QUESTION:
 
I keep reading that antioxidants reduce the effect of chemotherapy. You say cancer treatments should include large doses of antioxidants. Which is the best?
 
Ray
 
 
ANSWER:
 
I'm glad you asked that question Ray as it gives me another chance to let you know the differences in medical treatment modes and since this will be published in Ask Lena Health Q & A the chance to reach a lot of other people who can understand the differences. Just the last few weeks more information was released on that very subject!

Modern Conventional/Traditional/Westernized Medical World chooses to treat with either prescription chemical drugs and/or over-the-counter medications that either suppress or shut down a part of the body while trying to induce over stimulation of another part of the body to clear the symptoms presented by a patient. What that really does is simply mask the problem(s) all together by shutting off electrical impulses in the brain or some other organ to suppress the symptom never treating the cause of the problem simply masking it! That mode of treatment only sets the body up for more serious problems such as cancer or autoimmune diseases later. In treating a life threatening health problem, such as cancer, the traditional/pharmaceutical world chooses to kill all the cells in the body, which kills the bacteria/viral/fungal fighting immune system. This is done with the hope that the body can withstand that tactic and that you do not come in contact with a germ while that mode of treatment is taking place. 48% to 75% never survive the immune system killing treatments prescribed in treating cancer and some autoimmune (leukemia, ALS, etc.) diseases! If the patient is lucky enough to survive that onslaught some or all of the organs never function properly again, creating more problems for the patient... These choices do not make sense to me even though I watched that practice for the 20+ years I assisted doctors!

Less used and least chosen treatment: Natural Medicine (aka Alternative Medicine) chooses to work the opposite. It works to help the body heal the problem and balance out the whole body to work as God intended it to work. Healing and correcting problems? This can be done by God Given herbs, minerals, vitamins and food! These choices added ten years to my damaged body and restored me to great health in 1991!
So understanding the differences I will attempt to answer your question?
 
We are told by the news media that antioxidants are bad for your unhealthy body. Of course those thoughts have been given them from the pharmaceutical industry that doesn't know how to heal and only sell chemicals.
 
The TRUTH IS; Antioxidants is the best and are absolute necessities for any body ravaged by cancer or other serious illness, as they are chief in building the immune system. So in conventional/traditional medicine's form of treatment antioxidants do interfere with chemotherapy. Why is that? Chemotherapy, as explained above, isn't really a treatment but a death sentence for most. But, for the person whose body is strong enough to survive (only 30% to 48% do, depending on the illness) that works but leaves their body with severe problems for the rest of their life.  So yes antioxidants during chemotherapy will slow down the progress. Something I would definitely want as the chances are so small I would survive chemo...
 
I would like you to understand that you cannot mix nature's medicine - herbs, vitamins and minerals - and chemical medicine and expect very good outcomes in any health issue. The two do not mix well. Can it be done? Sure it can but is a very slow path to take and in some health issues too slow to save a life.
 
You didn't ask about radiation but since it is another cancer treatment used by convention/traditional medicine I will touch on it. Radiation treatments and antioxidants is a different story.  Radiation is aimed at a specific area of the body and kills everything within it's path and an area around where it is aimed. In 2005 we were given totally erroneous information but states as fact, which just this year has been found to be false reporting?
 
2005 released to the news media and medical personnel the story that taking antioxidants while doing radiation therapy had dangerous side effects and prevented radiation from working. The majority listened and believed. Of course, the major media outlets also completely ignored 2004 research conducted by Charles Simone, M.MS., M.D., who cited multiple studies that demonstrated how antioxidant supplement use extended cancer patients' expected 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.  Then later in 2005 another published report said; "Supplementation with high doses of alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene during radiation therapy could reduce the severity of treatment adverse effects."
 
Which are we to believe? That is the confusion - first report - planted on purpose as people who are confused will not act on something that MIGHT NOT BE GOOD FOR THEM and the drug industry knows that!
 
Then April 1, 2008, issued by the International Journal of Cancer said that it was actually the COMBINED exposure to antioxidant supplements AND SMOKING that reduced the efficacy of radiation therapy. That is a whole different thing yet was not even referred to in their report in 2005.  

2008 Antioxidants and Cancer: Researcher admits she got it wrong
April 26,

It was news when it was first revealed three years ago - and it was news again last week: antioxidant vitamins can speed up the development of cancer. But the researcher who first published the study has now admitted that she got it wrong.

The original study - which made headlines around the world - found that cancer patients who took either vitamin A (beta-carotene) or E (alpha tocopherol) supplements were 40 per cent more likely to suffer a recurrence of their cancer than those who didn't take any supplements.

Ever since, nutritionists and alternative therapists have been on the back foot, and have tried to defend the antioxidants. But their task was made even tougher last week when the prestigious Cochrane Collaborative released a meta-analysis that suggested that antioxidants may even shorten our life.

But the researchers, led by Isabelle Bairati from the Quebec Research Centre, who published the 2005 study, have re-analyzed their original data, and have discovered they got it wrong. The only people in the study who were seeing their cancer return were smokers who refused to kick the habit while they were receiving radiation therapy or chemotherapy.

Strangely, not a single newspaper has run with the story. (Source: International Journal of Cancer, 2008; 122: 1679-83)
Sadly we will continue hearing how bad vitamins and minerals supplements are for us. This is being done to make it so we cannot pick and choose our health supplements without the advice of our doctor, who knows nothing about healing.
 
Sorry to get off on a tangent there but I get so angry at what is being pushed on people trying to confuse and/or make it hard for them to make smart health choices. Confusion makes for inaction and death for many.
 
Hope this helped answer your question.

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