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CAM
& Life Style
>
F - L
Last Update:
07/10/2010
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TOPICS
Fats | Fish
oil | Garlic | Gerson
Therapy? | Ginger
| Glutamine | Green tea
| Herbs | Hoxsey Therapy?
| Homeopathy? | Hyperthermia
/ Hot
baths with chemo? | Hyperbaric
Therapy? | Immune support - boosting | Iron
| Licorice root
To avoid potential adverse interactions,
be sure to let your health care provider know
if you use any type of complementary therapy. |
Fats
Questions and related abstracts
Also see
Fats in Risk Factors
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 TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
Background: wikipedia.org
There are many kinds of
dietary fats. A consensus
is forming about which fats are best to use or avoid for general good
health, which is briefly summarized here:
.gif) |
Saturated Fats from animal
sources (limit) |
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Monounsaturated Fats - olive oil, canola oil (good-neutral), |
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Polyunsaturated Fats - there are two
kinds:
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Omega-6 - vegetable oils
Limit, spoil easily,
avoid cooking
with
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Omega-3 - fish oil, flaxseed oil, pumpkinseed
oil
Considered good oils in moderation.
Note: Don't cook with flaxseed; store cold. (Also see fish
oil below.)
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
is a member of the omega-3 family of fatty acids. The oils derived from cold-water fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, and cod) are concentrated sources of EPA. To a limited extent, the human body can make EPA from ALA.
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a member of the omega-3 family of fatty acids. This fatty acid is found in cold-water fish and in some types of algae.
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Trans-fatty acids - hydrogenated or partially
hydrogenated oils
Avoid this type. Look for
"Hydrogenated" in ingredient list. Included in many
products, such as breads and crackers. FDA will soon require
listing of this as a fat on food labels. |
More Information:
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FDA Acts to Provide Better Information to Consumers on Trans
Fats - FDA.gov
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About short/medium/long chain fats - iastate.edu
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Trans fat lurks in a multitude of foods. It’s not labeled. And it’s bad for your heart. Here’s how to avoid it.
- ComsumerReports.org
02_23_03
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Dietary
Fats—Are there "good" fats and "bad" fats? - uhcs.universityhealth.org
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What
Oils are best for cooking - Ken
Fawcett, RNC
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Questions:
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Should patients increase intake of omegag-3 oils and
restrict intact of vegetable oils, trans-fats, and saturated fats?
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Do fats contribute to inflammation, and can diets
that promote or inhibit inflammation influence the clinical course of
patients living with lymphoma?
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Does the dietary intake of certain fats
increase the risk of developing lymphoma?
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Which fats, if any, can we cook with without
putting our health at risk? |
Abstracts and Articles:
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Fish Oil Supplements May Be Safer Than Eating Fish CME - Medscape
(free login req.)
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Antiproliferative
effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids and interleukin-2 on normal and
abnormal human lymphocytes. Experientia. 1994 May 15;50(5):489-92.
- PubMed
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Modulation of human immune and inflammatory responses by
dietary fatty acids.
Nutrition. 2001 Jul-Aug;17(7-8):669-73. Review. PMID: 11448594 - PubMed
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New
epidemiologic leads in the etiology of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the
elderly: the role of blood transfusion and diet. Biomed Pharmacother. 1997;51(5):200-7 - PubMed
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Dietary
fat and protein in relation to risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among
women. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1999 Oct 20;91(20):1751-8 - PubMed
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Diet
and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in older women.
JAMA. 1996 May 1;275(17):1315-21 - PubMed
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Fish oil
Natural sources: cold water fish, such as salmon and
herring
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Fish
oil is rich in omega-3 oils. It contains EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and
DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
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Can supplementing with fish oil help to
slow the progression of indolent lymphomas?
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What are safe doses of fish oil?
Might this vary among individuals?
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Can fish oils enhance the uptake and
efficacy of chemotherapy drugs?
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Can fish oil protect normal cells from
side effects of treatment without interfering with treatment?
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Might supplementing with fish oil
inhibit immune function and therefore interfere with immune
therapies? |
Open Clinical trial: Phase I/II
Study of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Advanced Cancer Patients with Cachexia -NCI
CAUTION: Fish oil consumption may increase the risk of
bleeding in susceptible individuals. While beneficial in many respects,
using fish oil might compromise some immune-based therapies. See
Alerts for details.
