{"id":886,"date":"2009-06-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/nutrition-breast-cancer-patients-antioxidants\/"},"modified":"2009-06-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-08T00:00:00","slug":"nutrition-breast-cancer-patients-antioxidants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/nutrition-breast-cancer-patients-antioxidants\/","title":{"rendered":"Antioxidants May Hinder Breast Cancer Treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"
(ISTOCKPHOTO)<\/p>\n
By Denise Mann
MONDAY, June 8, 2009 (Health.com) — Think that vitamins can only help—but never hurt—a condition? Although that’s true in many cases, some vitamins can be harmful to certain people or under special circumstances.<\/p>\n
Now a new study shows that many breast cancer patients take powerful antioxidant vitamins during radiation<\/a> or chemotherapy—despite evidence suggesting that antioxidants may be more harmful than helpful during such treatments.<\/p>\n “It is possible that if you are taking concentrated high-grade antioxidant vitamins in significant doses, it may interfere with your treatment,” says Marisa Weiss, MD, the president and founder of advocacy group Breastcancer.org and the author of several books, including Taking Care of Your Girls: A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens, and In-Betweens<\/em>.<\/p>\n The jury is still out on how—or even if—antioxidant vitamins can affect breast cancer patients, but in the study, 60.5% of women with breast cancer reported taking antioxidants, including vitamin E, vitamin C<\/a>, beta carotene, and selenium, during their treatment. The findings appear in the July 15 issue of the journal Cancer<\/em>.<\/p>\n Overall, 69.3% of those on antioxidants took high doses. (The researchers defined high doses as anything more than the amount found in a Centrum multivitamin.) And more than half who took antioxidants used doses that were higher than the current dietary reference intakes (DRI), which are the daily nutritional recommendations set forth by the Institute of Medicine.<\/p>\n So how can something that is supposed to be so good for you—like antioxidants—actually cause harm? Chemotherapy and radiation both work by creating free radicals within cancer cells; these free radicals damage the cancer cells and may ultimately kill them.<\/p>\n Antioxidants, however, sop up free radicals; in theory, this can prevent them from doing their job within cancer cells. In healthy people who are not being treated for cancer, antioxidants can have beneficial effects by sopping up the free radicals linked to aging and other diseases.<\/p>\n