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> Common antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, selenium, and zinc, can stimulate the growth of blood vessels in cancer when taken in excess. Is this to say that
by bArray 3y ago
> Common antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, selenium, and zinc, can stimulate the growth of blood vessels in cancer when taken in excess.
Is this to say that once you have cancer, these are bad, or that they promote the possibility of getting cancer. The second part is because we are continuously getting cancerous cells, but for the most part our immune system can deal with them before they become a problem.
- ttul 3y agoIf you are doing chemotherapy, your oncologist may tell you to avoid vitamin C and other anti-oxidants precisely because the chemotherapy drugs rely on oxidation to kill the cancer cells.
- adrian_b 3y agoThe paper says nothing about promoting the possibility of getting cancer. Only after the cancer is advanced enough that the cancerous cells have formed a tumor, according to this study the antioxidants promote the growth of the blood vessels of the tumor, which is very undesirable, because the better vascularized a tumor is, the faster it grows. When there is no cancer, promoting the growth of the blood vessels is a desirable effect.
- datavirtue 3y agoIn the article they clearly state that this applies for those with elevated risk. Those without cancer. Seems to make sense. If a tumor starts growing you won't know it. Meanwhile the antioxidants are helping it.
- adrian_b 3y agoLike many decisions in nutrition, any choice has both advantages and disadvantages. Judging from the results of this paper, avoiding antioxidants may decrease your risk of death because some undetected cancer has grown faster before being discovered, but it may increase your risk of death due to some cardiovascular disease.
- PaulHoule 3y agoYou might have cancer at a subclinical level years before you get symptoms. Some cancers (e.g. some prostate cancers) grow very slowly and might not kill you before something else does, in a case like accelerating cancer growth could make all the difference between something subclinical and something really dangerous.
- dahart 3y agoAre antioxidants just helping all growth across the board, including tumors? Or do they help tumors more than other tissue? I guess there’s a chance it might be an unfortunate or misleading message here if supplements reduce the risk of getting cancer more than they increase the severity once someone has it?
- itsoktocry 3y ago>Is this to say that once you have cancer, these are bad, or that they promote the possibility of getting cancer. Aren't we all and always in some state of "having cancer"? It's just a crappy modification away.
- Supermancho 3y agoI would agree. I would phrase it differently, as "cancer" is a human defined term. Our bodies are constantly fighting abnormal cell growth.
- numpad0 3y agoI figured as much as well. We probably have few cancer cells popping up and eaten out every days or hours, and it only gets bad once whacks gets outpaced by moles or something.
- legulere 3y agoCancers can grow so slow though that they're not becoming an issue, before the person dies of something else. Also it takes a while to notice cancer and around 50% of the population at some point get cancer that is noticed and warrants treatment.
- francisofascii 3y agoVitamin C is hailed for contributing to immune system defense. So maybe having the right amount is best?
- bArray 3y agoThat or pre-cancer diagnosis you rely heavily on vitamin C, and post-cancer diagnosis you withdraw heavily from vitamin C?
- CommanderData 3y agoVitamin C is antiangiogenic, it does the opposite to promoting blood vessels, slightly confused at the contradiction. Supplements like Tumeric have the same effect.