Do detoxification, compresses with aloe vera, comfrey and elm or compresses with finely chopped garlic and castor oil fight breast cancer better than surgery? No, that's not true: There is no scientific evidence that using compresses with natural remedies has any therapeutic benefits on women with breast cancer. Aloe vera and castor oil are not effective against cancer, and comfrey is carcinogenic.
The claim appeared in a video on TikTok on February 23, 2024, that was later removed but is archived here. It began (translated from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff):
Breast cancer
Don't go under the knife. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. In addition to detoxification techniques, we also use aloe, comfrey and slippery elm compresses. We also use finely chopped garlic and castor oil compresses.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Feb 27 19:47:52 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories conducted a Google News search with the keywords "detox AND aloe vera AND comfrey AND elm AND garlic AND castor oil AND breast cancer" (archived here) on February 28, 2024. No peer-reviewed study or reputable article was found to confirm the claim.
According to the Cancer Research UK website (archived here), there is no scientific evidence that aloe can treat cancer. Instead, aloe can cause serious side effects.
Comfrey, or symphytum officinale, (archived here) contains unsaturated pyrrolizidine alkaloids (archived here), which are hepatotoxic (creates liver injury), mutagenic (creates mutations) and carcinogenic. In 2001, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration along with the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition advised all dietary supplement manufacturers to remove products containing comfrey from the market as they pose a serious risk to health.
Elm is one of the ingredients of Essiac (archived here), an herbal formula used as an alternative cancer treatment. Essiac contains four botanicals: burdock root, sorrel, elm and rhubarb. A study on the effect of Essiac in women with breast cancer (archived here) showed that it had no significant positive effect on health-related quality of life or mood. On the contrary, Essiac appeared to harm their health.
Studies on the protective effects of garlic against various cancers show mixed results. Even though some studies such as this one (archived here) have shown a positive effect of garlic consumption on breast cancer, there is insufficient scientific evidence that garlic is more effective against breast cancer than surgery.
Breast cancer surgery (archived here) is the primary treatment for most types of breast cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (archived here), the five-year relative survival rate for people undergoing medical breast cancer treatment is 91 percent. The survival rate is 99 percent if the cancer is localized only in the breast at the time of surgery.
Lead Stories debunked the claim that oil compresses can cure cancer in March 2023.
