Circumstantial evidence
The headline alone made my blood boil, and the rest of the article didn't make me any less angry. It read "Cancer patients should steer clear of antioxidants," and the rest of the article went on to explain (less-than-convincingly if you ask me) why. This conclusion came about after a group of researchers reviewed some of the existing studies on patients taking antioxidant supplements in conjunction with traditional therapies like chemotherapy and radiation. The dire warnings came early on in the article I read, with comments like these: "Although multivitamins may be all right in some cases, even green tea and vitamin A or E supplements can spell trouble…" since "the supplements 'may decrease the effectiveness of radiation or chemotherapy or even make the toxicities of these treatments worse.'" Much further down the page was the evidence that was supposed to justify such drastic accusations. But as it turns out, only ONE study reviewed by the researchers showed an increased risk of death in cancer patients taking antioxidants. By the researchers' own admission, the rest of the studies were too flawed to draw adequate conclusions about the interactions between antioxidants and other cancer therapies. In fact, according to the lead researcher "'The quality of these studies, in terms of many of the details, is not sufficient enough for us to make strong recommendations to our patients…" So, then, why have they? They've thrown the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, and decried antioxidants as potentially lethal weapons, despite the fact that their study is just as flawed as the rest, and didn't provide nearly enough evidence to truly support such a stance. The fact is, antioxidants are the very substances that can keep you from ever "needing" treatments like chemotherapy and radiation in the first place. And, unlike those protocols, a solid antioxidant supplement program doesn't have ravaging effects on the body at all, let alone ones that could be made worse by other substances. The point is, don't discount the disease-fighting potential of antioxidants based a study -- any study -- that's full of holes. Source:
"Cancer patients should steer clear of antioxidants," Health Day News (www.healthday.com), 5/27/08 | 
