Sue G
FYI, since you specifically mentioned macrobiotics, here is the Quackwatch summary of Macrobitic diets as a cancer cure/TX/recurrence preventer.
[quote]
Macrobiotics is a quasireligious philosophical system that advocates a semivegetarian diet. ("Macrobiotic" means "way of long life.") Macrobiotic diets have been promoted for maintaining general health and for preventing and "relieving" cancer and other diseases. The optimal diet is said to balance "yin" and "yang" foods. It is composed of whole grains (50 to 60% of each meal), vegetables (25 to 30% of each meal), whole beans or soybean-based products (5 to 10% of daily food), nuts and seeds (small amounts as snacks), miso soup, herbal teas, and small amounts of white meat or seafood once or twice weekly. Some macrobiotic diets contain adequate amounts of nutrients, but others do not.
Macrobiotic practitioners may base their recommendations on "pulse diagnosis" and other unscientific procedures related to Chinese medicine [44]. Pulse diagnosis supposedly involves six pulses at each wrist that correspond to twelve internal spheres of bodily function. Other diagnostic methods include "ancestral diagnosis," "astrological diagnosis," "aura and vibrational diagnosis," "environmental diagnosis" (including consideration of celestial influences" and tidal motions), and "spiritual diagnosis" (an evaluation of "atmospheric vibrational conditions" to identify spiritual influences, including "visions of the future").
Today's leading proponent is Michio Kushi, founder and president of the Kushi Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. According to Institute publications, the macrobiotic way of life should include chewing food at least 50 times per mouthful (or until it becomes liquid), not wearing synthetic or woolen clothing next to the skin, avoiding long hot baths or showers, having large green plants in your house to enrich the oxygen content of the air, and singing a happy song every day. Kushi claims that cancer is largely due to improper diet, thinking, and way of life, and can be influenced by changing these factors. He recommends yin foods for cancers due to excess yang, and yang foods for tumors that are predominantly yin. His books contain case histories of people whose cancers have supposedly disappeared after they adopted macrobiotic eating. However, the only reports of efficacy are testimonials by patients, many of whom received responsible therapy [45]. The diet itself can cause cancer patients to undergo serious weight loss [46]. In July 2001, Kushi's wife and colleague Aveline died of cervical cancer. According to an Associated Press obituary, she underwent standard radiation treatment when the cancer was discovered. When the cancer spread to her bones and she was told that no standard treatment was available, relied on acupuncture and "Eastern" methods [47].[/quote]
