Clinicians should advise their patients against the use of antioxidant dietary supplements during chemotherapy or radiotherapy

Clinicians should advise their patients against the use of antioxidant dietary supplements during chemotherapy or radiotherapy, according to researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre…In fact, supplementation is often associated with worse survival in clinical trials. For instance, a trial of 90 patients with early-stage breast cancer who were prescribed megadoses of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants along with standard therapy showed a trend toward worse breast cancer-specific survival and disease-free survival compared with 180 controls.

—David Hodges, The Medical Post, Volume 41, Issue 34, 10/11/05