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Old 09-27-2005, 01:50 PM   #1
dee
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Spokane/Warden, WA
Posts: 67
Some natural supplements interfere with chemo

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Saturday, September 24, 2005

Cancer experts now back Seattle doctor's findings Some natural supplements interfere with chemo By TOM PAULSON <
mailto:tompaulson@seattlepi.com> SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Some of the nation's top cancer researchers have rediscovered what a Seattle naturopathic physician, Dr. Dan Labriola, reported more than half a decade ago -- that it can be dangerous to combine some cancer therapies and certain natural supplements.

Scientists at the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City reported this week in the journal of the American Cancer Society that the use of anti-oxidant supplements such as vitamins C and E could significantly undermine the effectiveness of common chemotherapeutic agents.

"We said it years ago, but it's still a big problem," said Labriola. He is director of the Northwest Natural Health Specialty Care Clinic in Ballard and recently took on the additional task of directing naturopathic care for the Swedish Cancer Institute.

Labriola, once largely ignored by the medical mainstream and then castigated by his naturopathic colleagues for warning against anti-oxidant use by cancer patients, is slowly finding vindication and respect for his "evidence-based" approach to alternative therapies.

Studies show that most cancer patients use dietary and nutritional supplements to reduce the side effects of the traditional medical treatments or to boost immunity and overall health.

In 1999, Labriola and Dr. Robert Livingston, a cancer specialist at the University of Washington, reported in the journal Oncology that patients undergoing certain kinds of chemotherapy who took anti-oxidant supplements suffered much poorer outcomes than patients who didn't take anti-oxidants.

Other popular anti-oxidants include vitamins A, B-6, selenium and many herbs.

"I don't recall if there were any deaths in this group, but long-term survival was certainly worse," Labriola said.

Perhaps the Sloan-Kettering scientists had just missed Labriola and Livingston's earlier report. Or perhaps they didn't want to cite a naturopathic doctor as an original source.

Perhaps the New York cancer experts are, like Alexis Vanden Bos used to be, a bit dubious about these "alternative" doctors.

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"I didn't want to have anything to do with that hippie mumbo jumbo," said Vanden Bos, a 53-year-old stockbroker who last year was diagnosed with breast cancer that spread to her lymph nodes. "I had seen a naturopath before and it was worthless. New Age woo-woo."

Her physician at Swedish suggested she go in to talk with Labriola anyway about diet and supplements, but she was -- to put it mildly -- highly skeptical.

"She took control of the interview right away," Labriola chuckled.

"I wanted evidence," Vanden Bos said. "He has this engineer background and is very clear and precise. He provided me with choices based on statistics and facts."

She had a lot of nerve pain and numbness, so Labriola suggested she take a glutamine supplement along with some B-6 at certain times.

She learned that some amount of anti-oxidants can be used between chemo treatments, but they have to be timed and controlled by dosage.

Labriola asked her to eat pears as well as certain digestive enzymes.

She ate the pears but decided to ignore the enzymes -- and suffered discomfort.

"I have a lot more respect for naturopathic medicine now," Vanden Bos said.

Labriola has worked with cancer experts at the UW, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and elsewhere for many years trying to gain respect and trust for his naturopathic methods within the traditional medical establishment.

But it was the rest of the naturopathic medical community that was his biggest obstacle.

His 1999 report was not popular with most of the supplement-prescribing alternative care community.

"There was quite a bit of hostility," agreed Dr. Joe Pizzorno, founder and president emeritus of Bastyr University, a naturopathic institution in Kenmore.

"It wasn't an appropriate response," Pizzorno added. "Dan really knows what he's doing."

Labriola said he was "blasted" by many of his naturopathic colleagues in public and in private for the report he wrote with Livingston. He said it's encouraging that he's finding more acceptance among mainstream cancer doctors -- at least in Seattle.

As the report out of Sloan-Kettering indicates, he said, it's clear this is still "news" to many oncologists and their patients. Many apparently remain unaware of the need to carefully coordinate a person's diet and the use of supplements while undergoing chemotherapy.

"That's why we brought Dan on," said Dr. Albert Einstein Jr. (no relation to the well-known theoretical physicist), director of the cancer institute at Swedish Medical Center.

"We found there were people doing acupuncture, meditation, naturopathy and other forms of alternative or complementary medicine ... but it was being done in a disorganized way," Einstein said.



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