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    • Breuss cancer cure
    • Carctol
      • What is Carctol?
      • How well does Carctol work?
      • New article
      • Carctol conclusions
    • Co-enzyme Q10
    • Gerson diet
    • Green tea for prevention
    • Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet
    • Megamin
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• CAM and the law
• Prevalence of CAM use

What is Carctol?

Scientific name / brand name / common name

Carctol is a product made of a mixture of eight herbal remedies:

• Indian sarsaparilla (Smilax Indicus L.),
• Blistering ammania (Ammani Vesicatoria),
• Puncture vine (Tribulus Terrestris),
• Chinese sarsaparilla (Smilax China L.),
• Garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.),
• Java pepper (Piper Cubeba L.),
• Himalayan rhubarb (Rheum Emodi Wall.) and
• Blepharis Edulis (Blepharis edulis P.).

Ingredients

Carctol contains a mixture of powdered Indian herbal extracts. A standard recommended daily dosage for adults is between 4 and 8 capsules. Each 560 mg capsule contains 20 mg Indian sarsaparilla (Hemidesmus Indicus), 20 mg Blistering ammani (Ammani Vesicatoria), 20 mg Puncture vine (Tribulus Terrestris), 80 mg Chinese sarsaparilla (Smilax China L.), 20 mg Garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.), 120 mg Java pepper (Piper Cubeba L.),20 mg Himalayan rhubarb (Rheum Emodi Wall) and 200 mg Blepharis Edulis (Blepharis edulis P.). No independent analyses of the product are available.

Application and dosage

Carctol is supposed to be taken in parallel with an acid-free, vegetarian diet and needs to be accompanied by digestion-assisting enzymes. Additionally, patients are advised to drink 3-5 litres of boiled and refrigerated water each day.

Advocates suggest that Carctol must be administered strictly, as per dosage schedule, for at least 60 days for the initial response and to then continue as per the physician’s advice (ref 2). Supposedly, Carctol capsules are to be continued for six more months and daily dosage is not to be interrupted.

History / providers

Carctol was developed by the Indian doctor Nandlan Tiwari. He investigated the effect of indigenous herbs in the forest of Assam, developed the herbal mixture and allegedly tested it on cancer patients for over 20 years. It is claimed that the remedy has also been tested in the UK. However, no publications exist in the medical literature. In Europe, Carctol is only available through specific UK doctors who prescribe the medicine as an Ayurvedic cancer treatment. However, "Ayurvedic medicine" implies it has a track record of traditional use, but this is not the case. A list of these doctors can be found on the official Carctol website www.carctolhome.com/contact.htm. The doctor will ask the client to sign a consent form indicating s/he understands the status of the medicine in that it is an herbal dietary supplement. In Europe, Carctol cannot be bought from unauthorised sources.

Claims of efficacy / mechanisms of action / alleged indication

Carctol is advocated by its promoters as: an adjuvant treatment to prevent cancer, as a means of providing protection for smokers, and as a treatment of whooping cough, swallowing difficulties, appetite loss, menstrual disorders and alcohol-related liver damage. It is also recommended for a sole treatment of all types of cancer in cases where "the limits of conventional medicine have been reached" (ref 1). According to the promoters, 30 to 40% of people using Carctol as a cancer treatment "will respond to it". It is, however, not recommended as a substitute for conventional treatment.

The individual herbs do not have any known anti-carcinogenic properties. However, supporters of the remedy claim that it is the combination of herbs (through a synergistic effect) that causes the anti-carcinogenic activity of Carctol. Allegedly, laboratory-based toxicological testing of Carctol at the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences and the UK, Lyne, Martin and Radford laboratories in London has shown it to be free of toxic bacteria, but no pre-clinical study assessing the toxicity of bacteria in Carctol has been published in the medical literature.

Carctol is claimed to work by changing the pH in the body from acid to alkaline by creating an alkaline environment within the body, in which acidic cancer cells cannot survive. This acidity theory dates back to ancient Greek medicine when it was believed that the body consists of body humours. Carctol is claimed to be a detoxification method, which works by excreting toxins from the body, via the kidneys, liver and bowels. It is claimed to strengthen the immune system, neutralise toxicity from chemo- and radiotherapy, support kidney and liver function and improve digestion. It is also suggested that by administering Carctol during radio- and chemotherapy, patients are prevented from becoming neutropenic. None of these claims are supported by data nor are they physiologically plausible.

Prevalence of use

No data exists to estimate the use of Carctol by cancer patients.

Legal issues

Carctol is imported into the UK by Cankut Herbs under medical supervision and is classified as an unlicensed medicine by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Because five of the eight herbal ingredients are classified as medicines in the UK, the preparation cannot be advertised. In the UK, there is a list of doctors, which prescribe an unlicensed medicine if they believe it may be effective to the patient without it having to be trialed and licensed (ref 1). The MHRA states that if a company places a manufactured herbal remedy on the market and supplies the product to herbalists, then in principle such a product would need to have either a marketing authorisation or traditional use registration http://www.mhra.gov.uk. This is in accordance with the new European Directives and Regulation of herbs.

Costs and expenditures

A month’s supply of Carctol costs between Euro 65 (£45) for the lowest dose and Euro 130 (£90) for the highest dose and one tub contains 120 capsules (ref 4). Four tubs will last around two months, the time span recommended for using the product initially. The digestive enzymes patients are recommended to take at the same time cost Euro 14 (£10) per month.

References

1. Carctol home website http://www.carctolhome.com (accessed on 21.03.05)

2. Anticancer herb website http://www.anticancerherb.com (accessed on 21.03.05)

3. Guardian, Sept 21st 2004 http://society.guardian.co.uk/cancer/story/0,8150,1309175,00.html (accessed on 08.04.05)

4. Cancer research UK website http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/ (accessed 21.03.05)