Essiac
This page tells you about the use of Essiac in people with cancer. There is information about
'Essiac' is a herbal remedy originally from Canada. It was first published by a Canadian nurse called Renee Caisse. She named the remedy after herself - Essiac is her surname spelled backwards. Other names for Essiac include ‘Flor essence’ and ‘tea of life’. Essiac is now owned by a commercial company and their lawyers require us to say that "Essiac is the registered trademark of Essiac Products Inc" whenever we mention it.
Essiac is a mixture of roots, bark and leaves. The 4 main ingredients are Burdock root, Sheep Sorrel, Slippery Elm and Indian Rhubarb root. The mixture is boiled to make a drinkable brown liquid.
A modified Essiac product (Flor-essence) also includes additional herbs - Watercress, Blessed thistle, Red clover and Kelp.
Essiac is claimed to be a miracle cure for cancer. There have been reports over the years of cancers completely disappearing after taking Essiac. But in many cases, it turned out that either the diagnosis was wrong in the first place, or that conventional cancer treatment was more likely to have been the reason for the 'cure'. There is no scientific evidence to show that Essiac can treat, prevent or cure cancer or any other serious illness in humans.
Essiac is not accepted or licensed as a drug. It is usually sold as a nutritional supplement. We don’t recommend that you replace your conventional cancer treatment with any type of alternative cancer therapy, such as Essiac. Or that you use Essiac alongside your cancer treatment.
Although there is no scientific evidence that Essiac can help treat cancer or control its symptoms, many people with cancer still use herbal remedies such as Essiac. Reasons for this include
People also take Essiac
- To relieve pain
- To shrink a tumour
- Improving health, energy levels and well being
- To detoxify and cleanse the body
- Hope of living longer
If cancer can’t be cured
Your doctor may tell you that there are no further conventional cancer treatments available that could cure your cancer. But treatments to control your symptoms are still possible. The news that your cancer can’t be cured is very difficult to accept. In this situation, it isn’t surprising that some people consider using alternative therapies, including Essiac.
Boosting the immune system
Some people believe that certain alternative or complementary therapies can boost your immune system and help fight your cancer. There is no scientific evidence to prove this, although this may be partly due to the lack of research.
Controlling or curing your cancer
Some people promote alternative therapies such as Essiac to cure or treat cancer. But, again, there is no scientific evidence to prove that Essiac can do this.
If you are interested in trying Essiac, or any other alternative therapy, talk to your doctor first. We don’t recommend that you replace your conventional cancer treatment with any type of alternative cancer therapy such as Essiac. Please also look in the section on Essiac side effects on this page.
Most of the websites promoting Essiac base their claims on unsupported opinions and anecdotal evidence. There have been no randomised clinical trials to prove whether the health claims made by the promoters of Essiac can help to treat or cure cancer.
In 1959, and again in the 1970s, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre tested Essiac in the laboratory. They found it had no anti-cancer properties. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA was asked to test Essiac in the early 1980s. They said it did not appear to have any anti-cancer effect, but did not seem to do any harm either. One study in 2006 found that when Essiac was added to breast cancer cells in test tubes, it stimulated the cancer cells to grow.
Researchers are not sure how the 4 main plants that make up Essiac react in the human body. A Canadian study looked at 87 patients with advanced cancers who took Essiac. The study reported that 3 patients had some benefit, although all of them had also had conventional treatment, which could have explained their improvement.
The Complementary and Alternative Medicine Evidence Online (CAMEOL) database reviews the evidence from scientific research on how well some complementary therapies work. When they looked at Essiac they were unable to find any published clinical studies in cancer patients. The CAM-cancer organisation have assessed Essiac and Flor-Essence. They say that there is no evidence that Essiac works and that some of its ingredients can cause harm.
You can buy Essiac as a powder. You make it into a tea and drink it on an empty stomach, 2 hours before meals. The manufacturers recommend that you take 1 to 12 ounces (30 to 350mg) of this drink every day.
You can also buy it as a liquid and mix it with spring water or distilled water and keep it in the fridge. The recommended dose in this form is usually about 1 ounce, taken up to 3 times a day. The manufacturers say you can take Essiac for a period of 1 to 2 years.
There are reported side effects from taking Essiac for long periods of time. These include
- Diarrhoea or constipation
- Feeling and being sick
- Liver and kidney damage
- Decreased blood sugar levels
- Low levels of potassium in the blood
- Skin redness and inflammation
- Severe allergic reaction
Essiac is not recommended in people who have kidney or liver problems. This is because the plants in Essiac contain chemicals called oxalates which can damage the liver and kidneys.
Although there is no research study, there is a case report suggesting that Essiac may slow down the rate at which your body gets rid of some drugs. This can mean that affected drugs are more potent - or that their effects last longer in your body. The case report suggests that Essiac may block liver enzymes called cytochrome p450. These are important in getting some chemotherapy drugs out of your system. We can’t say that one case report is hard evidence. But it is safest to talk to your cancer specialist about this if you are thinking of taking Essiac at the same time as having chemotherapy.
Compared to some other alternative remedies, Essiac isn’t expensive. One month’s supply of Essiac tea costs around £6:00. The suppliers also recommend that you buy special bottles and an infuser as a starter kit to make the tea. This costs around £10:00.
Most websites that sell Essiac products promote it as a treatment or cure for cancer. Some of the sites also claim that there have been controlled studies done to prove this. This isn’t true and there is no scientific evidence to prove this. Our advice is to be very cautious about believing this type of information or paying for any alternative cancer therapy over the internet.
Only you can decide whether or not to use alternative cancer therapies such as Essiac. But we don't recommend using any alternative therapies, including Essiac, in place of conventional treatment. There is often little (if any) scientific or medical evidence to back up the claims made by their promoters. If you have cancer, using unproven methods instead of conventional medical treatment can be very harmful to you.
Whenever we put up information on alternative treatments that have not been properly tested, we receive angry emails that say we are trying to prevent people with cancer from getting effective treatment. This is not what we want to do. We are concerned that potential cures, like this one, are often sold for a great deal of money and lack scientific evidence to prove they help. It is not in the interests of drug companies or research organisations such as ours to ignore potential new treatments. Thousands and thousands of compounds are screened every year to try to find those that might be the basis of effective treatments. If Essiac had any therapeutic benefit, drug companies would have developed it into a treatment long ago.
It is understandable that you and your loved ones will want to try anything if you think it might help treat or cure your cancer. So our message is
- Be careful
- Make sure you look into all the information that is available, and check who provides it
- Talk to your cancer doctor before you spend money for any therapy, whether it’s conventional, complementary or alternative
We don’t know of any specific Essiac organisations. Some of the organisations listed on our complementary therapy organisations page may be able to offer information about using Essiac. There is also information for health professionals on the CAM-cancer website.
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