Can b17 cure cancer? asked for someone with stage 4 colon cancer.

I : I wish there were a reliable cure for stage IV colon cancer, but unfortunately there is not, and vitamin b17 is most definitely not one. Vitamin b17 is another name for laetrile. This named was coined in the 50's in an attempt to overcome drug regulations and increase sales based on the popularity of vitamins. Laetrile, or amygdalin as it is also called, is not a vitamin by any definition of the biochemical term. There is no scientific evidence that laetrile or vitamin b17 has any anti-cancer benefits. I share many patients with naturopathic oncologists who prescribe nutritional and herbal therapies, but i've yet to see any of them consider laetrile effective. In the very special circumstance when a stage IV colon cancer patient has only a small number of metastasis in the liver only, there is a possibility of being cured by a combination of surgery and other therapies. Most of the time in stage IV disease, the cancer has spread widely in the body and it is impossible for the body or doctors to get rid of every last bad cell. There are however, many new and effective treatments that have significantly lengthened the amount of time patients with this disease can live and with a good quality of life. Some of these treatments are chemotherapy. Many people forget that one of the most effective chemotherapy drugs for colon cancer, irinotecan (camptosar), is a slightly modified form of a compound originally found in the bark of the "happy tree" (camptotheca) which grows in southern china. Other effective treatments are special purified antibodies (which are part of our immune system). One class of these antibodies attack specific changes in the cancer cells that distinguish them from normal cells and can stop the cancer cells from growing so fast. Another class of these antibodies help stop the cancer cells from hijacking the normal body to build new blood vessels to feed the cancer. More information can be found via the links below. I wish you or your loved on the best in their struggle with colon cancer.

No: B17 and any other vitamins are helpful support for patients for cancer, but are not curative treatment.