Do these contrary views dampen the believers. Not likely. As a matter of fact they point out that for centuries the tribes living in Southeast Asia didn’t need double blind studies to tell them if they were cured or not. And, there are testimonials, two of which were relayed first-hand to your author. One involved a young man living in Las Vegas who discovered a suspicious spot on his back. He just got a great job and his whole life was ahead of him. As a precaution he visited a local dermatologist who examined him and ran some tests. A few days later came some grim news. The young man had a full blown melanoma and was extremely serious. Aggressive chemotherapy was begun. As weeks passed the disease continued to progress and finally the patient became fed up with the whole process. He was tired of being sick from the treatment and he decided to stop chemo treatments. At that point he didn’t care if he lived or died. And, he was dying. His father had heard about the Mangosteen fruit in the form of a juice. They both decided to give it a try. After all, what could it hurt? The result was that in a few weeks the young man was feeling better so he decided to go back to his doctor to get his opinion. Well, no one was more surprised than the doctor who stated that the melanoma was completely gone.
A further testimonial came from a middle-aged woman in Dallas, Texas. She had had cancer for well over a year and had undergone all kinds of tests and treatments at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston, Texas. She had her ups and downs and she said she was sick most of the time- from the radiation and chemo treatments. Finally, things reached a critical stage. The doctors were running out of options and they feared that if the cancer didn’t wind up killing her, the treatments may. Just as her depression deepened she heard about the Mangosteen juice from a relative. Like the young man in Las Vegas, she decided to try it. After all she had nothing to lose. A month later she had another session at the hospital and the doctors noticed something amazing. Her cancer had gone into remission. They asked what she was doing and she talked about this new fruit juice. Their reaction was, “well we don’t really know much about it but something is happening.” They told her to continue taking it because apparently it was all that was standing between her and cancer.
So, clearly we’ve got two sides to this issue. But is it really surprising? After all, in any discovery there are bound to be skeptics, and rightfully so. Also, despite vitamins still being taken by millions each day, many researchers don’t subscribe to all the supposed benefits.