Navjot Kaur Sidhu is learnt to have been battling breast cancer for the past year and a half and in due course it had entered 4th stage
Sidhu had held a press conference in Amritsar earlier this week to claim that starving the cancerous cells by not eating sugar and carbohydrates, and resorting to intermittent fasting helped cure his wife’s seemingly ‘incurable’ fourth stage cancer
Cricketer-commentator and former member of Parliament and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s recent announcement about his former state legislator wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu having been declared clinically cancer-free from fourth stage cancer, and forcefully crediting the turnaround to a strict diet regime consisting of ingredients widely believed to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, created quite a public sensation.
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But even before the euphoria over the cure had died down, oncologists across the country, while hailing the news of Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s remarkable recovery, challenged the former Punjab Congress president’s overenthusiasm over his claim that the cancer cure was a result of strict dietary control.
Cancer specialists from the region as well as nationally, while acknowledging the fact that controlled diet and practices like yoga and meditation can play a supportive role in mitigating the side effects of scientifically and medically proven cancer treatments, asserted that there is no “high quality evidence” to support the claim that consuming specific traditional herbs, spices, vegetables, etc can cure cancer.
The director of Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, CS Pramesh joined over 260 oncologists in refuting Navjot Singh Sidhu’s claim that a strict diet helped his wife beat stage 4 breast cancer.
In an open letter, shared on social media by Pramesh, these doctors cautioned the public against delaying scientifically proven cancer treatment while opting for “unproven remedies” after listening to Sidhu’s statement.
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In their letter, the oncologists said there is no “high quality evidence” to support the claim that consuming raw turmeric or neem leaves could cure cancer. While research is ongoing for some of these products, there is no clinical data currently to recommend their use as anti-cancer agents. We urge the public to not delay their treatment by following unproven remedies, but rather to consult a doctor, preferably a cancer specialist, if they have any symptoms of cancer.
“Cancer is curable if detected early and proven treatments for cancer include surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy,” the letter said.
Oncologists from the region approached by your own news portal LifeInChandigarh.com also slammed Sidhu for making such misleading statements public which can potentially be dangerous for cancer patients, who might be encouraged by his claims and stop or avoid taking scientifically proven cancer treatments and put their lives in danger.
While one of the oncologists contacted preferred to remain anonymous, Dr Sachin Gupta, Director, Medical Oncology and Hemato Oncology, Max Superspeciality Hospital, Mohali, came on record to point out that Sidhu by his own admission has said that his wife underwent surgery as well as chemotherapy during her treatment, but by overemphasising the role of strict dietary control in her cure, unsupported by any scientific or medical evidence, he has done a great disservice to the public at large.
The oncologists also called Sidhu’s statement as premature and irresponsible, describing it as playing to the galleries. Cure for cancer is not as simple as Sidhu has tried to present it. Some cancers tend to relapse, and he should have taken this reality into consideration before making such a sweeping claim so early, they cautioned.
Sidhu had held a press conference in Amritsar earlier this week to announce that his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu has been declared clinically cancer-free. The videos of the conference went viral on social media, prompting practitioners of ayurveda and other alternative forms of medicine to go gaga over Sidhu’s claims.
In the videos, Sidhu can be heard as claiming that starving the cancerous cells by not eating sugar and carbohydrates, and resorting to intermittent fasting helped cure his wife’s seemingly ‘incurable’ fourth stage cancer.
Sidhu further revealed that his wife Navjot Kaur did not eat anything after her evening meal around 7-7:30 p.m. till 10 a.m. the next morning.
Her daily routine included lemon water, raw turmeric, apple cider vinegar, neem leaves, and tulsi. Sour fruits and juices extracted from pumpkin, pomegranate, amla, beetroot, and walnuts were integral to her diet. She also consumed anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer foods, with medium of cooking restricted to coconut oil, cold-pressed oils, or almond oil. Her morning tea featured spices like cinnamon, cloves, jaggery, and cardamom, Sidhu had said.
She was only given water with a pH level of 7, Sidhu shared, describing it as the most important part of her diet.
Sidhu claimed that it took Navjot Kaur just 40 days of strict diet regime to overcome stage 4 cancer for which medical experts had given her just about 3% chances of survival.
Navjot Kaur had been battling cancer for a year and a half, during which she received treatment essentially in government hospitals, including Rajendra Medical College and Hospital, Patiala.
