Information Diseases Cancer - doing well on treatment
Cancer - doing well on treatment

 

COMBINING TREATMENTS

 

In most cases, natural medicines have anti-cancer properties that will enhance and improve the effects of chemotherapy and radiation. There are a few specific medicines that should be avoided. While we generally avoid these situations, you will find here a review that is worth consulting if you are guiding your own treatment.

 

MEDICINES TO AVOID DURING CHEMOTHERAPY

 

There are several herbs that should be avoided during most chemotherapy protocols. In some cases, this is because they are handled by the cytochrome p450 system of the liver, which also handles many chemotherapeutic drugs. In other cases, it is because they interfere with a specific anticancer effect of one or more drugs. As a general rule, you should avoid using these herbs for 2-3 days before and after chemotherapy:?

  • Berberine
  • Black cohosh
  • Devil's claw
  • Echinacea family
  • Feverfew
  • Garlic
  • Ginkgo biloba
  • Peppermint
  • Quercetin
  • Red clover
  • St. John's wort
  • Valerian

 

SPECIFIC CHEMOTHERAPY DRUGS

Some supplement therapies block the effects of certain specific chemotherapy drugs. Pay particular attention and avoid the following:

  • Quercetin with cyclophosphamide, paclitaxel or docetaxel
  • Glucosamine with adriamycin or etoposide
  • N-acetyl cysteine with carbaplatin, cisplatin or oxaliplatin
  • Alpha lipoic acid with carbaplatin, cisplatin or oxaliplatin
  • Beta carotene with mitomycin-C
  • Curcumin with adriamycin, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide

 

RADIATION THERAPY

A short list of supplements may interfere with radiation-induced damage to cancer cells. These should be avoided for 7-14 days before and after radiation:

  • Beta carotene
  • Vitamin E
  • Coenzyme Q10

 

A NOTE ON ANTIOXIDANTS

One of the biggest sources of conflict, anxiety and confusion among patients, oncologists and integrative practitioners surrounds the issue of antioxidants. Patients are sometimes told that they must discontinue all their vitamins because they will interfere with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, reducing its effectiveness.

This often-repeated claim comes from two sources. The first is an article published in the October 26, 1997 issue of the New York Times. The article included an interview with an influential oncologist who suggested that folic acid protects cancer cells. The second was a study in which cancer cells of mice given vitamin C absorbed more of it than did healthy cells in a test tube.

This concern is based on the fact that antioxidants neutralize free radicals in healthy cells. This led to the very reasonable theory that they may interfere with therapies that kill cancer cells by generating free radicals. In fact, the substances in cancer cells are very different from those in healthy ones, leading to a very different balance of electrical charges. This is known as a cell’s redox state, and it affects the behaviour of free radicals.

It appears that antioxidants actually make chemo and radiation work better. This is suggested by a systematic review of 36 observational studies and 14 randomized controlled trials involving 8521 patients who received antioxidant therapies given in combination with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. [ii]

The antioxidants studied included vitamin A, vitamin B6, beta carotene, vitamin B12, vitamin E, alpha lipoic acid, folic acid, vitamin D3, glutathione, vitamin K3, selenium, nicotinamide and combination antioxidant protocols.

The results were astonishing. Not a single study found that antioxidants negatively affected response to therapy - or survival. In fact, 47 of 50 studies that measured side-effects found that antioxidants had a positive effect, while 3 studies showed no difference. Among the 21 studies that measured clinical improvement or survival, 15 showed improvement and 6 were inconclusive.

This kind of evidence is not conclusive, but it is very reassuring to integrative physicians. Patients and oncologists should feel safer knowing that there is no evidence whatsoever that antioxidants interfere with cancer treatment. The existing evidence actually suggests that it reduces side-effects and may improve survival.

 

 

Altern Ther Health Med 2007;13:22.

[ii] Altern Ther Health Med 2007;13:40.