What Would Hippocrates Do?

[Guest guest]

" HSI - Jenny Thompson " <HSIResearch

HSI e-Alert - What Would Hippocrates Do?

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 07:00:00 -0400

 

 

 

 

 

HSI e-Alert - What Would Hippocrates Do?

 

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

****************************************************

October 04, 2005

 

 

 

Dear Reader,

 

How can you identify a Big Kahuna? Here's one way: They send down a

pronouncement from on high and throw in a little Latin.

 

In this case the Big Kahuna is Gabriella M. D'Andrea, M.D., an

Assistant Clinical Member in the Department of Medicine at the

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The current

issue of CA - an American Cancer Society journal - carries an article

by Dr. D'Andrea titled " Use of Antioxidants During Chemotherapy and

Radiotherapy Should Be Avoided. "

 

The title says it all. In Dr. D'Andrea's opinion, the controversy over

the effect of antioxidants on chemotherapy or radiation therapy is,

for the moment, settled.

 

And here's the Latin part. Dr. D'Andrea writes that doctors who use

chemo or radiation " must be guided by existing data in the context of

a fundamental principle of medicine, 'Primum non nocere.' " That zinger

is from Hippocrates, and translates as: " First do no harm. "

 

I wonder if Dr. D'Andrea appreciates the astonishing irony in

suggesting that antioxidants are harmful while she advocates chemo and

radiation, two of the most harmful therapies ever devised.

 

And what would Hippocrates make of these therapies that are in

supposed conflict with antioxidants? Maybe we can find a clue in

another quote from the Father of Medicine: " Let thy food be thy

medicine and medicine be thy food. "

 

-----------

Man in the middle

-----------

 

In a nutshell, here's how the controversy goes: Cytotoxic therapies

(such as certain chemo and radiation therapies) create free radicals

that are believed to help prompt the death of cancer cells. In the

late 90s, a few researchers theorized that antioxidant supplements

might make the therapies less successful.

 

Some have even gone so far as to suggest that patients treated with

cytotoxic therapies should avoid antioxidant-rich foods. This would

basically cut all fruits and vegetables out of an ailing person's

diet. What's wrong with THAT picture!?

 

Dan Labriola, N.D., was one of the first researchers to theorize this

antioxidant/cytotoxic conflict. In 1999, Dr. Labriola reported in the

journal Oncology that patients who took antioxidant supplements had

poorer responses to some cytotoxic therapies compared to patients who

didn't use supplements. Dr. Labriola suddenly found himself in no-mans

land. As a naturopathic physician he was not treated with respect by

the mainstream, and with his anti-antioxidant position he was roundly

denounced by the alternative medicine community.

 

But the response from the alternative crowd wasn't a knee-jerk

reaction. There was already quite a bit of evidence that antioxidants

can be helpful in fighting cancer, even when used with cytotoxic

therapies.

 

-----------

Known territory

-----------

 

Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., is one of the foremost authorities on

alternative cancer treatments. And I expect that Dr. Moss would have a

serious bone to pick with Dr. D'Andrea.

 

In 2000, Dr. Moss published a book titled " Antioxidants Against

Cancer " in which he outlined the ways antioxidants actually ENHANCE

the effectiveness of cytotoxic treatments while minimizing their side

effects.

 

And Dr. Moss' position is backed up by considerable research. For

instance, a Life Extension Foundation (LEF) article published last

year stated that Charles Simone, M.MS., M.D., has cited more than 350

studies that demonstrate how antioxidants have extended cancer

patients' life spans while improving their quality of life. Dr. Simone

is a medical and radiation oncologist who helped establish the Office

of Alternative Medicine for the National Institutes of Health.

 

The LEF article also featured a pioneer of nutritional healing and

dietary supplement treatments, Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Hoffer

has used mega doses of vitamin C to successfully treat well over 1,000

cancer patients, most of whom were also receiving chemotherapy.

 

-----------

She said, he said

-----------

 

At a 2001 biomedical symposium, Dr. Moss gave a speech that included

this comment: " We can reassure patients that the overwhelming mass of

data accumulated so far supports the concurrent use of chemotherapy

with dietary antioxidants. "

 

As for supplementary antioxidants, HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D.,

offers this outline of a cancer treatment regimen that includes a

familiar antioxidant: " Most alternative doctors, whether they use

chemo, modified chemo (a powerful technique called Insulin Potentiated

Therapy, or IPT), or no chemo, nearly ALL utilize vitamin C in VERY

high doses. The key is using it intravenously on non-chemo days, as it

is used up very quickly in times of stress (cancer would more than

qualify). Chemo acts fairly quickly, and the vitamin C tends to

protect normal cells more than cancer cells, which it helps to kill in

many cases; a fact well-established by Dr. Hugh Riordan at his clinic

in Wichita, KS. "

 

And Dr. Spreen adds: " I'd have to see a TON of highly definitive

evidence before I'd stop taking supplements with my cancer treatment. "

 

 

****************************************************

 

....and another thing

 

Good news: The sage researchers have saddled up.

 

In the e-Alert " Riders of the Purple Sage " (9/29/05), I told you that

an important Alzheimer's disease (AD) study that was slated to start

two months ago had not yet started enrolling subjects. But it appears

that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) web site that has info

about the study isn't quite up to date.

 

The research is sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and

Alternative Medicine (NCCAM - part of the NIH), and it's being

conducted at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. So I

sent an e-mail to Kristin Flegal at OHSU and she quickly responded.

 

Kristin writes: " The sage study is now underway. The project is funded

for two years, during which time we will be collecting and analyzing

data. We are continuing to recruit study participants from the

Portland area. A total of 40 AD patients will be enrolled. "

 

According to the NIH web site, the trial will last six weeks. Subjects

who have been diagnosed with mild AD will be given sage extract or

placebo during four phases of the study. Each phase will last 10 days.

Outcomes will be measured with cognitive testing (attention, memory,

visual cognition), and subjects will undergo an electroencephalogram

(EEG) and an electrocardiogram (ECG) during the four phases.

 

Caregivers for each of the subjects will also participate in the

study, " to accompany participants to all study visits, provide

informed consent, monitor participants' pill-taking, and communicate

changes in participants' health during the study. "

 

If you know someone in the Portland, OR, area who might be eligible,

you can find more information at this site:

clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00110552.

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

 

****************************************************

 

 

 

Sources:

 

" Use of Antioxidants During Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy Should Be

Avoided " Gabriella M. D'Andrea, M.D., CA - A Cancer Journal for

Clinicians, American Cancer Society, Vol. 55, No. 5, September/October

2005, caonline.amcancersoc.org

" Big Boost for Antioxidants " Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., Cancer Decisions

Newsletter Archives, 4/18/03, cancerdecisions.com

" The Concurrent Use of Antioxidants and Cytotoxic Cancer Treatments "

Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., A Speech to the 7th International Symposium for

Biologically Closed Electric Circuits in Biomedicine, July 2001,

annieappleseedproject.org

" Cancer: Should Patients Take Dietary Supplements? " Life Extension

Foundation, 6/30/04, lef.org

 

********************