Investigation of Antioxidant Supplements and Medicinal Herbs in Breast Cancer Recurrence and Survival.

摘要

There is urgent need to resolve the question of whether high consumption of antioxidants from diet and/or supplements can impact the prognosis of women diagnosed with breast cancer. A meta-analysis was conducted to summarize previous findings for high intakes of vitamin C from diet and supplements and risk of breast cancer-related mortality. Relative risk estimates for highest vitamin C consumption and breast cancer survival ranged from 0.40 to 0.92. The random effects estimate for the highest intake of vitamin C and mortality was 0.72 (95% CI, 0.57-0.90) In addition, proportional hazards and logistic regression modeling were used to estimate rate ratios and odds ratios for recurrence and/or mortality among 385 postmenopausal women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1986 and 1988 enrolled into a case-control study on diet and cancer. One or more supplements were used by 80.5% of women, and use increased significantly after diagnosis of breast cancer. Antioxidant supplement users compared with non-users were less likely to have a breast cancer recurrence or breast cancer related death (OR=0.54; 95% CI, 0.27-1.04). Vitamin E supplements showed a modest protective effect on recurrence and mortality when used for more than 3 years (OR0.33; 95% CI, 0.10-1.07). Biases may have influenced these results. This study provides limited support for the hypothesis that antioxidant supplements may reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence or breast cancer related mortality.