Laterile Treatments at Oasis of Hope

Oasis of Hope uses amygdalin (laterile) to attack the tumor. The cyanide released by amygdalin is one of the best killers of malignant cells as well. Amygdalin has a double punch. It lowers cancers resistance to treatment and it releases cyanide to kill cancer cells directly. If you wish to read the technical explanation of how these two functions of amygdalin occur, please click here.

Doctors at Oasis of Hope have experienced positive results with amygdalin. These results encourage us to continue offering laetrile to our patients. Laterile should be looked at as a therapy that can be combined with additional alternative cancer treatments and/or other antitumor agents. This is the appropriate future of amygdalin.

At Oasis of Hope, we do not use amygdalin as a stand-alone drug. We capitalize on its ability to make tumors more susceptible to other therapies. This is why we have a multifaceted program which includes: chemotherapy, lymphocyte treatment, Vitamin –C therapy, sodium bicarbinate, UV light irradiation, and ozone.

By sensitizing the cancer, we are able to avoid using aggressive therapies that can destroy the patient's quality of life. It is time for physicians to consider how to use amygdalin in combination with conventional therapies at lower, non-aggressive dosages. Amygdalin, combined with vitamin C, can deplete glutathione and cysteine in tumor cells and make it possible to destroy the cancer with integrative cancer therapies.

If amygdalin can be so helpful, why aren't more cancer treatment centers using it?

Let's talk about amygdalin's toxicity first.

What about the argument that laetrile is not effective?

How many studies are there on Laterile?

Did you know that cancer defends itself against attacks? How does Laetrile Kill Cancer
Cells?

Is there a way to lower the level of Cysteine?

Isn't cyanide a poison?

If amygdalin can be so helpful, why aren't more cancer treatment centers using it?

The first argument is that it can be toxic because it contains cyanide. The second argument is that it doesn't work.

Let's talk about amygdalin's toxicity first.

Oasis of Hope has used amygdalin as a cancer treatment with tens of thousands of patients since the early 1960s. You might say that we know a thing or two about. The cyanide released by amygdalin does not reach toxic levels that can harm or even discomfort patients. A famous researcher named June de Spain conducted a laetrile toxicity study that was published in The Little Cyanide Cookbook (Am. Media). She took three groups of rats. Group one was fed white bread. Group two was fed whole wheat bread. Group three was fed laetrile. After three months, 75 percent of rats that were eating white bread were dead. The white bread survivors were at death's door. The rats that were eating whole wheat bread were in good shape. The rats who were eating laetrile were all alive and in the best condition of the three groups. The conclusion of this FDA sponsored trial was that, "white bread is 70 times more toxic than laetrile." The truth of the matter is that Laetrile/amygdalin presents no risk of toxicity.

What about the argument that laetrile is not effective?

Researchers at Oasis of Hope have conducted several prospective clinical trials that demonstrated that amygdalin is quite effective in the combined treatment of the most common and deadly cancers including inoperable lung cancer, advanced prostate cancer, stage IV breast cancer, and colon cancer with liver metastasis. These studies have been submitted to several medical journals but they were rejected. Some editors cited that our studies did not have control groups. But it is scientifically valid to conduct a study and compare results with similar studies published in medical journals. That is what we did but we were still denied publication.
Other editors stated that our study was not designed properly and that the conclusion was not definitive. Others were quite candid. They rejected the studies because the use of amygdalin was too controversial. I think the third group was honest and I appreciated getting a straight answer from them.

How many studies are there on Laterile?

The only study ever published on the use of laetrile in cancer patients was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and conducted at the Mayo Clinic and three other prominent oncological centers in the USA. The results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in 1982.

In this article "A clinical trial of amygdalin (laetrile) in the treatment of human cancer," Dr. Moertel, the head researcher, reported that of the 178 patients that were accepted in the study "not one patient was cured or even stabilized" by laetrile. Furthermore he said that "several patients experienced symptoms of cyanide toxicity" and that "blood levels of cyanide approaching the lethal range" were reported. "Laetrile has had its day in court…" says Moertel and ends authoritatively, "The evidence, beyond reasonable doubt, is that it [laetrile] doesn't benefit patients with advanced cancer, and there is no reason to believe that it would be any more effective in the earlier stages of the disease."

What's disappointing about the article is the editorial bias of the NEJM. Why did the NCI and the Mayo Clinic bypass all scientific protocol? This study had no control group. It was not designed properly and not one of the researchers had any experience with laetrile. The NEJM, in normal conditions, will not publish studies that are not peer reviewed by experts on the subject. There are very few laetrile experts and all have worked with Dr. Francisco Contreras.

Did you know that cancer defends itself against attacks? How does Laetrile Kill Cancer Cells?

Tumors can become resistant to chemotherapy, radiation or whatever else you throw at it. It would make sense that if you could dismantle cancer's defenses, you could then take it out, right? What are the ways that cancer defends itself? One way is that tumors encapsulate themselves with blood vessels that are so restricted that antitumor agents can't get through. Another way is that tumors amass high concentrations of a substance called glutathione. Glutathione is the element that makes tumors resistant to treatment. Is there a way to lower the levels of glutathione in tumors so that they would become sensitized to anticancer treatments? The answer is yes. For glutathione to be produced in the cells, it needs another substance called cysteine.

Is there a way to lower the level of Cysteine?

Yes. Cyanide depletes the supply of cysteine.

Isn't cyanide a poison?

Cyanide is toxic to our body but it will not make us sick in very low doses derived from a whole food source. You eat cyanide-rich food everyday if you eat apricots, pineapples, apples, or any of the other thousand cyanide-toting foods found in nature. The cyanide in these foods is present in a nutrient called amygdalin. Amygdalin can release cyanide within malignant cells, depleting the supply of cysteine. As a result, the intracellular concentration of glutathione is diminished. This will sensitize the tumors to antitumor treatments including Ozone therapy, Lymphocyte treatments, and high dose vitamin-C.