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Garlic
garlic powder
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Garlic
(Allium sativum)
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
Cell-culture experiments
are poor models for biological activity in humans
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Cell culture experiment: Z-ajoene (a compound of
garlic) induces apoptosis (cell death) of HL-60 cells:
involvement of Bcl-2 cleavage. Nutr Cancer. 2002;42(2):241-7. PMID:
12416266 - PubMed
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abstracts
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Cell culture experiment: Siegers
CP, et al. *[See
Related Articles] The effects of garlic preparations against human tumor cell
proliferation. Phytomedicine. 1999 Mar;6(1):7-11. PMID: 10228605; UI: 99245289.
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Cell culture experiments: Unnikrishnan
MC, et al. * [See
Related Articles] Cytotoxicity of extracts of spices to cultured cells.
Nutr Cancer. 1988;11(4):251-7.
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Gerson
Therapy?
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Background: wikipedia.org
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
"The Gerson therapy uses a special
diet, supplements and also coffee enemas to detoxify and stimulate the
body’s metabolism. Proponents of the Gerson therapy have made claims
that it is an effective treatment for cancer and other illnesses, through
balancing the levels of potassium and sodium in the body, removal of
toxins and regeneration of liver function and also improving overall
nutritional status.
No substantive evidence exists in the
scientific literature to support the view that the Gerson therapy is an
effective alternative therapy for cancer. However, some evidence does
exist which suggests that elements of the therapy (coffee enemas in
particular) are potentially dangerous if used excessively. In addition to
this the excessive demands of time, money and other resources on the
patient undergoing the therapy may be extreme." 1 http://www.cam-cancer.org/mod_product/uploads/gerson.pdf
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Gerson Therapy - Report by Concerted Action for
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Assessment in the Cancer Field
(CAM-Cancer) Project funded under the European Commission 5th
Framework Program “Quality of Life”. - http://www.cam-cancer.org/mod_product/uploads/gerson.pdf
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Alternative nutritional cancer therapies.
Int J Cancer Suppl. 1998;11:69-72. Review. PMID:
9876483 | Related
articles
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Genistein
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A
naturally occurring compound present in soy, has attracted scientific
interest for its possible benefits in cancer and heart disease
prevention.
Background: wikipedia.org
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
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The phytoestrogen genistein induces thymic and immune changes: a
human health concern? Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 May
28;99(11):7616-21. PMID:
12032332
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Genistein sensitizes diffuse large cell lymphoma to CHOP
(cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) chemotherapy.
Mol Cancer Ther. 2003 Dec;2(12):1361-8. PMID:
14707277
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Glutamine
Natural sources: fish, meat, beans, and dairy
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Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid (protein building block) in
the body and is involved in more metabolic processes than any other amino
acid.
Background: wikipedia.org
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
CAUTION: See Alerts
Related Abstracts and text:
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Oral glutamine in the prevention of fluorouracil induced intestinal toxicity: a double blind, placebo controlled, randomised trial.
Gut. 2001 Jan;48(1):28-33. PMID: 11115819
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Glutamine: essential for immune nutrition in the critically ill.
Br J Nutr. 2002 Jan;87 Suppl 1:S3-8. Review
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Glutamine
supplementation in cancer patients receiving bone marrow
transplantation and high dose chemotherapy. J Nutr. 2001 Sep;131(9
Suppl):2578S-84S; discussion 2590S. Review |
Full
Text article
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Ginger
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Ginger seems
to relieve nausea and calming the
intestinal tract. It may also inhibit the cox-2 enzyme, which promotes inflammation.
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
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NEW
Ginger Eases Nausea From Chemo
healthday.com
Participants were randomized to receive either a
placebo or one of three doses of ginger supplement: 0.5 grams, 1 gram
or 1.5 grams for three days before the start of chemo and three days
after for the next two cycles. All also received traditional
antiemetic drugs on the first day of treatment.
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Green
tea has components, such as EGCG, that may fight certain types of cancer.
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ASCO 2010: Oral green tea in asymptomatic, Rai stage 0-II CLL
AbstView_74_47574
Comment: Here are
reported what appears to be good signals of activity and relatively
modest side effects at the chosen dose (compared to other CLL
treatments). Note that there were also toxicities at what
appears to be the active dose - including signals of liver
toxicities - transaminitis (31% grade 1, 12% grade 2), and nausea in
55%. These are modest side effects compared to standard CLL
treatments, but this has to be weighed against no treatment, because
treatment is not given for early stage CLL.
When estimating the treatment effects you need to consider also the
natural history of the condition in the selected population, in this
case early stage CLL ... What is its typical clinical course? Does
it wax and wane? How long until treatment is needed? I think it can
be ten years or more. So are these clinically meaningful
responses - leading to better quality of life or survival? If
anything, quality of life was impaired by the side effects (up to 6
months of nausea in 55%), so long term impacts on survival - or time
to first treatment (compared to observation in a controlled study)
could be the key questions going forward.
