High Doses of Multiple Antioxidants Essential Ingredients in Improving the Efficacy of Standard Cancer Therapy: A Review of the Medical Literature

Healthy for Life Newsletter July/August 2012 Vol. 9 No. 4 from Dr. Ray D Strand MD ,The author of the famous book "What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You"

High Doses of Multiple Antioxidants Essential Ingredients in Improving the Efficacy of Standard Cancer Therapy: A Review of the Medical Literature

 This newsletter is going to challenge the conventional medical wisdom when it comes to the use of nutritional supplements in patients who are receiving traditional cancer therapy. This comes up every time I consult a patient who has just been diagnosed with cancer or asked whether they think they should be taking nutritional supplements while they are receiving chemotherapy or radiation. I would venture to guess that less than 10% of the radiation therapists and oncologists support the use of nutritional supplements by their patients. However, this number appears to become less and less. This obviously leaves me in the minority and it always leaves me in a difficult situation trying to explain why everyone who is in this situation needs to be on the most potent antioxidant combination they can find. I hope that this newsletter, which is solely devoted to presenting my arguments about this situation, will give you more confidence in sharing my recommendations on nutritional supplements with those patients who have cancer. Why are the oncologists and radiation therapists concerned about the use of nutritional supplements in their patients who are receiving standard cancer therapy? They argue that their treatments use oxidative stress (free radicals) to destroy the cancer cells. They feel that if patients build up their antioxidant defenses via supplementation in order to protect themselves from the treatments that it could also build up the antioxidant defense system of the cancer cells and reduce the effectiveness of their treatments. They do not have any medical studies to support their concern; however, it is theoretically a legitimate possibility. So again, I turn to the medical literature to present my case for nutritional supplements in this situation. The efficacy of standard therapy for those patients who have cancer involving surgery (whenever possible), chemotherapy, and radiation therapy has reached a plateau, and for most solid tumors it remains relatively ineffective. This is why early detection of cancers is the becoming so important. Physicians are looking for better and more effective ways to treat their cancer patients. Obviously, these treatments carry a tremendous amount of morbidity and mortality for our patients. Wouldn’t any oncologist and radiation therapist want to be able to enhance the effectiveness of their standard therapies, while at the same time protecting them from their horrible and sometimes life threatening side effects? Well, as you will see as you read this article, 2 nutritional supplements offer both of these possibilities. Individual antioxidants have been studied for their anti-cancer properties. The most studied antioxidants are vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, and carotenoids. I will review these studies.

Anti-Cancer Properties of Vitamin A:

The effectiveness of vitamin A depends on the type and amount that was used. It has been shown to inhibit the growth of some cancers. At high doses, variable extents of tumor size reduction have been reported. Vitamin A, however, has been shown to have very little or no effect on several human tumors, which include melanoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. Some of the variants of vitamin A have been shown to produce extreme toxicity, especially when used in higher doses. Most researchers in this area agree that the use of single antioxidant vitamins, which require very high doses for its effectiveness, has no value in the treatment of cancer.

Anti-Cancer Properties of Vitamin C:

Vitamin C has been shown to inhibit the growth of cancer cells in both animal and human studies. There are other studies, which show that vitamin C at lower doses can actually stimulate the growth of cancer cells. Linus Pauling has shown that the use of 10 gms of sodium ascorbate can prolong and improve the quality of life in cancer patients. Other researchers have disputed these studies; however, they used straight ascorbic acid. There has been no significant toxicity related to these higher doses of vitamin C except for occasional GI upset. Medical studies are now showing us that calcium ascorbates are actually safer and more effective in patients with cancer. However, there is still a concern of using vitamin C alone in cancer patients.

 Anti-Cancer Properties of Vitamin E:

There have been several studies that have shown that vitamin E used in supplementation will inhibit the growth and increase the cell death of various cancers. Research studies are showing that d-alphatochopherol succinate is the most potent form of vitamin E in inhibiting the growth of cancer cells and causing increased cell death of these cancer cells. The higher antioxidant and biological effect of this natural form of vitamin E has also been demonstrated in several different studies.

