Page 25vitamins and minerals are probably about as useful as daylight is to a vampire!
In fact a recently published paper, just in April 2007, which was a review
of randomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of concurrent use of
antioxidants and chemotherapy, antioxidant use during chemotherapy was not
found to decrease the effectiveness of chemotherapy, as I said, and in fact, was
associated with increased survival time, increased tumor responses, and fewer
toxicities.
The authors of the study searched various medical databases and identified 845
articles, out of which 19 randomized, controlled clinical trials met their inclusion
criteria. Antioxidants used in the studies included glutathione, melatonin, vitamin
A, antioxidant mixtures, vitamin C , N-acetylcysteine, vitamin E, and ellagic acid.
Analysis of the results of these studies found no sign of decreased efficacy of
chemotherapy as a result of antioxidant supplementation, as has been argued by
some.
On the contrary, increased survival times, increased tumor responses, and
fewer toxicities were found among persons taking antioxidants along with
chemotherapy as compared to those on chemotherapy alone. The authors
point out that lack of adequate statistical power was a consistent limitation
and conclude, “Large, well-designed studies of antioxidant supplementation
concurrent with chemotherapy are warranted.”
How absolutely true and how much better than attacking nutritional therapy.
Unfortunately, the ignorance persists out there. The chances of your oncologist
having read this review are very small. As soon as he or she sees the word
antioxidant he or she will turn the page to something more interesting,
something more in keeping with their rigid prejudices.
There is no question then, that if you want to help yourself, you are going to
have to get informed on the issues.
Children who are “successfully” treated for Hodgkin’s disease are 18 times more
likely later to develop secondary malignant tumours. Girls face a 35% chance of
developing breast cancer by the time they are 40----which is 75 times greater
than the average. The risk of leukemia increased markedly four years after the
ending of successful treatment, and reached a plateau after 14 years, but the
risk of developing solid tumours remained high and approached 30% at 30 years
(SOURCE: New Eng J Med, March 21, 1996)
But now a serious word of warning: be just as suspicious of claims by
practitioners in the alternative field as you are about patronizing advice from