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Study recruiting: Green Tea
Extract in Treating Patients With Stage 0, Stage I, or Stage II
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia http://clinicaltria
ls.gov/ct2/
show/NCT00262743
Comment: Entering a study is preferred to
self-medicating. In this way you get a reliable product at a
controlled dose, and can be monitored closely for adverse affects. And
when you participate in a study you contribute to the clinical
science.
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TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
CAUTIONS: Green tea might contain
high levels of fluoride - bruha.com
and high doses may cause liver toxicity pubs.acs.org
pdf
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Caution on high dose
green teas supplements:
Green tea can be toxic at therapeutic dose levels
pubs.acs.org
pdf
"Despite several human studies that showed no toxicity of
tea polyphenol preparations and that the major adverse effects
associated with consumption of high doses of tea preparations are
due to gastrointestinal irritation, there have been a number of
recent case reports of hepatotoxicity related to the consumption
of high doses of tea-based dietary supplements (10-29 mg/ kg/day
po) (18)."
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CLL Pilot study: A Phase 1 Trial of Daily Oral Green Tea Extract in Asymptomatic, Rai Stage 0-II Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Session Type: Poster Session, Board #237-II
abstracts2view.com
RESULTS: As of August 2007, 33 patients have been accrued to dose levels 1-8. The maximum tolerated dose(MTD) has not been reached. Side effects have generally been mild. The most common toxicities were nausea(grade 1: 42%; grade 2: 3%), elevation in SGOT (42%; all grade 1), and abdominal pain (36%; all grade 1).
To date, no patient has had a sustained 50% reduction in both absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) and lymphadenopathy that would meet the NCI WG criteria for partial response.
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Bertolini
F, Fusetti L, Rabascio C, Cinieri S, Martinelli G, Pruneri G. * Related
Articles Inhibition of angiogenesis and induction of endothelial and tumor cell
apoptosis by green tea in animal models of human high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Leukemia. 2000 Aug;14(8):1477-82. PMID: 10942245
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Saeki
K, Sano M, Miyase T, Nakamura Y, Hara Y, Aoyagi Y, Isemura M. * Related
Articles Apoptosis-inducing activity of polyphenol compounds derived from tea
catechins in human histiolytic lymphoma U937 cells. Biosci Biotechnol
Biochem. 1999
Mar;63(3):585-7.
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Herbs
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Links to guidance about herbs from reputable
sources will be posted here.
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
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HerbMed® - herbmed.org
An interactive, electronic herbal database – provides hyperlinked
access to the scientific data underlying the use of herbs for health.
It is an evidence-based information resource for professionals,
researchers, and general public.
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Misconceptions on herbs and cancer - scienceblogs.com
The bigger question in using these remedies for humans with cancer
has been whether the concentrations used in cell culture can be
acheived in the bloodstream of patients. Most naturally-occuring
compounds must be concentrated hundreds or thousands-fold from their
natural source, and then be given at doses that would choke a horse.
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Hoxsey Therapy?
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TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
Background
copied from wikipedia.org:
"Hoxsey herbal treatment includes a paste of antimony,
zinc and bloodroot,
arsenic,
sulfur,
and talc as
external treatments, and a liquid mixture of licorice,
red
clover, burdock
root, Stillingia
root, barberry,
Cascara,
prickly
ash bark, buckthorn
bark, and potassium
iodide for internal consumption.[4]
In addition to the herbs, the Hoxsey treatment now also
includes antiseptic
douches and washes, laxative
tablets, and nutritional supplements. A mixture of procaine
hydrochloride and vitamins, along with liver and cactus, is
prescribed.
During treatment, patients are asked to avoid
consumption of tomatoes,
vinegar,
pork, alcohol,
salt, sugar,
and white
flour products.
The Hoxsey treatment is not supported by the American
Cancer Society or National
Cancer Institute, as neither have found objective evidence that the
treatment provides any tangible benefit to cancer victims. A controlled
experiment using lab mice found no difference in tumor growth between
untreated mice and those given the Hoxsey tonic.[7]
The FDA
investigated 400 people claiming to have been cured by the Hoxsey method
and found no indication that any had been cured by the mixture.[2]"
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Homeopathy?
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TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
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A 19 page comic strip explanation of homeopathy
http://bit.ly/bYNidX
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Commentary on Homeopathy
PDF
"A competing theory of the time, blood letting, was likely
based on the presumed need to eliminate from the body that which was
causing it harm. In its day such harmful practices were not
difficult to displace by good hygiene, bed rest, and yes, providing
water with dilute trace elements – adequate hydration."
