When it comes to cancer treatment, it’s important to remember that science needs to back it up. Fake “cancer cures” and alternative therapies have gained a lot of attention from the public, but nothing beats standard cancer care. Actress Ricki Lake promoted a favorite product of hers with a controversial ingredient that claims to kill cancer cells. SurvivorNet is setting the facts straight.
On Instagram, Lake, 51, shared a photo promoting Om Edibles, a cannabis company which stocks both THC and CBD products including bath salts. Lake says she uses the products, and while describing them, she points out that the company’s salts and essential oils contain a number of ingredients including apricot kernel oil. However, she goes on to make a bold statement concerning Vitamin B17, which is within the oil.
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“Fake Cancer Cures” are More Common than You Think
Fake “cancer cures” often pop up online, and people have claimed items ranging from bitter melon, to high-dose Vitamin C, asparagus, and more. Anyone can go online and say they have found “the cure” for cancer, and often these claims go viral across the internet and shared multiple times. Social media platforms have noticed this, and while Facebook and Google have announced that they plan to crack down on these fake cancer cure ads and posts, they still pop up often and circulate widely.
These fake cures are often referred to as alternative therapies, or alternative medicine. Despite no scientific evidence to back the up, a survey from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) found that nearly 40% of Americans believe alternative therapy alone can cure cancer. However, that can have deadly consequences, seeing as a Yale study published in JAMA Oncology found that people who decided to go the alternative therapy route were more likely to die.
Dr. Jason Westin explains why you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet
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