supplements – Oral Cancer News

The Problem With Supplements

Source: Elemental Date: May 6, 2019 Author: Markham Heid Earlier this year, federal authorities announced plans to strengthen oversight of the supplement industry. “The growth in the number of adulterated and misbranded products — including those spiked with drug ingredients not declared on their labels, misleading claims, and other risks — creates new potential dangers,” said U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb in a February press release. Heightened oversight is needed, Gottlieb argued, because expansion and change within the supplement industry has made it difficult for his agency to keep pace. “What was once a $4 billion industry comprised of about 4,000 unique products, is now an industry worth more than $40 billion, with more than 50,000 — and possibly as many as 80,000 or even more — different products available to consumers,” he said. From multivitamins and botanicals to probiotics and protein powders, roughly three out of four Americans now take some kind of supplement on a regular basis. Since the days of palliative tonics and snake-oil salesmen, Americans have been readily lured by the promise of health or longevity in the form of a drink, pill, or powder. While the terminology has evolved — “biohacking” and “nutraceuticals” are some of the buzzwords du jour — the implied benefits of most supplements still outpace or ignore the science. And despite recent studies that find supplements are frequently contaminated or that the best way to get nutrients is through food, Americans’ interest in supplements is only growing. And experts say many supplement users don’t recognize or appreciate the risks that accompany the [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-05-07T11:05:54-07:00May, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

Vitamin E may have adverse effect in head and neck cancer

Source: www.newsfix.ca Author: Robert Cervin According to a clinical trial, vitamin E supplements may increase the risk of a secondary tumor in those with head and neck cancer. Previous studies have suggested that a low dietary intake of antioxidants such as vitamins E and C might be linked to an increased risk of cancer. But there is no clear evidence that taking supplements decreases the risk. Researchers in Quebec, Canada, report on a trial of vitamin E and beta-carotene, which is related to vitamin A, in patients with head and neck cancer. The patients took either supplements or placebo during radiation therapy and afterwards. The beta-carotene was stopped after a year, because a trial showed that those taking it who also smoked had an increased risk of getting lung cancer. The current trial showed that those on vitamin E were at increased risk of developing a second cancer while they were on the supplement, compared to those on placebo. But their risk was lower once the supplements had stopped. Overall, there was no difference between the two groups after eight years. These patients were at high risk anyway, so it is not really clear whether the results can be generalized to the whole population. There is clearly more research to be done before we can be clear whether vitamins can help in the fight against cancer.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-07-29T08:43:11-07:00July, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Don’t Take Your Vitamins

Source: New York TimesBy PAUL A. OFFITPublished: June 8, 2013 PHILADELPHIA — LAST month, Katy Perry shared her secret to good health with her 37 million followers on Twitter. “I’m all about that supplement & vitamin LYFE!” the pop star wrote, posting a snapshot of herself holding up three large bags of pills. There is one disturbing fact about vitamins, however, that Katy didn’t mention. Derived from “vita,” meaning life in Latin, vitamins are necessary to convert food into energy. When people don’t get enough vitamins, they suffer diseases like scurvy and rickets. The question isn’t whether people need vitamins. They do. The questions are how much do they need, and do they get enough in foods? Nutrition experts argue that people need only the recommended daily allowance — the amount of vitamins found in a routine diet. Vitamin manufacturers argue that a regular diet doesn’t contain enough vitamins, and that more is better. Most people assume that, at the very least, excess vitamins can’t do any harm. It turns out, however, that scientists have known for years that large quantities of supplemental vitamins can be quite harmful indeed. In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1994, 29,000 Finnish men, all smokers, had been given daily vitamin E, beta carotene, both or a placebo. The study found that those who had taken beta carotene for five to eight years were more likely to die from lung cancer or heart disease. Two years later the [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-06-10T13:10:46-07:00June, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Medicines to deter some cancers are not taken

