Antioxidants are good for you. This message is broadcast far and wide by vitamin companies, farmers and physicians. But what many people don't know is that antioxidants might be quite bad for you if you have breast cancer.
According to a study published in the July issue of the medical journal Cancer, many women with breast cancer continue taking large doses of antioxidant supplements in hopes of improving their body's ability to fight the disease. But past research suggests that antioxidants may also have detrimental effects on conventional cancer treatments.
Antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, beta-crotene and selenium, have been found to help prevent the onset of cancer by protecting the body's cells from damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals - free radical damage may lead to cancer. But many physicians note that cancer patients undergoing treatment may be doing their bodies more harm than good by consuming greater-than-average doses of antioxidants.
Researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health studied the use of antioxidant supplements among 764 women in the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project. Of the 663 women who were undergoing chemotherapy, hormone treatment or radiation, 60.5 percent said they were taking antioxidants during their treatment and a majority of the women - about 70 percent - who reported antioxidant use said they were taking high doses, which was defined as more than the dose of antioxidants found in an average multivitamin.
Many breast cancer patients surveyed in the study believe antioxidant supplements will protect them from the toxicity of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, improve their overall health and mitigate the risk of cancer recurrence.
But the actual impact antioxidants have on cancer treatment is unknown at best and dangerous at worst.
In a 2008 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers found that antioxidants can protect healthy cells while patients undergo radiation and chemotherapy treatments but chemotherapy and radiation treatments often attack cancerous cells by generating free radicals, which many vitamin supplements protect against. Antioxidants exert their effects on all tissues, not just healthy ones, and can thereby protect cancer cells, as well as healthy cells, from the treatments.
