# Misinformation and unproven therapies

Source: https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/  
OnCo record `b-misinformation` (Bottleneck). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Patients are sold unproven treatments and frightened away from proven ones.

## Summary

Patients with cancer are a target for misinformation at the most vulnerable point in their lives. About a third of the most popular cancer articles on social media contain misinformation and most of that is potentially harmful; alternative clinics, supplement sellers and online communities promote unproven treatments, and patients who choose alternative medicine instead of conventional treatment for curable cancers die at more than twice the rate. The same ecosystem depresses uptake of proven prevention (HPV vaccination) and screening, and undermines trust in trials. Countering it requires trustworthy, current, plain-language information that is easier to find than the misinformation, clinicians who ask about and engage with what patients have read, integrative oncology that offers evidence-based complementary care within mainstream oncology rather than outside it, and regulatory action against fraudulent products.

## Fields

- Kind: Bottleneck
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Stage: people-culture
- Severity: moderate
- Metrics: Most popular cancer articles on social media (2018-2019) containing misinformation, and share of those with potentially harmful content: 32.5% misinformation; 76.9% of it harmful (Johnson et al., JNCI 2022); Risk of death for patients with curable cancers choosing alternative medicine instead of conventional treatment (US National Cancer Database): 2.5 times higher (Johnson et al., JNCI 2018)
- Causes: Fear, uncertainty and the harshness of conventional treatment create demand for hopeful alternatives.; Social media algorithms amplify emotionally engaging content regardless of accuracy.; Commercial actors profit from supplements, alternative clinics and unregulated tests.; Trustworthy information is often technical, out of date or hard to find.; Clinicians have little time to discuss what patients have read, and patients fear judgement for asking.

## Sources

- Johnson et al., Cancer misinformation and harmful information on Facebook and other social media (JNCI 2022): https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djab141
- Johnson et al., Use of alternative medicine for cancer and its impact on survival (JNCI 2018): https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx145
- NCI PDQ Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies summaries: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam
- WHO infodemic management: https://www.who.int/health-topics/infodemic