Source: www.nytimes.com Author: Gina Kolata Many Americans do not think twice about taking medicines to prevent heart disease and stroke. But cancer is different. Much of what Americans do in the name of warding off cancer has not been shown to matter, and some things are actually harmful. Yet the few medicines proved to deter cancer are widely ignored. Take prostate cancer, the second-most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, surpassed only by easily treated skin cancers. More than 192,000 cases of it will be diagnosed this year, and more than 27,000 men will die from it. And, it turns out, there is a way to prevent many cases of prostate cancer. A large and rigorous study found that a generic drug, finasteride, costing about $2 a day, could prevent as many as 50,000 cases each year. Another study found that finasteride’s close cousin, dutasteride, about $3.50 a day, has the same effect. Nevertheless, researchers say, the drugs that work are largely ignored. And supplements that have been shown to be not just ineffective but possibly harmful are taken by men hoping to protect themselves from prostate cancer. As the nation’s war on cancer continues, with little change in the overall cancer mortality rate, many experts on cancer and public health say more attention should be paid to prevention. But prevention has proved more difficult than many imagined. It has been devilishly difficult to show conclusively that something simple like eating more fruits and vegetables or exercising regularly helps. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-11-14T09:23:01-07:00November, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Effects of antioxidant supplements on cancer prevention: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Source: Ann. Onc., July 21, 2009 Author: S-K Myung et al. Background: This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effect of antioxidant supplements on the primary and secondary prevention of cancer as reported by randomized controlled trials. Methods: We searched Medline (PubMed), Excerpta Medica database, and the Cochrane Review in October 2007. Results: Among 3327 articles searched, 31 articles on 22 randomized controlled trials, which included 161 045 total subjects, 88 610 in antioxidant supplement groups and 72 435 in placebo or no-intervention groups, were included in the final analyses. In a fixed-effects meta-analysis of all 22 trials, antioxidant supplements were found to have no preventive effect on cancer [relative risk (RR) 0.99; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.96-1.03). Similar findings were observed in 12 studies on primary prevention trials (RR 1.00; 95% CI 0.97-1.04) and in nine studies on secondary prevention trials (RR 0.97; 95% CI 0.83-1.13). Further, subgroup analyses revealed no preventive effect on cancer according to type of antioxidant, type of cancer, or the methodological quality of the studies. On the other hand, the use of antioxidant supplements significantly increased the risk of bladder cancer (RR 1.52; 95% CI 1.06-2.17) in a subgroup meta-analysis of four trials. Conclusions: The meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials indicated that there is no clinical evidence to support an overall primary and secondary preventive effect of antioxidant supplements on cancer. The effects of antioxidant supplements on human health, particularly in relation to cancer, should not be overemphasized because the use of those might be [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-07-24T04:48:57-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Dietary supplements: friend or foe?

Source: patient.cancerconsultants.com Author: Eleanor Mayfield With research pointing to pros and cons of vitamin and mineral supplements, these dietary decisions become increasingly complex. Here’s a quick quiz: 1. Are you a cancer patient or survivor? 2. Do you take any dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, or herbs? 3. Have you discussed with your doctor the pros and cons of using these supplements? If you answered yes to questions 1 and 2 and no to question 3, you’re not alone. A recent review in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that supplement use is widespread among cancer patients and longer-term survivors and that most don’t discuss their supplement use with their doctors. In fact, in different studies 64 to 81 percent of respondents reported using vitamin or mineral supplements. Up to 68 percent of doctors were unaware of supplement use by their patients. Cancer patients and survivors tend to use dietary supplements at higher rates than the rest of the U.S. population, the review found. Supplement use was highest among women, breast cancer survivors, and people with higher levels of education. People who take supplements generally believe that doing so will benefit their health. In studies included in the review, the reported reasons for supplement use included strengthening the immune system, helping cope with stress, improving the chance of a cure, and helping the user feel better. Users may assume that the supplements they take can’t do them any harm. Research findings suggest, however, that supplements can sometimes be harmful. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-18T13:11:44-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Vitamin C may interfere with cancer treatment

Source: New York Times (nytimes.com) Author: Tara Parker-Pope Many people gobble big doses of vitamin C in hopes of boosting their immune system and warding off illness. But new research shows that in people with cancer, the vitamin may do more harm than good. Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York studied the effects of vitamin C on cancer cells. As it turns out, the vitamin seems to protect not just healthy cells, but cancer cells, too. The findings were published today in the journal Cancer Research. “The use of vitamin C supplements could have the potential to reduce the ability of patients to respond to therapy,” said Dr. Mark Heaney, an associate attending physician at the cancer center. Dr. Heaney and his colleagues tested five different chemotherapy drugs on cancer cells in the laboratory. Some of the cells were first treated with vitamin C. In every case, including a test of the powerful new cancer drug Gleevec, chemotherapy did not work as well if cells had been exposed to vitamin C. The chemotherapy agents killed 30 to 70 percent fewer cancer cells when the cells were treated with the vitamin. A second set of experiments implanted cancer cells in mice. They found that the tumors grew more rapidly in mice that were given cancer cells pretreated with vitamin C. The researchers found that just like healthy cells, cancer cells also benefit from vitamin C. The vitamin appeared to repair a cancer cell’s damaged mitochondria, the energy center [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-10-01T07:50:57-07:00October, 2008|Oral Cancer News|