 Anti-Cancer Properties of the Carotenoids

There are over 1000 different carotenoids. However, the most common ones are betacarotene, lycopene, and lutein. Most of the studies have been done using these carotenoids. They have been shown to inhibit the growth of cancer cells and, in the case of leukoplakia (a pre-cancerous tumor), a dramatic reversal was shown. Lycopene has been shown to decrease the risk of prostate cancer. Beta-carotene has also been shown to decrease the damage to normal cells by radiation therapy. It is felt that a combination of carotenoids is the best recommendations for patients with cancer.

Anti-Cancer Properties of B Vitamins:

There have not been any studies showing major benefits with the B vitamins and cancer treatment. Vitamin B3 may enhance the radiation response of some tumors. However, all in all most of the studies show that supplementation with a single vitamin could actually be harmful.

Anti-Cancer Properties of CoQ10

Exciting new research is showing the CoQ10 is able to program cancer cells to self-destruct. This finding was one of several 3 from recent studies conducted by researchers at the University of Miami (FL) using CoQ10 in supplementation. CoQ10 was found to change the genetic makeup of the cancer cell, which allowed the cancer cell to kill itself without harming normal cells. Essentially, CoQ10 set of a natural process of cell death of the cancer cells called apoptosis. The genetic makeup of normal cells was not affected. I have observed this phenomenon clinically in many of my cancer patients. This is why I have always strongly recommended high dose CoQ10 in all my cancer patients. Dr. Peter Langsjoen who is the head of the CoQ10 Society International has reported case studies of women who were sent home to die because of metastatic breast cancer to bone and liver went into spontaneous remission just using CoQ10. Every cancer patient needs to be taking high dose CoQ10 (500 to 600 mg of powder form or 180 to 200 mg of gel form) along with a complete and balanced antioxidant and mineral tablets.

Efficacy of a Mixture of Antioxidants

The use of individual antioxidants in cancer patients produces varying results and only at very high levels, which in the case of some may cause significant toxicity. The lower doses of single antioxidants have been shown to actually increase tumor growth. However, when researches looked at combining these antioxidant nutrients, they were able to demonstrate a marked inhibition of cancer cell growth. These antioxidants were given at levels that if used alone would produce no results or even enhance the cancer growth. When individual antioxidants were increased within the mixture, there was further reduction of the cancer. These studies and others are leading clinicians like me to recommend mixtures of optimal doses of several antioxidants and minerals and to push some of the more potent antioxidants like Coquinone and Proflavanol. Higher doses of vitamin E in the form of d-alphatocopherol succinate and Usana’s new Eprime may actually increase the effectiveness of my recommendation for cancer patients.

The Effectiveness of Antioxidants in Combination with Standard Cancer Therapies

Most of the studies that have been performed with single antioxidants both in the lab and within the body have shown an enhancement of the chemotherapeutic medications. However, there is an occasional study which has shown a negative effect when a single antioxidant is used with a particular chemotherapeutic drug, i.e. synthetic beta-carotene and 5-FU. When these same antioxidants are used in combination with several other antioxidants, there is only enhancement of the effectiveness of the drugs. Most oncologists and radiation therapists remain skeptical of using antioxidant vitamins with their patients who are receiving standard cancer therapies. Since both the chemotherapeutic drugs and radiation use the production of excessive free radicals to destroy or inhibit the growth of the tumor, they are worried that the cancer cells will be more resistant to their treatments. However, except for a rare situation where only a single antioxidant is used, this does not hold true when you examine the medical studies that are available. In fact, just the opposite occurs. Those cancer patients receiving standard cancer therapies who are also taking a combination of antioxidant vitamins and their supporting nutrients actually have significantly better results than those patients who simply take the standard therapies. In other words, the effect of a mixture of antioxidants in combination with tumor therapeutic agents will greatly enhance the 4 survival rates of these patients. Now this is the exact opposite result than all of these physicians would expect. Why is this happening? The medical literature is showing us that antioxidant supplements actually protect the normal cells while at the same time making the cancer cells more vulnerable to the traditional cancer therapies. These findings can be attributed to the fact that cancer cells accumulate these antioxidants at very high levels because of the cancer cells altered feedback mechanism that has gone awry. This excessive intracellular accumulation of these antioxidant vitamins affects many of the biochemical events in the cancer cells: 1. Suppressing many of the growth stimulating signals of these cancer cells 2. Cell differentiation 3. Enhancing affect on synthesis and secretion of growth factor-Beta and protein-21, both of which are powerful inhibitors of cell growth 4. Setting off natural cell death (apoptosis) as in the case of CoQ10 In lay terms, the cancer cells just keep taking up the antioxidants to very high levels. So instead of protecting these cancer cells, they actually inhibit their growth and proliferation, which at the same time leads to increased cell death. When they are used with standard chemotherapeutic treatments, they actually enhance the effectiveness of these therapies.

