Issue Date: June 24, 2007

Antioxidants may boost cancer treatment

There is some controversy over whether patients on chemotherapy should take antioxidants. The main concern: Do supplements like vitamins E and C, beta carotene and selenium counteract cancer treatment?

A new review of 1,500 patients found that taking antioxidant supplements with chemotherapy actually might increase survival rates, tumor shrinkage and the patient's ability to tolerate chemotherapy. Discouraging antioxidants is not scientifically valid, suggests the study, which was co-authored by Robert Newman, Ph.D., of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Keith Block, M.D., medical and scientific director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care.