We spoke to Breast Cancer Australia about Olivia Newton-John's 'natural therapies.' Here's what they told us.

When Dame Olivia Newton-John was diagnosed with cancer for a third time in 2017, the international superstar was quick to talk about the 'natural' treatments she was leaning on. 

In an interview with SurvivorNet, she shared that her husband, John Easterling, the founder and chairman of Amazon Herb Company, was making her tinctures (liquid extracts) from the cannabis that he grows.

She was also taking natural supplements; including turkey tail, Graviola supplements, vitamin B17, and high doses of vitamin C from the Amazonian fruit, camu camu.

But Newton-John was taking these treatments in conjunction with conventional cancer treatment. 

The actor started receiving photon radiation therapy after her third diagnosis and had previously undergone radiation, surgery and chemotherapy. 

Her team said that she would be completing the radiation in addition to natural wellness therapies after consulting with her medical team at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

As we mourn the death of the 73-year-old this week, it's important we acknowledge that. Because as CEO of Breast Cancer Network Australia, Kirsten Pilatti, tells Mamamia, "there's alternative and then there's complementary and we need to focus on the complementary. 

"We know that there is so much in our clinical work that can really help stop cancer progressing...so we need to make sure that we're then looking at what other things we can do that will compliment that treatment to help the individual not just from the cancer, but also their own quality of life."

Watch Olivia Newton-John on 60 Minutes. Post continues.

During COVID-19 we saw a rise in people turning to 'alternative' medicines to treat or help ward off the virus, which ultimately culminated in many turning away from the vaccines created to help fight death and hospitalisation. 

In 2021, Newton-John said she had no plans to get the COVID vaccine. Her daughter Chloe said the same citing, "I'm anti putting mercury and pesticides in my body, which are in a lot of vaccines," in an interview with The Herald Sun.

So while we mourn the death of an incredible mother, woman and Australian performer, we just need to reiterate a few things. 

Vaccines remain the most effective tool for preventing infectious diseases and improving global health. They eradicated smallpox, allowed us to control childhood diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella and polio, and in the case of COVID-19, they have helped us reduce death and serious illness. 

In regards to cancer treatment, Pilatti supports "people sharing their lived experience of that is working for them...but it needs to be surrounded by evidence and it needs to be working with your treating team, so they fully understand all the things that you're doing as a person that may impact the traditional therapy as well." 

Olivia had been fighting cancer for three decades, across three separate diagnoses. Most recently, she was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. 

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She shared generously about her experience with cancer, helping and inspiring others with her words and positivity, while also raising money and awareness for cancer research. 

Pilatti says that what people like Olivia have shown the medical world over the last 30 years, is that "we shouldn't just be treating the tumour, but the whole person...and that was such an important message that she gave to everyone."

Olivia described cannabis, for example, as a "magical, miracle plant" and had been lobbying the government to approve the use of medicinal cannabis for cancer patients.

"It’s really helped me with the pain, with sleep, with anxiety, and, I believe with inflammation," she told Andy Cohen on What Happens Live in 2020. 

In 2018, she told Mamamia's No Filter podcast she "went to a wonderful place in Mexico called 'Hope4Cancer' that does all-natural therapies, and I spent three weeks there, learning them and doing them and making my immune system strong." 

That's all well and good, if, as doctors reiterate, it's done in conjunction with traditional medicines. 

As Integrative Oncologist Jonathan Stegall, MD, shared online after her third diagnosis: "Olivia Newton-John has been diagnosed with cancer for the third time, and is reportedly treating it 'naturally.' I wish her the best, but natural therapies should be adjunctive and not stand-alone treatments." 

Olivia Newton-John has been diagnosed with cancer for the third time, and is reportedly treating it "naturally." I wish her the best, but natural therapies should be adjunctive and not stand-alone treatments. #integrativeoncology #cancerhttps://t.co/ti9Dwx9Cni pic.twitter.com/uSpww9gFc6

— Jonathan Stegall, MD (@DrStegall) September 23, 2018

Pilatti reiterates: "We're so thrilled there are lots of clinical trials currently in place to really test and try different treatment options to make sure that we can understand and know that it will benefit people rather than do harm. 

"So investment in clinical trials will be really important, so we're moving on evidence-based [treatment] that's going to work best for the patient." 

Right now the country is mourning the death of a beloved Australian. 

For Pilatti, she's thinking of those currently living with the disease for whom today will be a "really difficult day."

But even in recent years, after so many years living with cancer, Newton-John remained positive. 

As she told US Weekly in 2019, "If you think positive thoughts, you’ll create a positive world around yourself and attract positive people to you." 

She leaves behind a loving family and community, life-saving contributions to cancer care and research, and a remarkable legacy and journey that has inspired cancer survivors around the world. 

Feature image: Scott Barbour/Getty