Introduction
At present, complementary and alternative
medicine has brought hope for many hopeless
patients. The alternative medicine can be the actual
alternative for the health management of those
patients [1 - 4]. The methods of alternative medicine
can be any medical and health care system, practice,
or product that is not presently considered to be part
of conventional medicine [1 - 4]. It also includes any
method that is out of the concept of western classical
biomedical model of disease, diagnosis, and
treatment [1-4]. The examples of alternative
medicine include mind-body interventions,
manipulative and body-based methods, energy
therapy, herbs and nutraceuticals [1-4].
Among hopeless patients, cancerous patients are
an important group. Basically, cancer is an abnormal
growth of cells and tissues of humans that can lead to
death. This disease is considered untreatable. The
present treatment regimen is still not fully effective,
poses many complications and still needs further
development.
Most cancerous patients who also use alternative
medicine prefer this combination of alternative and
conventional medicine since they are of the opinion
that this combination is superior to either alone, which
can be referred to as raising new hopes [5]. In this
paper, the author briefly discusses an important
nutraceutical, beta-glucan, that is a food or part of a
food and provides medical or health benefits
including prevention and treatment of cancer.