According to the latest research led by Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, women with early-stage breast cancer for whom chemotherapy was indicated and who used dietary supplements and multiple types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) were less likely to start chemotherapy than nonusers.
The research included 685 women, younger than 70, with early-stage non-metastatic invasive breast cancer. Eighty seven per cent of them used alternative therapies: the dietary supplement use of vitamins/minerals, herbs/botanicals, and other natural products, as well as mind-body self-practice, and mind-body practitioner-based. Most commonly used therapies by the women were dietary supplements and mind-body practices.
By 12 months, chemotherapy was initiated by 89 percent of women for whom chemotherapy was indicated. The remaining group of women for whom chemotherapy was discretionary had a much lower rate of initiation—at 36 per cent. Forty five per cent were clinically indicated to receive chemotherapy per National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines.
The researchers didn’t relate the use of mind-body practices to chemotherapy initiation. Dietary supplements usage and a higher simultaneous use of multiple complementary and alternative therapies were associated with a lower likelihood to initiate chemotherapy in those who engaged in these therapies than in non-users.