## Connected records

- collections: [NCCN Guidelines](https://onco.cc/collections/nccn/), [NCI PDQ Cancer Information Summaries](https://onco.cc/collections/cancer-gov-pdq/), [PubMed & Europe PMC](https://onco.cc/collections/pubmed-europepmc/)
- ideas: [A cancer misinformation rapid-response unit that rebuts within 48 hours](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-misinformation-rapid-response/), [A mandatory decision aid before any multi-cancer blood test](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mced-pretest-decision-aid/), [A monthly-updated benchmark for AI answers to oncology questions with citation accuracy](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-living-llm-oncology-benchmark/), [A plain-language explainer for every guideline recommendation, in every major language](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-patient-explainers-per-recommendation/), [A plain-language summary of every cancer trial result within a year](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-plain-language-summary-mandate/), [A public benchmark and audit of chatbot answers to cancer questions](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-ai-cancer-answer-audit/), [A public registry of unproven cancer clinics and reported outcomes](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-unproven-clinic-registry/), [A structured pathway for patients declining proven treatment](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-treatment-refusal-pathway/), [A verified information layer that labels and links cancer content across platforms](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-verified-information-layer/), [An independent hype index grading cancer press releases and news stories](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-hype-index/), [An open supplement-drug interaction checker built into oncology prescribing](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-supplement-interaction-database/), [Ask about diet at diagnosis, and prebunk the myths before the internet does](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-nl-ask-about-diet-prebunking/), [Ban and enforce against paid advertising of unproven cancer treatments](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-ban-unproven-therapy-ads/), [Cancer warnings on alcohol labels, evaluated as a natural experiment](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-alcohol-cancer-warning-labels/), [Community-tailored HPV vaccine confidence campaigns with school-based delivery](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-hpv-vaccine-confidence/), [Confirm or refute the harm of antioxidant supplements during chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-nl-antioxidant-supplement-harm-confirmation/), [Controlled feeding trials to separate ultra-processing from calories](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-nl-upf-controlled-feeding-trial/), [Evidence-based integrative oncology in every cancer centre to meet demand safely](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-integrative-oncology-bridge/), [Fund expert editors for the cancer pages of Wikipedia and Wikidata](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-wikipedia-oncology-editors/), [Fund oncologists to maintain cancer articles on Wikipedia in many languages](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-wikipedia-oncology-fellowships/), [Inoculate newly diagnosed patients against common cancer scams](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-prebunking-at-diagnosis/), [Living plain-language evidence summaries for every common cancer question in 20 languages](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-living-plain-evidence-summaries/), [One definitive ketogenic diet trial in glioblastoma, then stop](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-nl-ketogenic-gbm-definitive-trial/), [Train and fund oncology clinicians as public content creators](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-clinician-creator-programme/), [Trained moderators with evidence tools in online patient communities](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-patient-community-moderators/)
- cancers: [Cervical cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/cervical/), [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/), [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- technologies: [Alcohol reduction, pricing and cancer warning labels](https://onco.cc/technologies/alcohol-reduction-labelling/), [Alternative medicine used instead of standard treatment](https://onco.cc/technologies/alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment/), [Antineoplastons (Burzynski clinic)](https://onco.cc/technologies/antineoplastons/), [Ayurvedic medicine and cancer](https://onco.cc/technologies/ayurvedic-medicine-cancer/), [Black salve and other escharotic pastes](https://onco.cc/technologies/black-salve-escharotics/), [Cannabis and cannabinoids for pain, appetite and cancer control](https://onco.cc/technologies/cannabinoids-pain-appetite/), [Coffee and tea intake](https://onco.cc/technologies/coffee-intake-cancer/), [Curcumin and turmeric](https://onco.cc/technologies/curcumin-turmeric/), [Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms](https://onco.cc/technologies/dietary-supplements-treatment-interactions/), [Essiac, Hoxsey and other 'herbal cancer cures'](https://onco.cc/technologies/essiac-herbal-cancer-cures/), [Fenbendazole, ivermectin and other internet 'repurposed cures'](https://onco.cc/technologies/fenbendazole-ivermectin-repurposing-claims/), [Gerson therapy, coffee enemas and 'detox' regimens](https://onco.cc/technologies/gerson-therapy-detox-regimens/), [Green tea and EGCG extracts](https://onco.cc/technologies/green-tea-egcg/), [High-dose intravenous vitamin C](https://onco.cc/technologies/high-dose-vitamin-c/), [Homeopathy](https://onco.cc/technologies/homeopathy-cancer/), [HPV & HBV vaccination](https://onco.cc/technologies/hpv-vaccine/), [Hydrazine sulfate](https://onco.cc/technologies/hydrazine-sulfate/), [Ketogenic diets in glioblastoma](https://onco.cc/technologies/ketogenic-diet-glioblastoma/), [Laetrile (amygdalin, 'vitamin B17')](https://onco.cc/technologies/laetrile-amygdalin/), [Medicinal mushrooms: reishi, turkey tail, shiitake and others](https://onco.cc/technologies/medicinal-mushrooms-reishi-turkey-tail/), [Melatonin as a cancer adjunct](https://onco.cc/technologies/melatonin-cancer/), [Mistletoe extracts (Iscador, Helixor)](https://onco.cc/technologies/mistletoe-extracts/), [Peer support and support groups](https://onco.cc/technologies/peer-support-groups/), [Red and processed meat reduction](https://onco.cc/technologies/red-processed-meat-reduction/), [Reiki, healing touch and other energy therapies](https://onco.cc/technologies/reiki-energy-therapies/), [Shark cartilage (AE-941, Neovastat)](https://onco.cc/technologies/shark-cartilage/), [Soy foods and breast cancer](https://onco.cc/technologies/soy-breast-cancer/), [St John's wort: an interaction to avoid](https://onco.cc/technologies/st-johns-wort-interaction/), [Supplements sold for hair growth after cancer treatment](https://onco.cc/technologies/hair-supplements-marketed/), [The biological age test you can buy, and whether to buy one](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-measure-consumer-biological-age-tests/), [Traditional Chinese herbal medicine alongside treatment](https://onco.cc/technologies/traditional-chinese-herbal-medicine/), [Ultra-processed food and sugar-sweetened drinks](https://onco.cc/technologies/ultra-processed-food-ssb/), [Vitamin D and omega-3 supplementation](https://onco.cc/technologies/vitamin-d-omega3-supplementation/)
- companies: [Cancer Commons](https://onco.cc/companies/cancer-commons/)
- institutions: [American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)](https://onco.cc/institutions/asco/), [Cancer Research UK](https://onco.cc/institutions/cruk/), [International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO)](https://onco.cc/institutions/iarc/), [National Cancer Institute (NIH)](https://onco.cc/institutions/nci/)
- key papers: [Alcohol caused an estimated 741,000 cancers worldwide in 2020](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-alcohol-cancer-burden-lancet-oncol-2021/), [Cancer Misinformation and Harmful Information on Facebook and Other Social Media: A Brief Report](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-johnson-j-natl-cancer-inst/), [Cancer therapy using antiparasitic medications guided by acupuncture meridian assessment: a case series of six patients](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-guilford-antiparasitic-acupuncture-meridian-case-series-2026/), [Doll and Hill 1950: the case-control study that tied smoking to lung cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-doll-hill-smoking-lung-cancer-bmj-1950/), [Drug-induced liver injury following co-ingestion of veterinary fenbendazole and ivermectin for prostate cancer: a case report](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-powderly-fenbendazole-ivermectin-liver-injury-2026/), [Effects of a combination of beta carotene and vitamin A on lung cancer and cardiovascular disease](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-caret-beta-carotene-retinol-lung-cancer-nejm-1996/), [Ivermectin in cancer treatment: should healthcare providers caution or explore its therapeutic potential?](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-patel-ivermectin-cancer-curr-oncol-rep-2025/), [Ivermectin treatment for gynecologic cancers: hope versus hype](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-straughn-ivermectin-hope-versus-hype-2025/), [Ivermectin-benzimidazole prescribing following celebrity endorsement](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-rockwell-ivermectin-benzimidazole-prescribing-jama-netw-open-2026/), [Life-threatening neurotoxicity following off-label ivermectin use in metastatic breast cancer: a case report](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-saperstein-ivermectin-neurotoxicity-breast-cancer-2026/), [Outcome of ivermectin in cancer treatment: an experience in Loja, Ecuador](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-jimenez-gaona-ivermectin-loja-ecuador-2023/), [Real-world clinical outcomes of ivermectin and mebendazole in cancer patients: results from a prospective observational cohort (with 2026 expression of concern)](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-hulscher-ivermectin-mebendazole-cohort-anticancer-res-2026/), [RETRACTED: Fenbendazole as an anticancer agent? A case series of self-administration in three patients](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-makis-fenbendazole-case-series-retracted-2025/), [Severe drug-induced liver injury due to self-administration of the veterinary anthelmintic medication fenbendazole](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-thakurdesai-fenbendazole-liver-injury-2024/), [Swedish registry study: HPV vaccination almost eliminates cervical cancer when given before 17](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-hpv-vaccine-sweden-nejm-2020/), [The threat of medical misinformation: a case of ivermectin toxicity in a pediatric oncology patient](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-gilene-ivermectin-toxicity-paediatric-oncology-2025/), [Use of alternative medicine for cancer and its impact on survival](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-johnson-alternative-medicine-jnci-2018/)
- people: [Steve Jobs](https://onco.cc/people/steve-jobs/)
- drugs: [Fenbendazole (veterinary anthelmintic)](https://onco.cc/drugs/fenbendazole/), [Ivermectin](https://onco.cc/drugs/ivermectin/), [Mebendazole](https://onco.cc/drugs/mebendazole/)
- trials: [Atavistic chemotherapy: combinations of antibacterial, antifungal and antiprotozoal drugs in advanced cancer (Arguello clinic, status unknown)](https://onco.cc/trials/nct02366884/), [ERGO2: ketogenic diet and fasting during re-irradiation of recurrent glioma](https://onco.cc/trials/ergo2/), [ICONIC: ivermectin combined with immune checkpoint inhibition in cancer (University of Florida phase 2)](https://onco.cc/trials/nct07487805/), [VITAL (VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL)](https://onco.cc/trials/vital/)
- terms: [Alcohol-attributable cancer](https://onco.cc/terms/alcohol-attributable-cancer/), [Unproven diet claims (alkaline, juice, 'anti-cancer' diets)](https://onco.cc/terms/unproven-diet-claims/), [Warburg-effect diet claims ('sugar feeds cancer')](https://onco.cc/terms/warburg-effect-diet-claims/), [What is not a second cancer: recurrence, metastasis and field cancerisation](https://onco.cc/terms/rejuv-second-what-is-not-a-second-cancer/)
- roadmaps: [Diet, exercise and lifestyle roadmap: causes established → interventions that disappointed → exercise proven as treatment](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/nutrition-lifestyle-roadmap/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/b-misinformation.json