Did Steve Jobs really try to cure cancer “macrobiotically”?

In his interview on “60 minutes” last night, Walter Isaacson said that Steve Jobs tried various alternative ways of healing cancer, including “spiritually and macrobiotically.”  While he was discussing Steve Jobs and his battle with cancer, a photo of Steve Jobs was shown.  In the photo, his right eyebrow was slanted upward and the hair was darker than in his left eyebrow.  I’ve seen pictures of eyebrows like that before.  But where?

Oh yes, now I remember: In the book entitled “The Book of Macrobiotics” by Michio Kushi, on page 144, there are two sketches:  one of a normal healthy face and one of the face of a person who has not been eating macrobiotically.  The description of the unhealthy face shown on that page includes this sentence:  “raised and shortened eyebrows (tight nervous system and shorter digestive vessels from excessive animal food).  In other words, the photo of Steve Jobs showed that he was not on a macrobiotic diet.

What's up with the eyebrow?

Steve Jobs was allegedly on a vegan diet which means a vegetarian diet with no animal food at all.  So how did he get the raised and shortened eyebrow of a person who has been eating excessive animal food?

In a previous blog post, I questioned whether Isaacson was using the term macrobiotically to mean a macrobiotic diet.  Maybe Steve Jobs tried a macrobiotic diet for awhile, but was then convinced by Western doctors to eat animal food.  In all of the news coverage, the term “special macrobiotic diet” was used.  It would be helpful to know how this “special macrobiotic diet” differed from the standard macrobiotic diet.

Did a delay in having an operation for cancer cause Steve Jobs to die?

A biography of Steve Jobs, written by Walter Isaacson, will be out next Monday.  The author will be interviewed on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night.  Clips from the interview with Isaacson have been on TV since yesterday.

I was shocked to hear Isaacson say in one of the clips from his “60 Minutes” interview that Steve Jobs waited for 9 months before having an operation to remove a cancerous tumor; he finally had surgery only because “his wife pleaded with him to have an operation,” according to Isaacson.  I saw one of the clips from the “60 Minutes” interview this morning on Fox News and I heard Isaacson say that Jobs had tried to cure the cancer “macrobiotically.”

This quote about the new book is from this website:

The book delves into Jobs’ decision to delay surgery for nine months after learning in October 2003 that he had a neuroendocrine tumor — a relatively rare type of pancreatic cancer that normally grows more slowly and is therefore more treatable. Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. He also was influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, the book says, before finally having surgery in July 2004.

I find it very strange that Steve Jobs allegedly got worse after going on a vegan diet, having acupuncture and trying herbal remedies.  I frankly don’t believe that Jobs went on a macrobiotic diet and the cancer spread.  Before hearing about Isaacson’s interview, I had assumed that Steve Jobs died from cancer because he had an operation to remove the tumor.  I believe that removing the tumor is the wrong way to treat cancer.