Fact Check: Viral message of a surgeon on steps to cure cancer is a hoax
A long message is going viral along with an image of a surgeon explaining 3 steps to counter cancer in the body. Stopping the intake of sugar, taking lemon water, and having organic coconut oil three times a day would cure cancer.
A long message is going viral along with an image of a surgeon explaining 3 steps to counter cancer in the body. Stopping the intake of sugar, taking lemon water, and having organic coconut oil three times a day would cure cancer.
The long message goes as “Dr. Gupta says, No one must die of cancer except out of carelessness;(1). First step is to stop intake of sugar, without sugar in your body, cancer cells would die a natural death.(2). Second step is to blend lemon juice in a cup of hot water and drink it for about 1-3 months first thing before food and cancer would disappear, research by Maryland College of Medicine says, it's 1000 times better than chemotherapy.(3). Third step is to drink 3 spoonfuls of organic coconut oil, morning and night and the cancer would disappear, you can choose any of the two therapies after avoiding sugar.Ignorance is no excuse; I have been sharing this information for over 5 years. Let everyone around you know. God bless.”
Fact Check:
The message is a hoax. When we performed Google reverse image search using the image, we found that this message was viral in 2018 also. We could not get any results using the name Dr. Gupta.
Claim 1. Cutting Sugar:
Cancer Research UK states that cancer cells usually grow quickly, multiplying at a faster rate, which takes a lot of energy, i.e., a lot of glucose. The research also states that there is no evidence that following a ‘sugar-free’ diet lowers the risk of getting cancer, following restricted diets rigourously with very low amounts of carbohydrates could damage health in the long term by eliminating foods that are good sources of fiber and vitamins.
Claim 2. Lemon cures cancer:
Drinking mixture of a lemon juice and hot water for one to three months does not cure cancer. Fact-checking sites like Snopes have also debunked the claim.
This claim was debunked by US National Center for Health Research stating that lemons are not a proven remedy against cancers of all types and that no studies have ever been done to compare the effectiveness of lemons to chemotherapy.
Claim 3. Drinking Coconut oil
Although there are studies that state that virgin coconut oil can reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, there is no evidence that coconut oil cures cancer.
The American Society for Nutrition has warned that coconut oil is not a miracle food.
Hence, the claims in the viral post are not supported by valid scientific research. The message is a hoax.