vitamin E – Oral Cancer News

Antioxidants May Cause More Harm Than Good in Cancer Patients

Source: medscape.comAuthor: Zosia Chustecka While alternative health gurus often encourage increasing antioxidants in the diet and the taking of antioxidant nutritional supplements such as beta-carotene, vitamins A, C, and E, and selenium, new research findings suggest that antioxidants could do more harm than good, especially in cancer patients. The idea is discussed in a perspective article on the promise and perils of antioxidants for cancer patients in the July 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Coauthor David Tuveson, MD, PhD, professor and deputy director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cancer Center in New York, explained in an interview with Medscape Medical News that the idea that antioxidants could be useful in cancer goes back to Linus Pauling, and is based on observations that oxidation within cells is needed for cell growth. "As cancer cells growth rapidly, a cancer cell would have more oxidation within it than a normal cell," he added, and the hope was that antioxidants would interfere with these cellular oxidative processes and would suppress the growth. "Although some early preclinical studies supported this concept," the authors write, there have now been several clinical trials that have shown no effect of antioxidants on reducing the incidence of cancer, and there have even been suggestions of harm in persons who are at risk for cancer. Dr. Tuveson noted a clinical trial from Scandinavia in the early 1990s, which found that high doses of antioxidants, particularly beta-carotene, were associated with more lung cancer rather than less as had been hoped for. There was [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-07-14T15:04:19-07:00July, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Vitamin E may have adverse effect in head and neck cancer

Source: www.tele-management.ca 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 - A2013-11-05T07:40:00-07:00November, 2013|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|

Adapting the science of supplements and cancer prevention

Source: www.cancer.gov Author: Carmen Phillips Numerous studies suggest that avoiding excess weight, exercising regularly, and eating a diet heavy on fruits and vegetables decreases the risk of many diseases, including cancer. But as the expanding obesity epidemic has shown, there are major obstacles to getting broad swaths of people to adopt such a healthful lifestyle. So, for many years, cancer researchers have investigated whether specific nutrients—those that epidemiologic and animal model studies have suggested could sway cancer’s course—could decrease cancer risk. Much has been learned from this work, researchers in the field say, but, as is the case with treatment, each new discovery points to new areas of focus and other potential avenues of progress. With promising bioactive compounds in the pipeline, many prevention researchers are focused on figuring out not just whether something like sulforaphane, a natural compound found in broccoli and broccoli sprouts, can kill cancer cells in a test tube or animal model—which it does, quite well—but how, at the molecular level, it accomplishes this task, whether there are some cancer cells that are more likely to respond to it, and whether there are ways of discerning early on that the intervention is having its intended effect. Prevention: A Complex Matter A number of supplements have been tested in large prevention trials, including vitamins A, C, and E; selenium; beta-carotene; and folic acid. At least one trial has demonstrated a reduction in cancer deaths with a combination of supplements, while several others found no reduction or even [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-17T19:42:35-07:00December, 2009|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|

Cancer patients turning to alternative remedies: become aware of dangers

Source: msnbc Author: Associated Press 60 percent seek natural ‘cures’ despite warnings from doctors TAMPA, Fla. - With much of her lower body consumed by cancer, Leslee Flasch finally faced the truth: The herbal supplements and special diet were not working. "I want this thing cut out from me. I want it out," she told her family. But it was too late. Her rectal cancer — potentially curable earlier on — had invaded bones, tissue, muscle, skin. The 53-year-old Florida woman could barely sit, and constantly bled and soiled herself. "It was terrible," one doctor said. "The pain must have been excruciating." Flasch had sought a natural cure. Instead, a deadly disease ran its natural course. And the herb peddlers who sold her hope in a bottle? "Whatever money she had left in life, they got most of it," said a sister, Sharon Flasch. "They prey on the sick public with the belief that this stuff can help them, whether they can or can't." Some people who try unproven remedies risk only money. But people with cancer can lose their only chance of beating the disease by skipping conventional treatment or by mixing in other therapies. Even harmless-sounding vitamins and "natural" supplements can interfere with cancer medicines or affect hormones that help cancer grow. Preying on insecurities Yet they are extremely popular with cancer patients, who crave control over their disease and want to do everything they can to be healthy — emotional needs that make them vulnerable to deceptive [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-16T12:13:51-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Vitamins C and E and Beta Carotene supplementation and cancer risk: A randomized controlled trial

Source: JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, doi:10.1093 Authors: Jennifer Lin et al. Background: Observational studies suggested that a diet high in fruits and vegetables, both of which are rich with antioxidants, may prevent cancer development. However, findings from randomized trials of the association between antioxidant use and cancer risk have been mostly negative. Methods: From 8171 women who were randomly assigned in the Women's Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study, a double-blind, placebo-controlled 2 x 2 x 2 factorial trial of vitamin C (500 mg of ascorbic acid daily), natural-source vitamin E (600 IU of {alpha}-tocopherol every other day), and beta carotene (50 mg every other day), 7627 women who were free of cancer before random assignment were selected for this study. Diagnoses and deaths from cancer at a specific site were confirmed by use of hospital reports and the National Death Index. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess hazard ratios (represented as relative risks [RRs]) of common cancers associated with use of antioxidants, either individually or in combination. Subgroup analyses were conducted to determine if duration of use modified the association of supplement use with cancer risk. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: During an average 9.4 years of treatment, 624 women developed incident invasive cancer and 176 women died from cancer. There were no statistically significant effects of use of any antioxidant on total cancer incidence. Compared with the placebo group, the RRs were 1.11 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.95 to 1.30) in the vitamin [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-01-01T17:05:09-07:00January, 2009|Oral Cancer News|