A research review published in the journal Pediatrics examined twenty-eight studies involving 3,500 children undergoing treatment for cancer and found that many of them use herbal remedies, vitamins, or other types of alternative therapies.
Many parents are desperate to do everything they can, so they turn to these alternative medicines, says Dr. Whelan. Of course, they should not be used to replace conventional treatment.
Dr. Ross agrees: If children are being given herbal and alternative treatments, their physician should be informed. While many of these remedies are harmless, none of them have been shown to have any benefit, and some can have harmful interactions with approved drugs. This goes along with our other caveats about supplements: they are not tested for safety or efficacy, there s no quality control, and you re better off not using them.
Stier adds, What people don t realize is that, just like with pharmaceuticals, if there s any chance that a substance will have a biological effect on your body, it could also cause a negative effect.