Steve Jobs is one of the most famous examples of a smart person being suckered into magical thinking. I've known two others personally, local friends who refused their doctor's advice and died earlier than needed. I can't help but point out that skepticism of junk science like homeopathy and astrology is no different than skepticism about the existence of god.

Well, when drinking water is exactly the same as homeopathic remedies... i'm not surprised.

The simplest way explain this is: if homeopathy and alternative medicine worked... they would be called... medicine.

All I could think of while reading this article was “in other news, water is wet!”

I would never do chemo. No way. No how. I have seen chemo take someone's life quicker then if they didn't do anything at all. Chemo is nothing but mustard gas, a chemical. I also seen people survive chemo and ended up changing their body, permanently.
Usually when someone does chemo and survives, the cancer comes back within 5 yrs and the person dies.

I am a firm believer that the body's PH level needs to be at 7.4 to prevent cancer. So that means all fruits and veggies for a diet. Also, sugar is a major cancer causing to consume.

I find it terribly depressing that they wasted time and money to determine what should be obvious.

Comfort measures versus cure. Would be good if the language used to present alternatives pointed that out.

If ‘alternative medicine’ worked it would be called ‘’medicine’

I have an aunt who developed an idiopathic muscle disease (apparently there is no name for it because it is so rare and therefore not understood). Some years ago she read on the Internet that eating only cucumbers for a month would cure her. She tried this and almost died.
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I've taken care of two aging parents over the last 10 years, and I have no doubt that SOME "alternative" therapies have SOME effect, but once that effect is identified, I'm not sure that counts as alternative anymore. It's just a therapy.
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I had a coworker give me a giant book of alternative medicine recipes when I told her my mother had Parkinson's. Looking at the book, I couldn't make any useful sense out of it...much like the Bible when I was a kid. The only think that HAS helped is relentlessly reading everything available while applying critical thinking at the highest level I am capable. I've certainly spend thousands of hours reading articles, scientific papers, caregiver forums, drug interaction websites (both the public and professional tabs, as you can glean extra info from the pro tabs), and news trackers for the US, UK, and Australia. I've saved her life several times over, and now have a better idea of what we DON'T know about Parkinson's.

Twice is likely means that there is only half as much success. If you factor in Chemo sucks to some people that would still be worth it.

It's also sad that people who believe in alternative medicine generally cannot be convinced otherwise. I'm commenting about people I know.

I'm currently recovering from cancer surgery. No way would I rely on any voodoo magic treatments.

The absolute hardest part of my job is watching patients choose alternative medicine to 'treat' their cancer while declining evidence based interventions. We have no choice but to respect their decision, but we also know all too well it's a death sentence. The lack of accountability for those who push such "treatments" pisses me off to no end.

Out of curiosity, do you know what alternative treatments Jobs used?

Huzzah for science based medicine!

The Australian government eliminated the insurance subsidies for 17 alternative health practices due to a lack of evidence for efficacy back in June, 2018. A win for medicine and Australian taxpayers.

Battling beliefs is tricky. It seems silly enough; oils, powders and pills don't usually seem to hurt anyone, apart from drain their pocketbooks. I figure it's a tax on people who didn't pay attention in chemistry class. But there is a greater danger if people put too much stock in it-people shouldn't have to die from making a stupid decision, (Example: Steve Jobs believing sunflower seeds would beat his cancer) but it does happen.

Rejecting science has it's price.

If I found out I had a form of cancer that was treatable by conventional methods, then that is exactly what I'd be doing.
I don't believe in "alternative treatments". Especially after seeing the above.

I've long thought most of that stuff was bullshit anyway.

So sad.