Rs 2 treatment for cancer? Treat with utter caution, especially many times forwards on WhatsApp

By Rajiv Shah 

The other day when I received a WhatsApp forward (it said "forwarded many times"), I got terribly worked up, even though I shouldn't have done it. I generally don't like such forwards as these seek to spread rumours. In fact, shouting out, I said, "Another nonsense from WhatsApp University... Why forward such unverified things?"

The WhatsApp forward -- in Hindi (which I got translated through AI) -- said in the headline, "The Cheapest Cancer Treatment", claiming, "Scientists have discovered the cheapest treatment for cancer – a remedy costing only 2 rupees that can eliminate cancer from the root."

And what's this Rs 2 treatment for cancer: "Baking Soda"? I was taken aback!

Asking people to forward this allegedly great discovery as many times as possible for "public good", the forward continued: "There is good news for cancer patients. Scientists worldwide have been searching for a cure for this disease for years, and finally, a solution has been found."

Stating that  "billions of rupees" have been spent for cancer treatment, yet "no drug has been entirely successful" in eliminating the deadly disease,  and that  "medications available in the market merely prevent cancer from spreading" and don't eliminate it, the forward said, "Recently, a team of American scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, led by renowned cancer scientist and oncologist Dr. Chi Van Dang from Johns Hopkins University, conducted new research." It quoted Dr. Dang, without any link, as  stating that "baking soda, found in your kitchen, is a potent remedy for cancer."

The forward continued, "According to Dr. Dang, extensive research on baking soda has confirmed the effects they previously heard about. He explained that if a cancer patient drinks baking soda mixed with water, it begins to show results in just a few days. Not only does baking soda prevent tumor cells from growing faster than chemotherapy or expensive drugs, but it also destroys them."

Offering "scientific explanation", the forward said, "Dr. Dang elaborated that millions of cells in our body die every second, replaced by new cells. However, sometimes blood circulation stops in new cells, causing these cells to accumulate, eventually forming a tumor." On studying  the effect of baking soda on breast and colon cancer tumor cells, he found that "drinking water with baking soda significantly slowed down the growth of these tumor cells." 

It added,  "He noted that when tumor cells lose oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia arises. Hypoxia leads to a drop in the pH level of that area, causing the tumor cells to produce acid, resulting in severe pain throughout the body. If left untreated, these cells can transform into cancer cells." However, "drinking water with baking soda helps maintain the body's pH level and minimizes acid-related issues... Even after chemotherapy, certain cancer cells, known as T cells, may remain in the body and later trigger cancer cell formation again. These T cells can only be neutralized by baking soda."

The forward, apparently quoting Dr. Rajendra A. Badwe from Tata Memorial Hospital, asserted that "people can now confidently claim that baking soda mixed with water is the cheapest and most effective cancer treatment." In Dr. Dang's experiment, "patients were given water with baking soda for two weeks, and in just two weeks, their tumor cells were nearly gone!", it said.

The message ended by saying, "Forward as received", and seemed to point to the source of this message: "Dr. Nitin Munot Jain, Holistic Healer, Ahmedabad, Gujarat."

I generally don't even read such messages, as there are umpteen number of them taking rounds on WhatsApp, uttering stupid things, going so far as spreading communal hatred. One such message on WhatsApp which I remember having read during the Covid days, said, a Muslim apple seller was spreading the disease by putting his saliva on the fruit, so one must avoid buying fruits and vegetables from Muslim looking persons! It too was forwarded several times!

Be that as it may, following my objection to the WhatsApp message, which I said was "unverified" and "dangerous", I was forwarded several links, apparently supporting the claims of Dr. Dang, whoever he was. Indeed, an internet search showed that there have been experiments linking cancer treatment with baking soda, offering the same explanation as the one in the WhatsApp forward. However, the bottomline of several top healthcare sites is,

"There’s no scientific evidence to suggest that baking soda can prevent cancer."

One of the forwarded links is a BBC news with a deceptive headline: "The dying officer treated for cancer with baking soda".  The news item, of January 19, 2017, points to how a British army officer Naima Houder-Mohammed (photo), who believed baking soda could cure her cancer, paid thousands of dollars to Dr Robert O Young, an American alternative health writer selling a message of hope for cancer patients online, died following  "alkaline treatment, which consisted mainly of intravenous infusions of baking soda." Dr. Young "faces a jail sentence for practising medicine without a licence", the story reads. 

As for the forwarded message, first of all, the claim that baking soda can cure cancer is not new. One of the sites, carrying a 2021 story, said, "Israeli-Arab researcher at the Technion in Haifa discovers that nano-sized baking soda placed near a tumor improves the cancer treatment, especially in breast cancer." 

Another site, forwarded as "proof" that baking soda can cure cancer, clarified on June 8, 2018, just said the experiments have been on mice: "Scientists at Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Moffitt Cancer Center looked at breast and colon cancers in mice and saw an increase in cell activity after giving the mice water mixed with baking soda, also known as bicarbonate soda. In fact, the entire tumor lit up with activity." 

The most "positive" of all sites which were forwarded carried a 2020 research paper, "Does Baking Soda Function as a Magic Bullet for Patients With Cancer? A Mini Review", authored by Mengyuan Yang, Xian Zhong and Ying Yuan, and carried by National Library of Medicine, which publishes "a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM)."

While I couldn't understand most of what was written in the paper, as it carried lots of medical terminology which a layperson like me wouldn't understand, it concluded by saying, "The combination of sodium bicarbonate with other anticancer therapies might be more effective", though adding, "A large-scale clinical trial is necessary to test and verify this hypothesis", as the positive result was merely based on "a small-scale pilot study", which "caused a great sensation in China."

On searching internet whether Dr. Dang (photo) made any claim that baking soda cures cancer, neither his Wikipedia profile, nor elsewhere, could I found any authenticity about this. In fact, a fact check on the forwarded message in Hindi -- which had already gone viral way back in 2022 -- quotes Dr Dang as stating he never made such a claim. 

The fact check said, and let me quote, "The viral message was attributed to two people. One was Dr. Chi Van Dang who is a renowned oncologist. Vishvas News reached out to Dr. Chi Dang via email and shared the viral message with him. Dr. Dang in response said, 'This is unfortunately incorrect. We never claimed that baking soda ‘cures’ cancer'.” 

It continues: "We reached out to the office of Dr. Rajendra Badwe, Surgical Oncologist at Tata Memorial Center. The message was also attributed to him saying that Dr. Rajendra Badwe too has supported the claim. Vishvas News reached out to Dr. Badwe’s office where his secretary talked to us. He too stressed that Dr. Badwe has not made any such statement, nor supports the claim that baking soda cures cancer."
It sums up everything!