Alternative Therapies Can't Cure Cancer
Alternative cancer therapies can't cure cancer but, they may help. We are big fans of Aromatherapy and essential oils but, it is important to be realistic about its effects. Which is to say that they are not a cure for serious diseases.
Yet, they could help relieve some of the treatment side effects. A recent study by Mayo Clinic shows a trend of people looking for complementary therapies during cancer treatments.
Alternative treatments are unproven and can be dangerous. So, they've put together a generally safe list of 10 complementary approaches to consider. Check it out here.
These alternative treatments do little to affect or cure cancer in any meaningful way. They should be viewed as complementary in their treatment. With a simple aim to ease symptoms or side effects like anxiety, stress, fatigue, nausea when patients go through their treatment.
What about Aromatherapy?
In case you are unfamiliar with Aromatherapy, we've written a brief introduction to Aromatherapy.
The Mayo Clinic describes Aromatherapy in their top 10 list as the "use of fragrant oils to provide a calming sensation. Oils, infused with scents such as lavender, can be applied to your skin during a massage, or the oils can be added to bath water. Fragrant oils can also be heated to release their scents into the air. Aromatherapy may be helpful in relieving nausea, pain and stress."
"Therapeutic Essential Oils"
No agency or recognised organisation "certifies" or "grades" essential oils as "medicinal grade," "therapeutic grade," or "aromatherapy grade".
The term is used in marketing by companies like doTERRA. In the absence of an accepted standard, they created their own testing process, calling it CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade®. At best it is a quality assurance test, at worst it is a meaningless marketing slogan.
Is there any research?
It is difficult to fund conventional drug studies as these are generally performed by the pharmaceutical industry.
Because essential oils are natural plant-based substances they are hard to patent. This limits the interest by pharmaceuticals which in turn limits the research.
As essential oils are made up of hundreds of constituents it makes it hard to determine which part is responsible for a particular outcome.
The research on essential oils that is available does show positive effects for infections, pain, anxiety, depression, tumours, premenstrual syndrome, nausea, and others.
We have created a list of all the essential oil research we know about and will update it when new studies become available.
Always get advice
Talk to a licensed Aromatherapy practitioner before starting any treatment. Especially, if under the supervision of a medical professional.
This is because essential oils can cause allergic reactions if not applied correctly. They can also interact with medications so it is important to get qualified advice.
