> Common antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, selenium, and zinc, can stimulate the growth of blood vessels in cancer when taken in excess.<p>Is this to say that <i>once</i> you have cancer, these are bad, or that they promote the possibility of getting cancer. The second part is because we are continuously getting cancerous cells, but for the most part our immune system can deal with them before they become a problem.
Here is the actual paper: <a href="https://www.jci.org/articles/view/169671" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.jci.org/articles/view/169671</a>
Other clickbait titles could be "Eating fruit and vegetables accelerates cancer". Which is frankly not true. It requires the BACH1 protein to be present in tumor cells.<p>The claim more simplified would be something like excess antioxidants help protect cells and thus grow. Also reasoning as to why you don't take high-dose antioxidants when going through treatment. Because it can interfere through protective mechanisms.<p>The irony of this research is this somewhat brings up the age-old debate on Pauling's cancer work yet again.
There is so much debate to this, I consider this article clickbait.<p>Consider this clinical trial that suggests the exact opposite:<p>>> High Doses of Vitamin C with Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer<p><a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clinical-trials/search/v?id=NCT02905591&r=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clinical-trial...</a><p>Other studies:<p>>> Targeting cancer vulnerabilities with high-dose vitamin C<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6526932/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6526932/</a><p>Other studies of uses of supplements:<p>>> Taken together, these results suggest that combinational chemotherapy with ascorbic acid and paclitaxel not only does not block the anticancer effects of paclitaxel but also alleviates the cytotoxicity of paclitaxel in vivo and in vitro.<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23176798" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23176798</a><p>Overall, talk to your oncologist before combining any supplements with your chemotherapy.
Does this mean that people undergoing chemo shouldn't have any supplements at all?<p>Lutein, for example, is a strong antioxidant but also has anti-cancer properties.<p>Edit: thanks for the replies!
Note by definition antioxidants are chemically reactive substances that want to react with ROS but may also want to react with other things.<p>Your body uses oxidation to do important tasks. For instance one way immune system cells destroy invaders and cancer cells is by oxidizing then to death.<p>To second order your body has <i>antioxidant systems</i> that try to maintain the right level of activity. N-Acetyl Cysteine affects the metabolism of<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutathione" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutathione</a><p>for instance and what your body does with it in the liver. Your body should try to maintain the right level of antioxidant activity as much as it can if you are consuming more or less vitamins.
This is not new at all.<p>Nick Lane writes very specifically about this in “power, sex, suicide”.<p>Specifically, ingested antioxidants have no pathway to enter the cell where we believe antioxidants would be helpful… And even if they could they would almost certainly hurt us by interfering with essential cell signaling mechanisms.<p>Bad cells need to die. You should not get in the way of this process. In fact, you should probably <i>encourage</i> it.<p>The experimental basis for this dates to the early 80s.<p>Yes, that means the entire antioxidant edifice has been bullshit the entire time.
I am amazed how stupid we people are. We really want to put things into only two categories - something is either good or bad. This applies to cholesterol and many other things. ROS are bad in some cases, and are a mechanism for protection in a lot more. It's good to have antioxidants before facing a pathogen, but not good when you're already sick. There are many studies showing that taking antioxidants before exercise negates its health benefits and many others. Also, really, I'm not sure what taking stuff orally really do. For example, I lot of people take collagen nowadays, but once in the stomach, it just get broken down into amino acids, so, it's not different than any complete protein. Unless you get antioxidants via IV or use some liposomal form, I doubt there's much effect of just concentrated nutrient that's not in its natural form, which naturally absorbable and not destructed in your stomach.
The original study reports only in vitro data. Call me skeptical about the sweeping conclusion in the title.<p><a href="https://www.jci.org/articles/view/169671" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.jci.org/articles/view/169671</a>
Dr. Brad Stanfield - one of the few medical professionals who've challenged Dr. David Sinclair about his promotion of NMN and Resveratrol - has a couple of well researched posts about N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) that are worth watching if you're into this stuff.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvX6ivegQRE&t=1s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvX6ivegQRE&t=1s</a>
Which is completely unsurprising since ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) are used by organisms to kill cancer cells, bacteria and other foreign stuff in the body.<p>P.S. I am neither a doctor nor a biologist.
If you want a laugh, check out the comment section on that page. The Chinese, Biden, Clinton, and Big Pharma are all in cahoots.<p><a href="https://studyfinds.org/dietary-supplements-help-tumors/?show=comments" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://studyfinds.org/dietary-supplements-help-tumors/?show...</a>
I think that these results fit very well with the theory that cancer cells obtain energy from the fermentation pathway (as opposed to the oxidative pathway)
Recommended reading on this includes "Do You Believe in Magic" by Dr. Paul Offit, the Director of the Vaccine Education Center and professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (certainly one of the best children's hospitals in the world).