The Other Great Benefit of Antioxidants: Reduction of the Toxicity of Standard Cancer Therapies

 Normal cells are actually protected from the toxic effects of these standard cancer treatments because normal cells will not take excessive amounts of antioxidants. They will, however, be able to build up their natural antioxidant defense systems so that they are performing at optimal levels. Here are just a few of the positive benefits found in the medical literature:

1. Vitamin E reduces bleomycin-lung fibrosis, adriamycin-induced cardiac toxicity, and skin necrosis. Vitamin E also has been shown to protect normal cells from radiation damage.

 2. Coenzyme Q10 has also been shown to protect against adriamycin-induced cardiac toxicity.

3. Beta-carotene reduces the adverse effects of radiation and some chemotherapeutic drugs.

Since most of the side effects caused by the standard cancer therapies are caused by the excessive free radicals they produce, it only makes common sense that cancer patients would tolerate these medications better and recover from their treatments quicker. This has truly been my clinical experience. When patients follow my nutritional supplement recommendations for cancer found on my web site, they have had very positive experiences. I remember when a 21 year old girl told me that she had gone into remission after receiving her standard cancer therapy. Her oncologist came over to her and said, “What are you taking?” She asked "Why?" He said, “I have been watching you for weeks, and you are over here reading your magazines when all of my other patients are vomiting out their guts. Not only are you now in remission, but you did so well throughout the treatments.” She informed him that she has been on a high-quality, complete and balanced nutritional supplement. I have heard this kind of story dozens of times with my patients. The review of the medical literature has just convinced me even more now that what I am recommending is correct. 5 This is a very emotional topic among physicians and patients alike. Many patients will blindly follow their doctors’ recommendations because they are dealing with a life-threatening disease. I have focused this newsletter solely on the decision of whether patients with cancer should take supplements while receiving standard cancer therapies. My advice to my patients is to start the recommended nutritional supplements as soon as they have been diagnosed with cancer. This allows them time to begin to build up their own antioxidant defense system (even a week or two prior to starting treatments is beneficial). They should not take single antioxidants. They need to take a product that is complete and balanced. Then they can push the amount of CoQ10 and grape seed extract that they take. I personally believe that someday in the future (it may take 10 to 15 years) everyone who is diagnosed with cancer will be encouraged by their physician to take highquality complete and balanced nutritional supplements. They not only help their bodies fight the cancer, but will enhance their therapies and help protect the patient from the treatments' horrible side effects. If you are trying to help a family member or a friend who has been diagnosed with cancer, I would encourage you to show them this newsletter and my specific nutritional recommendations for cancer patients found on my web page. If they want the medical references on which I based this newsletter, have them get a copy of the following review article from their local medical library, usually found in their hospital.

High Doses of Multiple Antioxidant Vitamins: Essential Ingredients in Improving the Efficacy of Standard Cancer Therapy Kedar N. Prasad, Ph.D., Arun Kumar, M.D., Vinod Kochupillai, M.D., and William C. Cole, Ph.D. Center for Vitamins and Cancer Research, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO Journal of the American College Of Nutrition, Volume 18, Number 1, 13-25 (1999) This article lists an additional 71 articles that support their conclusions in its bibliography