.

In all, I learned a great deal about Western medicine's approach to cancer from this book. I also learned of Western science's interpretation of many Chinese herbs and how they effect neoplasia.

However, the East/West integration as he presents it is one sided. That being the Western interpretation of Chinese herbs and other natural substances. There is another direction that integration can go, a direction that Mr. Boik's book does not explore.

For those of us who naturally apply Yin/Yang and Five Element Theory to everything we learn, there is a very fertile ground that Mr. Boik has exposed to us, and that is The Neoplastic Cell.

To my knowledge, East/West integration has never looked at Western medical observations from the Oriental perspective. For instance, cellular differentiation is one way in which Western medicine is attempting to fight neoplastic growth. If the body can create a neoplastic cell out of a "normal" cell, perhaps with a little shove from behind, the neoplastic cell can "differentiate" back (or forward, depending on how you look at it) into what it was originally intended to be in the first place. With this in mind, Western medicine is researching different therapies designed to stimulate this cellular differentiation.

But, if we apply Five Element theory, perhaps there is a lack of Wood energy that keeps the cell from fully differentiating. So, could herbs that tonify the Wood element's tendency toward growth be employed to assist a cell in differentiation?

Just a few things that came to me while I was reading this book. If for nothing else, this book will get you thinking, and for this reason, I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to read it.

-al stone.


Book Cover There is no commercial relationship between myself and John Boik, author of Cancer and Natural Medicine, however, out of courtesy to those of you who would like to know more, here's a link to his book's web page.

Yin/Yang Symbol Acupuncture.com

Contacting Acupuncture.com...