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Orac: The "frontier science" of homeopathy?
http://scienceblogs.com/
"Mr. Goldacre's statement is at odds with the excellent therapeutic results of homeopathic patients reported at the time of the
epidemic"
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Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? A meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials.
INTERPRETATION: The results of our meta-analysis are not compatible with the hypothesis that the clinical effects of homeopathy are completely due to placebo. However, we found insufficient evidence from these studies that homeopathy is clearly efficacious for any single clinical condition. Further research on homeopathy is warranted provided it is rigorous and systematic.
Publication Types:
Meta-Analysis PMID: 9310601
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Hyperthermia / Hot baths with chemo?
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TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
Commentary on risks of taking hot baths
close to administration of chemo:
In addition to the known risk of hand/foot syndrome, the
doses of chemotherapy
agents are carefully calculated to achieve blood levels within the
therapeutic window (to be effective with acceptable toxicity).
It may be that a hot bath will raise the temperature of
blood in your skin and extremities, which could increase drug
accumulations in those areas and reduce blood flow to other areas.
That is, the practice of taking hot baths close to the administration of
chemotherapy might not be safe to do, or beneficial.
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NEW:
Hyperthermia in Cancer Treatment: Questions and Answers
http://bit.ly/cRBVH7
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See for avoiding risk of Hand/Foot
Syndrome
"HFS is a skin reaction that appears on the palms of the hands and/or the
soles of the feet as a result of certain chemotherapy agents "
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See for avoiding risk of infection: cancer.gov
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Hyperbaric Therapy?
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TOPIC
SEARCH Diet and Immunity: PubMed
| Scholar
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Does Hyperbaric Oxygenation accelerate cancer?
Professor John Feldmeier Professor in Oncology, Medical College of Ohio,
USA 2002 - spinalrehab.com
"Lotovin (1981) reported the effects of 6-HBO sessions at 2.5 ATA resulted in an increase of T lymphocytes in guinea pigs. However raised HBO to 5 ATA resulted in immune suppression. Animals given HBO at 2.5 ATA daily resulted in T lymphocyte elevation 1.4 fold (140% elevation) and that of B lymphocytes 2.8-fold* (280% elevation). Also noted were significant elevations in ALL immunoglobulin responses.
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CAUTION: The above suggests that this intervention could *promote* growth of lymphomas.
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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy - emedicine
Provides a good history of medical uses ... includes caution
that HBO is angiogenic - promotes growth of new blood vessels which may
be cancer promoting.
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Immune
support
Boosting immunity with supplements to fight lymphomas?
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TOPIC
SEARCH Diet and Immunity: PubMed
Many thanks to help from Jerry (Webmagic)
for his assist on writing this perspective.
Can boosting immunity help fight lymphoma and other
cancers?
The immune system is very complex. Understanding of how the immune system interacts with lymphoma cells is only now beginning to unfold.1
Thinking of immunity as a police force can be a useful way of thinking about how it works, but the immune system only acts upon recognition of non-self, i.e., something is foreign to it. Therefore, non-specific boosting of immunity that does not help the immune system to recognize tumor proteins (antigens) as being abnormal and not belonging is unlikely to be effective as a treatment strategy.
The immune system can build armies of specialized forces when a foreign element is recognized as such: as an antigen. Activating the expansion of antibody-creating cells (B-cells) and specialized cells (T-cells) that can kill infected or abnormal cells. These activations are antigen-specific, not nutrient-based.
The triggers of activation can be remembered or learned, such as a virus with a unique sequence of amino acids, or a protein expressed abnormally on a cell. There is cross-talk between the two arms of immunity, and also many internal controls. Regulatory T-cells, for example, that inhibit immune activation as a way to protect against autoimmunity.
Thus, we might ask, “What part of the immune system (if any) are we boosting with herbs or vitamins?
Like a police force, the immune system can subdue a criminal, but it needs to "know" its identity first. Once subdued, the armies are programmed to turn off the attack and self-destruct. Memory cells may remain so that a new insult can be dealt with more quickly and efficiently a second time..
One way of looking at a lymphoma is that it is an immune cell that has a flawed program, one that is not capable of turning off the attack on an antigen. Instead, it is misdirected by mutations for continued survival and expansion.
It may be that normal cells surrounding and infiltrating the tumor are aiding and abetting the wrong cause, contributing to sustained growth and activation of these cells--the malignant behavior. So what triggers and boosts immunity is the detection of foreign antigens. An insect bite that leaves a non-self protein beneath the skin is an example.
