A measure of comfort
Several years ago a friend of mine, a coworker named Ron, was shocked when his doctor diagnosed his backache as lung cancer. The ache had been so mild that he almost didn’t mention it during his checkup. Within a week, Ron was undergoing the first of several radiation treatments, followed by a few rounds of chemotherapy. His cancer was not yet advanced, so Ron is now, fortunately, a cancer survivor. But for the better part of a year, the clich about the treatment being worse than the disease became all too real. His backache had never been painful, but the radiation and chemotherapy created profound discomforts, to say the least.
When your body is under attack from both a disease and a treatment that depletes so many of the body’s resources, the immune system needs every source of help it can get. So I was pleased when I recently came across two studies that offer a few rays of hope to those who have to endure abrasive cancer therapies.
Can antioxidants interfere with the effectiveness of chemotherapy? This question has been debated for some years now by doctors, researchers and practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine. On one hand there is no evidence supported by studies that chemo is compromised by antioxidants. But many types of chemotherapies produce free radicals, which (some theorize) may be part of what makes the therapy work.
A new study from Bergamo, Italy, provides the most recent insight into this controversy. Researchers enlisted 52 colon cancer patients who were receiving a chemotherapy called oxaliplatin. Through 12 cycles of treatment, half of the subjects were given a placebo, while the other half received an antioxidant called glutathione, administered intravenously at the time they received their chemo. Earlier this month I sent you an e-Alert (“Storm of the Eye” 10/9/02) about N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an amino acid that stimulates production of glutathione, one of the body’s most powerful antioxidant enzymes.
At the end of the dozen treatments, researchers found that the subjects who received the placebo had a “statistically significant” amount of nerve damage compared to the group that received glutathione. Meanwhile, there was no indication that the presence of glutathione inhibited the chemotherapy from shrinking the cancer tumors. In fact, subjects in the glutathione group were found to have slightly greater tumor shrinkage than the group that received placebo.
Even though these results are promising, the discussion about how antioxidants might influence the effect of chemo is not necessarily resolved. There are many different types of antioxidants, as well as a wide variety of chemotherapies. Only further research will reveal whether or not certain combinations create problems. That said, this study is a clear confirmation that some chemotherapy patients may find relief from side effects through a regimen of antioxidant supplements.
Meanwhile, a common spice called turmeric may lessen the skin irritations caused by radiation therapy, according to a study from the University of Rochester Medical Center. Typically used in curry powders, turmeric contains curcumin, which is known to relieve pain and have anti-inflammatory effects.
URMC researchers set out to test curcumin on radiated skin by giving a group of mice 20 consecutive days of radiation. The mice that were treated with curcumin showed far less inflammation and scarring of the skin than the mice that received no treatment. URMC’s chief of radiation oncology, Dr. Paul Okunieff, told the New York Times that the daily dosage of curcumin given to the mice would probably be equivalent to somewhere between half a teaspoon and a tablespoon for humans. And he added that turmeric supplements are available at most health food stores.
Which is good to know because, coincidentally, the same day I found the URMC study, I received a newsletter from noted cancer researcher, Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., in which he presents a convincing case for the cancer preventive benefits of turmeric. He points to the island nation of Sri Lanka, where the key characteristic of a typical diet includes large amounts of turmeric in curries.
Dr. Moss notes that the Sri Lanka cancer mortality rate per 100,000 is 26.1 for females and 29.3 for males. The comparison of these numbers to America is unsettling: cancer mortality per 100,000 in the U.S. is 138.6 for women and an astounding 206.0 for men. He adds that this difference is probably not due to genetic or hereditary factors, for two reasons: 1) the population of Sri Lanka has a wide diversity of ethnic backgrounds, and 2) the cancer rates of migrs from Sri Lanka to North America and Europe jump considerably within just a generation or two.
As with all herbs, turmeric should be taken with care. Some people may experience stomach upset and even ulcers with high doses of turmeric. Also, because turmeric is known to thin the blood, it should not be taken with anti-coagulant medications or anti-inflammatory drugs.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute