23 September 2004
USA: SUPPLEMENTS MAY HELP REDUCE CHEMOTHERAPY SIDE-EFFECTS
NEW YORK - Breast cancer patients who take a multivitamin or extra
vitamin E experience a smaller decrease in important immune cells, a common
side effect of chemotherapy, new research suggests.
Women who took a nutritional supplement, a multivitamin or extra
vitamin E had a smaller drop in neutrophils, white blood cells that help
fight bacterial infections. However, women with relatively high levels of
B-vitamin folate had a larger drop in neutrophils.
Study author Dr. Richard F. Branda cautioned that chemotherapy
patients should first discuss taking supplements with their doctors,
because some supplements may interfere with treatment. For instance, cod
liver oil and St. John's Wort may interfere with blood thinning drugs,
hormone treatment or chemotherapy.
Previous research has also shown that an herbal dietary supplement
that some men use to treat prostate cancer, called PC- SPES, may interfere
with the anti-cancer activity of the chemo therapy drug paclitaxel, making
it less effective.
However, studies have also shown that vitamin E may enhance the
benefits and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, and many doctors now
recommend vitamin therapy during treatment.
To investigate whether supplements help reduce side effects from
chemotherapy, Branda and his colleagues asked 49 women with breast cancer
to complete questionnaires detailing their use of supplements during
chemotherapy.
The authors found that more than 70 percent of the women were taking
at least one of 165 different types of supplements. On average, patients
took three supplements. However, some women said they took up to 20 daily
supplements during treatment.
The most common supplements were multivitamins, vitamin E and
calcium.
Women who took multivitamins or vitamin E alone experienced a smaller
decrease in their neutrophils during chemotherapy.
However, women with relatively high levels of the B-vitamin folate in
their blood had a larger-than-average decrease in neu trophils, the authors
report in the journal Cancer.
Branda, who is based at the University of Vermont in Burlington,
explained that many cancer patients -- and people without cancer -- take
supplements because they believe they are "natural," and could therefore
only help them.
However, Branda noted that supplements typically consist of complex
chemicals, which can have many possible effects on the metabolism of drugs
and the functioning of cells. "These effects may be beneficial or
detrimental and need to be studied further," he said.
For instance, based on the results with folate, Branda recommends
that cancer patients avoid taking extra folate if they eat a balanced diet,
because many foods are already fortified with folate, or folic acid.
SOURCE: Cancer, September 2004
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