Cancer patients are at most risk and may die sooner if they follow the advice on commercial websites, the Telegraph quoted Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School, Exeter and Plymouth, as saying.
A study of 32 of the most visited complementary medicine websites, which had tens of thousands of hits a day, were analysed in a study co-led by Prof Ernst, the article said.
Of these, three per cent had "actively discouraged" site visitors from using their prescribed medicines and 16 per cent had discouraged them from conventional medicine less directly,
"Our conclusion was that a significant proportion of these websites are actually a risk to cancer patients," he said. "We found that between these 30-odd sites, 118 different cancer 'cures' were recommended, complementary treatment which claimed to be cure cancer. None of these 118 can be demonstrated to cure cancer."
"Not everything that is natural is risk-free. People should use their common sense about the motives of these websites. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Use your brain. Take responsible advice," he warned.
There "was not a strand of evidence" of shark cartilage curing cancer, while laetrile, made from apricot kernels, could be damaging, said Prof Ernst, Two trustworthy websites were the American Cancer Society and Bandolier, he added.