#53625 11-11-2004 02:53 PM | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 218 Gold Member (200+ posts) | OP Gold Member (200+ posts) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 218 | Hi, You'll notice in the news section of the forum that there are two articles posted today which talk about a recently completed study that claims that taking vitamin E in large daily doses (greater than 20 International Unites - IUs - per day) is actually unhelpful in preventing cariovascular disease and cancer, and slightly increases mortality rates. Critics of the study say that it is flawed and that combining the data from a number of different studies is unreliable, and extrapolating from a population that is more likely to be sick than a normal population also skews the data against a postive study outcome. Nonetheless, I'm wondering what you think about the study and whether or not it will change your Vitamin E consumption, if you take it. I know that Brian in the other chemoprevention thread said that he was taking Vitamin E in part because it enhanced the absorption of selenium, a mineral, I think, which may have some chemopreventive properties. I've been taking 600 IUs daily and can't decide whether or not to stop. According to the study, the benefits are nil and the downside risks quite small. Any ideas? Thanks, Sheldon
Dx 1/29/04, SCC, T2N0M0 Tx 2/12/04 Surgery, 4/15/04 66 Gy. radiation (36 sessions) Dx 3/15/2016, SCC, pT1NX Tx 3/29/16 Surgery
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#53626 11-11-2004 03:28 PM | Joined: Apr 2004 Posts: 837 "Above & Beyond" Member (300+ posts) | "Above & Beyond" Member (300+ posts) Joined: Apr 2004 Posts: 837 | Sheldon,
I've had the same questions as you after reading the articles from the past couple of days. I've been taking 400 IU's daily, plus a Centrum, which contains another 45. I was planning to call my oncologist to see what he thinks about this study.
Cathy
Tongue SCC (T2M0N0), poorly differentiated, diagnosed 3/89, partial glossectomy and neck dissection 4/89, radiation from early June to late August 1989
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#53627 11-12-2004 01:25 AM | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 218 Gold Member (200+ posts) | OP Gold Member (200+ posts) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 218 | Hi Cathy, I went see my oncologist at Mass General and he was pretty sceptical about the benefits of vitamin E even before the study came out. He said there was simply a lack of data on which to make a judgment. Now that this study is out, it makes the decision even more difficult. Particularly since some docs have criticized the methodology of the study and thus its findings. Please let us know what your oncologist suggests. Best, Sheldon
Dx 1/29/04, SCC, T2N0M0 Tx 2/12/04 Surgery, 4/15/04 66 Gy. radiation (36 sessions) Dx 3/15/2016, SCC, pT1NX Tx 3/29/16 Surgery
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#53628 11-12-2004 09:36 AM | Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 116 Gold Member (100+ posts) | Gold Member (100+ posts) Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 116 | I find most docs are skeptical of any additional vitamins because there have been no accepted scientific studies that prove or disprove them. Most doctors go with only proven scientific studies to recomend something. Short term during chemo it can't hurt. Long term the recent studies are questionable but again are they totally proven scientific studies??
SCC R-Tonsil T2 NO MO Dec 2003. Completed IMRT Radiation only to tonsils(72Gy) and neck(55Gy)March 04. Detected at age 50.
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#53629 11-15-2004 06:27 AM | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 162 Gold Member (100+ posts) | Gold Member (100+ posts) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 162 | I am currently part of a phase III post-treatment chemo-prevention study at M. D. Anderson that includes acutane, interferon and vitamin E. I'm one of the controls, so I don't get the meds. But I wanted to post this because I wanted you guys to know that vitamin E is in fact being studied in a clinical setting as a co-agent in chemo-prevention regimen.
Incidentally, in my research into this stuff I have found a favorable possibility that vitamins may be helpful in a preventative mode. However, once you have active disease there appears to be no benefit. I use words like favorable possibility and appears, because there's not a whole lot of proven definative stuff out there. My gut feeling is that mega-dosing is not a good idea whether you're healthy or sick and that any benefit obtained from supplements is very modest. I have reduced my own supplement intake to a multi-vitamin containing 100% of the RDA with an extra 500mg of vitamin C once a day.
-Brett
Base of Tongue SCC. Stage IV, T1N2bM0. Diagnosed 25 July 2003. Treated with 6 weeks induction chemo -- Taxol & Carboplatin once a week followed with 30 fractions IMRT, 10 fields per fraction over 6 more weeks. Recurrence October 2005.
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#53630 11-16-2004 01:53 AM | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 102 Senior Member (100+ posts) | Senior Member (100+ posts) Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 102 | Hey Brett, My husband is (or was) in the same clinical trial at MD Anderson. He was in the control group also. They only followed him for a year after entering the trial and now he will only see clinical trial nurse if something comes up. He got in the trial in 2001.
Julie Wife to Kelly SSC tonsil Stage IV July 2000
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