Along with chronic diseases often comes a chronic side effect.

[Guest guest]

"HSI - Jenny Thompson" < hsiresearch

HSI e-Alert - Crossed Purposes

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 06:50:00 -0500

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

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Dear Reader,

 

Along with chronic diseases often comes a chronic side effect.

 

An HSI member named Pam sent an e-mail with this question: "Do you

have any information on Chronic Fatigue? I have a friend who has

cancer. She said she is always tired and thinks she has chronic fatigue."

 

It sounds like Pam's friend may be suffering from a condition called

cachexia that affects people with cancer and other chronic diseases.

Cachexia symptoms include a general loss of vitality characterized by

poor appetite, weight loss, decomposition of muscle, and depression.

 

One of the most unfortunate aspects of cachexia is that doctors may

unwittingly add to the problem with well meaning advice that is

outdated and off the mark.

 

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Nutrients get the boot

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In a 2003 study of 200 patients with cachexia, UK researchers found

that a daily high-calorie/high-protein supplement, enriched with

vitamins C and E, and about 2 grams of omega-3 fatty acids prompted a

significantly higher rate of weight gain, increased lean body mass and

improved quality of life compared to subjects who received a similar

supplement, but without the added vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids.

 

Unfortunately, many doctors would reject this type of supplement

regimen because of a belief that antioxidants interfere with

chemotherapy and radiation therapies. Some of these types of cytotoxic

therapies create free radicals that may help kill cancer cells.

Researchers have theorized that antioxidant supplements might impede

cytotoxic therapies. Some even suggest that patients treated with

these therapies should avoid antioxidant-rich foods, which would cut

virtually all fruits and vegetables from a cancer patient's diet.

 

This theory was given a boost late last year with an article that

appeared in the journal CA - A Cancer Journal for Clinicians

(published by the American Cancer Society). The article was written by

Gabriella M. D'Andrea, M.D., of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer

Center. And the title of the article tells you just about everything

you need to know about its content: "Use of Antioxidants During

Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy Should Be Avoided."

 

In the e-Alert "What Would Hippocrates Do?" (10/4/05), I offered a

rebuttal to Dr. D'Andrea's concept of denying key nutrients from

patients who need them most. Now others have added their own

rebuttals, and they need to be heard and clearly understood by any

cancer patient whose doctor believes that antioxidants may do harm.

 

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Call and response

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On the web site for CA - A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, several

doctors and nutritionists have submitted their reactions to Dr.

D'Andrea's article.

 

Hal Gunn, M.D., director of the Centre for Integrated Healing in

Vancouver, B.C., Canada, writes: "Belief and opinion do not constitute

science." He notes that Dr. D'Andrea doesn't mention any of the

studies in the "growing substantial body of supportive evidence" that

demonstrate the significant benefits of antioxidant use during chemo

and radiation.

 

A clinical nutritionist named Neil E. Levine offers a more exhaustive

rebuttal; complete with footnotes identifying many of the studies Dr.

Gunn refers to. Here's a sampling of Mr. Levine's antioxidant defense:

 

* Radiation and chemo treatments have been enhanced by vitamin E

use (Clinical Cancer Research, 2002)

* Vitamin E and selenium enhanced the effects of anticancer drugs

(Pathology & Oncology Research, 2005)

* Vitamins C and E have been shown to improve side effects of free

radical damage to normal cells caused by radiation and chemo

(Integrated Cancer Therapies, 2004)

* Prostate cancer cell cultures were sensitive to lycopene, which

increased apoptosis (spontaneous cell death) and arrested the cell

cycle (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 2005)

* Recent studies show vitamin E may induce apoptosis in a wide

variety of cancers, including breast, prostate, lung, colon, ovarian

and cervical (Journal of Nutrition, 2004)

* Several studies have demonstrated that antioxidants lessen side

effects of chemo (Integrated Cancer Therapies, 2004)

* Harsh radiation side effects were reduced with high doses of

beta-carotene and vitamin E (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2005)

* CoQ10 enhanced the efficacy of tamoxifen (Molecular and Cellular

Biochemistry, 2005)

 

Mr. Levine also offers this quote from Patrick Quillin, Ph.D., the

director of Nutrition, Cancer Treatment Centers of America:

"Malnutrition actually kills about 40 percent of cancer patients."

 

If you're being treated for cancer by a doctor who believes that

antioxidants may interfere with your therapy, share this information

with him and discuss the possibility that antioxidant use may in fact

be one of the keys to cancer treatment success.

 

 

 

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....and another thing

 

Exercise may offset the increased risk of Alzheimer's disease that

comes with long-term use of pharmaceutical hormone replacement therapy

(HRT), according to a new study.

 

OR...you could reduce your Alzheimer's risk even more by exercising

AND avoiding long-term use of synthetic HRT.

 

My how times have changed. There was a moment - back in the early days

of synthetic HRT - when researchers believed this therapy helped

prevent breast cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's. In recent years,

however, studies have associated HRT use with an INCREASED risk of

those diseases.

 

But HRT is still around - still prescribed by many doctors and still

used by many women - even though there are safe alternatives, such as

balancing menopausal hormone changes with bioidentical hormones. (See

the e-Alert "Where's the Shame?" (2/7/06) for details about

bioidentical hormones and how executives for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

have taken steps to obstruct women's right to choose this safer therapy.)

 

In this new study, just published in the journal Neurobiology of

Aging, researchers investigated 54 menopausal women who used HRT for

more than 10 years. This usage was associated with poorer mental

acuity test scores and a reduction in tissue volume in several areas

of the brain. But these negative effects were reduced among women with

higher fitness levels.

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

 

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Sources:

 

"Electronic Letters to: Gabriella M. D'Andrea / Use of Antioxidants

During Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy Should Be Avoided" CA - A Cancer

Journal for Clinicians, American Cancer Society, Vol. 55, No. 5,

September/October 2005, caonline.amcancersoc.org

"Exercise may Counter Mental Decline from HRT" Reuters Health,

1/27/06, reutershealth.com

 

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