Health Components Physical Fitness & Beauty

What You Need to Know First - to be on the safe side.
If you are thinking about using dietary supplements such as vitamins, herbs, or any product made from plants (botanicals) as part of your cancer treatment, you need to consider your choice carefully. Right now, few governmental standards are in place to control the production and ensure the safety, effectiveness, and quality of dietary supplements. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put out new regulations in 2007 to help improve the safety and consistency of supplements, some of these rules will not be fully in effect until 2010. Even then, there are concerns about what will not change under the new rules. So it still falls to you, the consumer, to gather truthful information about using these products safely.

Like drugs, dietary supplements have risks and side effects. They can usually be used safely within certain dosage guidelines. But, unlike drugs, dietary supplements are mostly “self-prescribed,” with little or no input from informed medical sources like doctors, nurses, or pharmacists. There is a lot of wrong information out there. Often, there is not enough reliable information about the safe use and potential risks of dietary supplements.

As part of its activity to monitor supplement safety, the U.S. FDA gathers reports of illness, injury, or reactions from supplements. However, before December 2007, supplement makers were not required to report serious harmful effects to the FDA, so most of these events were not reported. Exposures to supplements (such as vitamins and herbs or botanicals) accounted for nearly 24,000 calls to U.S. poison control centers in 2005 alone. Of these calls, there were more than 212 moderate to severe outcomes, and 13 resulted in deaths. More than 350 of these cases were described as “adverse reactions.” It is safe to assume that most people who suffered unexpected side effects, illnesses, or drug interactions from dietary supplements did not call a poison control center. That means that these numbers are likely to be a very low estimate of actual events.

This is not to say that used properly, certain dietary supplements cannot reduce the risk of some diseases, relieve or reduce discomfort caused by certain drugs or conditions, or simply improve your quality of life. However, particularly in the case of people who are getting treatment for cancer, taking dietary supplements can be risky.

For example, some dietary supplements can cause skin sensitivity and severe reactions when taken while receiving radiation treatments. Patients having radiation treatment should talk to their doctors before taking any supplement. Also, patients getting chemotherapy may be at higher risk for drug interaction if they take dietary supplements. Cancer experts often
recommend that these patients avoid dietary supplements altogether.

Keep in mind that most of what you hear or read about dietary supplements is based on anecdotal evidence — that is, evidence based on people’s (even doctors’) personal experiences or opinions rather than objective, controlled scientific studies.

Be skeptical of sources that make grand claims based on a few people’s testimonials or vague references to “scientific proof.” The rule “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” usually applies to such claims. Remember also that the makers and sellers of supplements have a vested interest in promoting their products. Look for evidence or research on the supplement from objective, third-party sources wherever possible.

Regardless of your treatment, it is always safest to talk with your doctor about the exact amount of each supplement you plan to take before starting on a supplement regimen.
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There will be more here on dietary supplements, something added to complete a diet or to make up for a dietary deficiency, so stay tuned for more.