A little clarity
Study claims that supplement use may be “dangerous” for cancer survivors
I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my whole life. According to researchers from Duke University, “it’s unclear whether supplements really help keep cancer survivors healthier or put them at further risk.” But regardless of the lack of “clarity” on the issue, they certainly give the impression that cancer patients should look at supplement labels as though they’re bearing a skull and crossbones. And just how they arrived at this conclusion is murkier still.
The whole “study” — if you can call it that — was nothing more than an investigation to determine the frequency of supplement use by cancer patients. It didn’t even look at disease recurrences or mortality rates. Nonetheless, when they discovered that about 60 percent of the subjects were indeed taking, at the very least, a multivitamin, they felt the need to put their proverbial foot down. Of course, with a lack of any real evidence against daily multivitamin use, their argument came out sounding vague and wishy-washy: According to Denise Snyder, the clinical trials manager at the Duke School of Nursing, patients “may need a particular vitamin because they don’t get enough of it” but “they may not need a multivitamin or supplement because of the increased risk of cancer recurrence or secondary cancer.”
Other than a flurry of reports last year that multivitamins may increase the risk of prostate cancer, every other report I’ve ever read has stated that multivitamins REDUCE cancer risk. And this particular study offered no hard evidence to refute all those other reports. But evidence hardly matters to the mainstream: They’ll pounce on any opportunity to scare people away from supplements.
Before you let that fear take hold, though, this study did offer one piece of advice that I do think is valuable and worth following. The researchers concluded that “before they start to take supplements, older cancer survivors should talk with their health care provider.” Just make sure that your health care provider is one who’s skilled and knowledgeable in the use of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. That way, you’ll get a supplement program tailored to your individual needs, and not overblown, blanket warnings against the very substances that could help you keep cancer at bay for good.
Source:
“Dietary supplements may pose risk to older cancer survivors,” HealthDay News (www.healthday.com), 8/21/08
