My mother-in-law had stomach cancer about 20 years ago and her Dr told her not to take vitamins.?

Question

Has anyone else ever heard of a Dr telling a cancer survivor this? he told her she might trigger the cancer cells to start up again. Does this sound like something a Dr should be telling a patient, especially one whose diet is poor and is underweight but wasn't at the time he told her this.

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Vitamins are what we in the nutriceutical field call "potty pills" or "expensive urine". Think about it...there is nothing found in nature containing 100 mgs of ascorbic acid, 100 mgs of B-6, etc,. Focus on eating right and whole food supplements only (where bioavailablility can be proven by credible resources). If you're not afraid of wading through all the research hidden in some of the "back pages", go to www.PreventionProof.com and enjoy the education. It's refreshing NOT to see a bunch of lame testimonials or endorsements from doctors "on the payroll" - but real third party!

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Answer 3

No I have never heard of this..but then again you did say she was told that 20 years ago...alot has changed since then in respect to cancer and treatments...best thing for her to do is to talk to her doctor about taking vitamins if she wasnts to start taking them...and I would suggest its not the same doctor from 20 yrs ago...a person with cancer already has a suppressed immune system and vitamins could help in some regards as to boosting ones health...check with an oncologist preferrably and get the answer straight from them

Answer 4

After 20 years probably the patient is cure. With the standard of care at that time , radical gastrectomy, she will need iron and B12 vitamin by intramuscular injection for ever plus others depending on the age and general health condition

Answer 5

I was told the same thing.......this year, by my oncologist. I have large and small celll lung cancer. He stated DURING the treatment cycle not to take vitamins as they MAY have an adverse effect on what the chemo/radiation is trying to achieve.

I would equate it to taking the anti-oxitent group of vitamins while you are still smoking. Something like that is what I believe the doc was trying to convey.

Answer 6

Hi Robin. it certainly sounds like your mother received poor advice.

Virtually every biochemical pathway and mechanism involved in prevention of carcinogenesis (the process of cancer development) is dependent on an optimum level of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

Medical/nutritional textbooks call vitamins and minerals 'the Regulatory Nutrients' because they are involved in regulating most biochemical pathways in the body. Every system in the body (immune system, cardiovascular system, nervous system, endocrine system, etc.) is absolutely dependent on an adequate micronutrient status.

I would like to briefly address the 'uniformed' answer offered by 'Puz'. "Potty pills" and 'expensive urine' reflect the unscientific belief system of people (often doctors) who lack the basic knowledge required to even be discussing the subject. I will offer here two scientific papers that absolutely destroy this ridiculous idea.

1) American Journal of Clincial Nutrition, Vol. 75, No.4, 616-658. "High-dose vitamin therapy stimulates variant enzymes with decreased coenzyme binding affinity (increased Km): relevance to genetic disease and polymorphisms", by Bruce Ames, et al

This paper discusses the biochemistry and the clinical value of very, very high doses of various B-vitamins for successful treatment of various GENETIC diseases. This is very complicated biochemistry and not for the lay-person. Puz should try reading it! The point of this paper is that people have genetic variation in the biochemical enzymes just like they have variation in eye and hair color. For some people, this variation leads to a need for extremely high doses of certain vitamins for their enzyme to work correctly (most vitamins function as 'coenzyme factors' that the enzymes need to work properly.)

2) Journal of Nutrition, 134:3164S-3168S, November 2004; "Supplements and Tuning Up Metabolism" by Bruce Ames

Here is a direct quote from this paper: "Deficiencies of vitamin B-12, folic acid, vitamin B-6, niacin (vitamin B-3), vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, or zinc APPEAR TO MIMIC RADIATION IN DAMAGING DNA..." "Half the population may be deficient in at least one of these micronutrients." The point is this: very common vitamin and mineral deficiencies (from eating all that junk food!) can cause cancer because these deficiencies cause the same kind of damage to your DNA (genes) that radiation causes.

In June of 2002 the Journal of the American Medical Association recommended a daily mulit-vitamin/mineral supplement for all adults. This advice, by an organization that has resisted this position for half a century, should be taken very seriously.

Last comment: Last year (2005) the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a major paper discussing the possible benefit of very high dose Vitamin C (via intravenous injections) for cancer treatment.

There is a huge and growing body of scientific evidence that: 1) micronutrients are too low in most people's diets, 2) MOST chronic diseases (such as cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and more) are associated with low micronutrient intakes, and 3) a quality vitamin/mineral supplement is SAFE and RATIONAL.

Hope this was helpful. Best wishes.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Read the information and testimonials on my page and what the Harvard Medical Doctor said.