Young cancer patients are ignoring medical advice and choosing ‘diet-based’ treatment approach

[progressoid]

In an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, Melbourne doctor Ian Haines wrote that cancer patients need to be warned there’s no proof they can be cured by diet.

But vulnerable and desperate patients continue to opt for them, often not seeking medical help until their potentially curable disease has spread and become incurable.

Patients are researching their diseases online and find themselves being “constantly beckoned, assailed and seduced” by celebrities and personalities with glowing testimonials about new dietary “breakthroughs” that will cure their cancer, wrote Dr Haines.

He cites an example of a woman who claimed to have cured herself of thyroid cancer by eating pineapples.

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Dr Haines says he is frustrated with people who believe oncologists only support drug-based treatments because they are in bed with the pharmaceutical industry.

“You’ve got all these conspiracy theories that think we’re in cahoots with the drug companies and that’s why we advocate medicine. Some people just get inundated with these conspiracy theories and they’re hard to negate,” he said.

“It’s frustrating, but at the end of the day my job is to help people make an informed choice.”