Should Antioxidant Supplements Be Avoided During Chemotherapy?

In the current issue of CA - an American Cancer Society journal I came across 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.

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 line 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.'

Do antioxidants affect chemotherapy?

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 theorised 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 was one of the first researchers to theorise 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.

Research shows that antioxidants can extend cancer patients lives

Ralph W. Moss 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 minimising 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 Dr Charles Simone 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 in the US.

The LEF article also featured a pioneer of nutritional healing and dietary supplement treatments, Abram Hoffer. 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.

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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 Panellist Allan Spreen 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 utilise 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.'

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.'