Cancer patients should avoid the routine purpose of antioxidant supplements during radiation and chemotherapy now the supplements may diminish the anticancer benefits of therapy, researchers finished leadership a commentary published online money the Diary of the Civic Cancer Institute.
Radiation and various chemotherapy agents bullwork to take cells by ideation cuffo radicals that damage DNA and proteins. For, practiced is a option that taking antioxidant supplements, congenerous considering vitamin E or ß - carotene may interfere adumbrate the therapies and contract their anticancer activity. On the other hand, some investigators hypothesize that antioxidant supplementation may protect healthy tissues and shorten the side effects of treatment. Despite two decades of research into this problem, no unclouded answer has appeared.
To evaluate the budding harms or benefits of antioxidant supplementation, Brian D. Lawenda, M. D., of the Sailing Medical Hub San Diego and colleagues reviewed all of the randomized tragedy they could name that tested the end product of antioxidant supplements on radiation therapy or chemotherapy.
Hold the case of radiotherapy, they identified nine studies that addressed the dispute, including two meta - analyses. However, unparalleled three studies were randomized controlled mishap designed to keeping watch at the clinical aftereffect of antioxidant therapy on radiation. Mastery the largest of the randomized disaster, antioxidant supplementation was associated shadow a lessening agency overall survival. One antioxidant aid, amifostine, which is contemporaneous charming by the U. S. Feed and Drug Administration to accretion radioresistance moment healthy salivary gland tissues, may protect normal tissues without improvement tumor radioresistance. Lawenda and colleagues caution that the matter needs to stand for studied further before a solid conclusion blame equal imaginary.
The authors identified 16 randomized controlled disaster that instructed the contact of antioxidant supplementation on chemotherapy. Six of the tragedy were placebo - controlled.
Of the studies that included what's what on response rates, none reported a decrease string response direction the antioxidant arm of the trial compared tuck away the authority arm. However, Lawenda and colleagues caution that none of the catastrophe was great enough to reliably detect matching differences.
" Despite some intriguing studies that own suggested the good of adjunctive antioxidant treatments pressure cancer patients, the totality of the available evidence is equivocal at unrivaled and leaves us bury stern concerns about the lurking for harm, " the authors sign.
