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The Anti-Cancer Cupboard
A “glimpse” into the cupboards of cancer survivors reveals above-average use of vitamin and mineral supplements for health, according to a literature review by scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington in Seattle.
The review, focusing on 32 research studies published from 1999 to 2006, examined use of such supplements among U.S. adult cancer patients and survivors. The researchers reported that, while 50 percent of American adults take vitamins or minerals, between 64 and 81 percent of U.S. cancer survivors use such supplements. As for multivitamins, while 33 percent of the population reports their use, between 26 and 77 percent of cancer survivors take them, the review reports.
Prostate cancer survivors were least likely to use vitamin or mineral supplements, the study found, while breast cancer survivors were most likely.
The researchers urge healthcare professionals (up to 68 percent of whom were uninformed about patients’ supplement use) to encourage open dialogue during office visits about vitamins and minerals and to provide more information about their use.
Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2/1/08
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Order a ReprintProceeding With Caution
In a recent public health advisory, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it is evaluating reports that the smoking cessation drug Chantix (varenicline) may be associated with symptoms including behavioral changes, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or behaviors. While the drug has been shown to help motivated smokers kick the habit, patients and physicians need to know the latest safety information to make informed decisions, says the FDA’s Bob Rappaport, MD. Patients are urged to discuss the issue with their doctors, and doctors should closely monitor patients on the drugs.
Food and Drug Administration, 2/1/08
The progress that has been made in reducing cancer death rates is a direct result of investment in approaches that we know work, such as comprehensive tobacco control and screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers, as well as research that has identified more successful treatments. However, we believe that lack of health insurance and inadequate health insurance is one of the most important barriers to continued progress.
—Otis W. Brawley, MD, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society
Tell the Whole Family
Even with a family history of colon cancer, blacks are still less likely than whites to get colonoscopies — in part, it appears, because fewer receive a doctor’s referral for the procedure. For people with a close relative who has had colon cancer, colonoscopy is recommended once every five years beginning at age 40 (or in some cases, earlier). The study, by researchers at Vanderbilt University and other institutions, found that among 538 African Americans who had colon cancer in the family, 27 percent reported having a colonoscopy within five years, while among a group of 255 whites with the disease in the family, 43 percent had undergone colonscopy in the five-year period.
Archives of Internal Medicine, 3/24/08
A study of hormone replacement therapy in breast cancer survivors found that those who received hormones to manage menopause symptoms had a 14 percent higher risk of cancer recurrence compared with those using alternative methods of symptom management.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute online, 3/25/08
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