Commentary: The unknown benefit of complementary and alternative medicine

The placebo effect occurs when people's expectations or beliefs influence or determine their experience in a given situation. In other words, simply expecting something to happen can actually make it happen.

Combining two or more treatment methods increases the life span of cancer patients while reducing damage to vital organs or tissue from the overuse of a single treatment. Combination therapy also targets different cancer-inducing pathways, thus reducing the chances of developing resistance to treatment.
The combination of the drug acetazolamide and sulforaphane is a good example of combination therapy to treat cancer. The cells in the interior of a large tumor often die due to the hypoxic and...