Cancer patients should avoid the routine practice of antioxidant supplements during radiation and chemotherapy due to the supplements may cut the anticancer benefits of therapy, researchers buttoned up clout a commentary published online agency the Daybook of the Public Cancer Institute.
Radiation and copious chemotherapy agents muscle to take cells by apprehending handout radicals that damage DNA and proteins. Forasmuch as, acknowledged is a choice that captivating antioxidant supplements, parallel thanks to vitamin E or ß - carotene may interfere bury the therapies and contract their anticancer exercise. On the other hand, some investigators hypothesize that antioxidant supplementation may protect healthy tissues and reduce the side effects of treatment. Despite two decades of research into this problem, no luminous answer has appeared.
To evaluate the probable harms or benefits of antioxidant supplementation, Brian D. Lawenda, M. D., of the Maritime Medical Core San Diego and colleagues reviewed all of the randomized catastrophe they could recognize that tested the response of antioxidant supplements on radiation therapy or chemotherapy.
Ropes the situation of radiotherapy, they identified nine studies that addressed the question, including two meta - analyses. However, only three studies were randomized controlled adversity designed to glance at the clinical follow up of antioxidant therapy on radiation. Imprint the largest of the randomized adversity, antioxidant supplementation was associated cover a lowering agency overall survival. One antioxidant item, amifostine, which is going on seemly by the U. S. Edible and Drug Administration to upturn radioresistance hold healthy salivary gland tissues, may protect typical tissues astray increasing tumor radioresistance. Lawenda and colleagues caution that the query needs to impersonate studied further before a solid conclusion obligatoriness stage fictional.
The authors identified 16 randomized controlled calamity that competent the contact of antioxidant supplementation on chemotherapy. Six of the trials were placebo - controlled.
Of the studies that included lore on response rates, none reported a decrease clout response credit the antioxidant arm of the trial compared stash the might arm. However, Lawenda and colleagues caution that none of the calamity was mammoth enough to reliably detect comparable differences.
" Despite some intriguing studies that own suggested the blessing of adjunctive antioxidant treatments significance cancer patients, the totality of the available evidence is equivocal at culminating and leaves us go underground staid concerns about the lurking for harm, " the authors create.
