Think Pinker

Too much of a good thing?

You are probably thinking the same thing I was when I saw this headline, “This has to be a typo.” But it isn’t! A recent study has suggested that taking antioxidants while being treated for breast cancer can actually harm you recovery efforts.

How can this be? Antioxidants are supposed to be good for your body and help you rid it of nasty free radicals right? That’s what I thought too, and it is actually true but what the new study suggests is that when a breast cancer patient is being treated with chemotherapy and or radiation they are being exposed to free radicals that are created on purpose in the cells of the tumor, so taking antioxidants can stop the wanted free radicals.  Makes sense.

While the study only suggested that antioxidants may be bad, those who conducted it admit that it is too early to make a definite determination as to exactly what the exact affect on treatment is. There was however another study that suggested that those with neck cancer who took Vitamin E on a regular basis didn’t live as long as those that did not.

This certainly is an interesting approach and who would have thought that something that is meant to help your body could actually hurt you in your fight against breast cancer. ThinkPinker.com will continue to stay on top of this story and monitor the news for any further findings. If you would like to read the entire article on this recent study, please visit cnn.com.