Cancer and Antibiotics
%The overuse of antibiotics has been a concern of the natural healthcare professionals for many years. Antibiotics are very useful for bacterial infections, yes, but there are effective and safer alternatives. Further, it is rare that a blood test is done to confirm bacterial versus viral infections before an antibiotic is prescribed.
We have been lulled into thinking that antibiotics are totally safe and that there is no reason to use natural medicines to handle an infection, bacterial or otherwise.
A good reason to steer away from the easy use of antibiotics was highlighted in a research project from Finland that looked at 3 million patients’ records and compared the frequency of antibiotics usage with cancer incidence. It was discovered that the more frequent the antibiotic usage, the higher the incidence of cancer. Specifically, the increases found were as follows:
Lung cancer 79%
Prostate cancer 39%
Colon cancer 15%
Breast cancer 14%
The reason this is true is that antibiotics kill bacterial…ALL bacteria, including our natural bacterial flora in the intestines. This natural bacterial flora is the basis for our immune systems. A healthy immune system is the only defense we have against cancer.
One natural medicine we use extensively for any kind of infection is Andrographis Complex. We recommend that all our patients have this in their natural medicine cabinet.
www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/2004/antibioticsQA
http://www.naturalnews.com/029084_antibiotics_skin_cancer.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june04/cancer_02-17.html