Study: Gingseng may help fight cancer

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/...qT27vbKhvVJRIF

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

(excerpt)

CHICAGO - The first scientific tests of some popular alternative
medicine products hint that American ginseng might lessen cancer
fatigue and that flaxseed might slow the growth of prostate tumors.

But a big study proved shark cartilage worthless against lung cancer,
and doctors said people should not take it.

The research was reported Saturday at an American Society of Clinical
Oncology conference.

The ginseng and flaxseed studies are small and preliminary, and
specialists warned against making too much of them because the
substances tested are not the same as what consumers find on store
shelves.

But the results suggest that some herbal remedies eventually may find
niches for treating specific cancers, symptoms or side effects.
Americans spend millions on these products, which are not approved by
the federal Food and Drug Administration, even though no good
studies confirm the benefits they tout.

"One of the most common things patients ask me is about these things
they have snookered away in their purses" and medicine chests, said
Dr. Bruce Cheson, a cancer specialist at Georgetown University
Hospital. "They'll come in with big bags of this stuff."

Some "natural" remedies such as laetrile or high doses vitamin C
proved not helpful and even harmful for cancer patients once they were
scientifically studied, he noted. Some keep chemotherapy from working
as it should.

"Just because it is a vitamin or a leafy green does not ensure it does
not have some harmful effects," Cheson said.

Kurt wrote:
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/...qT27vbKhvVJRIF
>
> By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
>
> (excerpt)
>
> CHICAGO - The first scientific tests of some popular alternative
> medicine products hint that American ginseng might lessen cancer
> fatigue

I think you have the wrong group. This is not a cancer group.

That's cancer fatigue. Whether people who take it are more likely to
survive is another question.

> and that flaxseed might slow the growth of prostate tumors.

Which doesn't mean that it will prolong the lives of men with protate
tumors or improve the quality of their lives.

Both studies were prelimary and neither was peer-reviewed.

> But a big study proved shark cartilage worthless against lung cancer,
> and doctors said people should not take it.
>
> The research was reported Saturday at an American Society of Clinical
> Oncology conference.
>
> The ginseng and flaxseed studies are small and preliminary, and
> specialists warned against making too much of them because the
> substances tested are not the same as what consumers find on store
> shelves.

I would not make anything of them.


> But the results suggest that some herbal remedies eventually may find
> niches for treating specific cancers, symptoms or side effects.
> Americans spend millions on these products, which are not approved by
> the federal Food and Drug Administration, even though no good
> studies confirm the benefits they tout.
>
> "One of the most common things patients ask me is about these things
> they have snookered away in their purses" and medicine chests, said
> Dr. Bruce Cheson, a cancer specialist at Georgetown University
> Hospital. "They'll come in with big bags of this stuff."
>
> Some "natural" remedies such as laetrile or high doses vitamin C
> proved not helpful and even harmful for cancer patients once they were
> scientifically studied, he noted. Some keep chemotherapy from working
> as it should.
>
> "Just because it is a vitamin or a leafy green does not ensure it does
> not have some harmful effects," Cheson said.
>