Thanks for sharing this with us davek, it was a sad but interesting read and I can understand your reaction to this.

I'm not sure if you've come across this on our blog already but following on from the story above I thought this may be of interest to you.

Kind Regards, 

Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

Yup - I'm a regular reader of the science blog :-)

Hi,

Not at all offended but there is a clear distinction between alternative and complementary medicine used and shared by well-meaning people who don't plan to make a huge profit and fake medicine sold at a massive profit which can and does poison people.

Some of the drugs we now call chemo are refined versions of chemicals originally extracted from plants and fungi. Who knows, within a few years similar drugs may be developed from cannabis oil or hempseed oil? One thing we can be sure of, injecting people with baking soda in line with mumbo jumbo about changing the pH level of blood will never be adopted because it is based on a false premise. The pH level of our blood is naturally set within very narrow limits and our bodies work hard to keep it within tolerance. Any attempts to change this put strain on our bodies and risk organ failure or death.

I find anyone who seeks to profit from the desperation of people who have cancer by peddling false hope and fake medicine simply despicable. $1,000 per day for an injection of baking soda which costs a few cents is ludicrous.

Best wishes

Dave

Agh - the theory is wrong and has been disproved by real scientists so many times. No cells thrive in an alkaline environment and the human body regulates the pH between very tight limits, stray outside them and cells die off. This is how they rip people off, using mumbo jumbo mixed with scientific sounding words applied out of context. These people are neither scientists nor medics - which is why they are being prosecuted. In the UK it has been illegal to sell cancer "cures" since 1939. 

This extract sums the evidence up nicely 

" Manipulating pH Levels through Diet

The hype: Based on the scientific observation that cancer cells thrive in an acidic environment — meaning low pH levels — some people contend that highly “acidic” foods such as meat, cheese, and grain products raise the risk of cancer by reducing pH levels in the blood. They claim that eating “alkaline” foods such as fruit, green vegetables, and other plant-based products discourages the growth of cancer cells by raising blood pH levels and tout the benefits of the alkaline diet (also known as the alkaline ash diet or alkaline acid diet).

The evidence: Cancer cells create an acidic microenvironment due to a high metabolic rate. Cancer cells can’t live in a highly alkaline environment, but neither can healthy cells. Your body works to keep pH levels constant, and changing your diet is not going to substantially change the pH levels of your blood, which are tightly regulated by the kidneys and lungs regardless of foods consumed.

The pH of bodily fluids, such as saliva and urine, does change temporarily depending on the foods you eat, but that doesn’t affect blood pH levels (or, hence, the environment of cancer cells in the body). In fact, any significant deviation in blood pH levels can cause serious, even life-threatening conditions known as acidosis (low pH) or alkalosis (high pH)

The verdict: “There is no evidence that changing your diet to alter pH levels affects cancer growth,” Dr. Yeung says. “The actual science has been misinterpreted. Changing the pH in your saliva doesn’t mean your blood pH changes. Some patients try using chemicals to modify their blood pH, but that can be extremely dangerous.” www.mskcc.org/.../truth-behind-three-natural-cures

Hi,

You're right, these are reviews about alkaline diets, rather than the use of baking soda as an anti-cancer agent via intravenous infusion which Young is accused of doing. 

The conclusions of the papers are common sense and the regimes reviewed are at worst harmless. The first conclusion saying basically that the diets examined include increasing the vegetable element of your diet which is good for you and the second saying that the results of the review were inconclusive. 

Young has been convicted before - this news article from the US gives a summary of the last trial where he was found guilty on two of three counts. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-criminal-trial-robert-young-ph-miracle-2016feb03-story.html 

Cheers

Dave