As noted, activating immunity without providing information about what it should attack is not likely to help fight a lymphoma. Strategies that boost immunity by introducing antigen-like substances (pokeweed, etc.) are more likely to just rev up the system, like sirens and whistles without a plan. This course of action is unproductive and perhaps may contribute to immune depletion in the long run.
Lymphomas may also depress immunity. The malignant cells may secrete factors that activate regulatory T-cells, whose job it is to suppress the immune response. Or, lymphoma cells crowding out normal cells in the bone marrow may inhibit the creation of new infection-fighting white blood cells (WBC). In this case, clearly, treatment that ablates (kills) tumors in the marrow may best address the underlying problem.
Perhaps diet and supplements can influence immunity, but only modestly. This can occur in two ways: directly, if the body considers the supplement to be an antigen (foreign body), and indirectly, as building blocks (nutrients) for formation of new blood cells. A healthful diet and exercise will take care of the latter; the former (mushrooms, pokeweed, etc.) should probably be avoided because it may distract immunity from addressing the lymphoma (if it is) as described above, or potentially stimulate the lymphoma to grow.
It should be noted that Beta glucans (from mushrooms) may improve the immune complement function, a process in which immune cells kill mab-coated cells. Testing is being done to see if it enhances response to Rituxan.
By far the most potent immune boosters are the new biologics. These are growth factors that actively induce certain types of blood cells to grow and mature. Leukine, Procrit, Neupogen are the brand names for these colony-stimulating factors. They also go by G-CSF or GM-CSF.
CSF stands for “colony stimulating factors.” GM stands for granulocyte and macrophage respectively, which are the cells stimulated. For example, G-CSF is sometimes give to reduce risk of Infection between rounds of
chemotherapy. Leukine is being tested in a controlled study to see if it provides benefit as an adjuvant with Rituxan to treat follicular NHL.
Leukine is also administered at injection sites for therapeutic
vaccines.
Note that despite the proven potency of biologic agents, they are not administered as single agents to treat lymphomas but only to keep treatment on schedule
(rebuild WBC after chemo), or given with immune therapies to potentially enhance or complement treatment effects (with vaccines or rituxan).
One exciting direction in research is the use of immune modulating compounds. Agents like lenalidomide (Revlimid) may profoundly change the *profile* of immunity in ways that lead to tumor regressions. Recently, this agent was rapidly approved by the FDA for treating myeloma (a blood cancer). It is being tested for follicular NHL as well as a single agent and also as a potential adjuvant (booster) of Rituxan.
[1] "There is considerable clinical evidence that immune responses are
important in follicular lymphoma. In some cases, the lymphoma regresses spontaneously,29 an observation that has also been made in melanoma and
renal-cell carcinoma and that may indicate an effective antitumor immune
response. The response of follicular lymphomas to idiotype vaccines also
highlights the potential of the immune system to recognize and counteract
this type of lymphoma.8,9,10 Although these findings suggest that the clinical course of follicular lymphoma can be modulated by immune responses,
our study provides a molecular signature of the *type* of immune response
that is associated with long-term survival.
It is also possible that the lymph-node cells responsible for the immune-response 1 signature provide trophic signals that promote the
survival or proliferation of the malignant cells. This signature could represent a variant germinal-center reaction that includes T cells,
follicular dendritic cells, and the malignant cells. The dependence of the
malignant cells on these environmental signals may prevent them from leaving
the lymph node, possibly accounting for the association between the immune-response 1 signature and prolonged survival. An understanding of the
nature of these trophic signals provided by the microenvironment in follicular lymphoma could provide new targets for therapy."
Source: http://content.nejm.org
Depressed immunity is a known risk factor for developing lymphoma. And both the disease and the treatments of it can impair immune function.
"Cancer patients may wish to use these
botanicals to inhibit tumor growth or to boost resistance to infections.
However, passive immunotherapy with herbs, with no mechanism to expose
tumor antigens, is unlikely to be effective in inhibiting tumor growth.
Although the margin of safety for these herbs is large, more research is
needed to demonstrate the clear value of using herbs to improve resistance
to infections." 1
Be aware that supplements that stimulate immunity in theory can also stimulate lymphomas, a cancer of immune cells.
(See the caution below.)
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Iron
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Iron is an essential mineral. Excessive iron,
however, may promote tumor growth.
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
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Licorice root
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Licochalcone-A is one flavonoids
extracted from
licorice root with antiparasitic and anti-tumor activity. Immunoblot analysis demonstrated
that LA decreased the anti-apoptotic protein bcl-2, a gene that's often over expressed
in lymphomas - in cell culture.
Background: wikipedia.org
TOPIC
SEARCH: PubMed
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