
<b>Effects of Supplements on Cancer Treatment </b>
Many people with cancer take herbs and other alternative therapies, hoping to help treat their disease. Types of alternative therapies commonly used include vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, amino acids, animal extracts, hormones, herbs, and other dietary supplements. People take these supplements for a variety of reasons, such as the desire to actively participate in treatment and to improve nutrition. In many cases, friends or family members encourage people with cancer to try the supplements. But while many dietary supplements may be touted as cancer cures, to date there is no evidence that these products are effective treatments for the disease. 

<B>Vitamins, Minerals, and Other Dietary Supplements</B> 
Some people with cancer take large amounts of vitamins, minerals, and other dietary supplements in an effort to enhance their immune systems or even destroy cancer cells. Some of these substances can be harmful. In fact, large doses of some vitamins and minerals may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Your doctor, nurse, or dietitian may advise you to supplement your diet with certain vitamins and minerals during treatment. This is especially true if you are unable to eat an adequate diet. In most cases, however, a supplement that contains 100 percent of the US Recommended Daily Allowances (US RDA) is usually sufficient. Many people believe that if a pill or supplement can be found on store shelves, then it is safe and effective. At this time, there are no regulations controlling the safety, content, and quality or dose recommendations for these products. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require manufacturers of these products to print possible side effects on their labels. The FDA cannot pull a dietary supplement or herbal product from the market unless it can prove that the product is unsafe. If you are considering taking dietary supplements, talk with your doctor or nurse first. If you are already taking supplements, bring the bottle(s) with you to your doctor for approval on the dose and to ensure that the ingredients do not interfere with your health or cancer treatment.   &&url


<b>To check out specific herbal or other unconventional, alternative or complementary cancer treatments, it is recommended that you first check it out on Quackwatch, to see if there is any relevant evidence for the treatment being effective.  Quackwatch provides a careful look at corroborative evidence, if any exists, for many touted remedies.  

If you are going to spend time, energy and money pursuing a treatment, try to pick one with some evidence that it will give you some benefit.
&&url</b>

<b>See &&url
Unconventional Cancer Treatments
Chapter 3: Dietary Treatments</b>
This chapter reviews three examples of unconventional treatments with dietary regimens as the primary or central component: the treatment regimen developed by the late Max Gerson, MD, currently offered at a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico; the treatment regimen developed by William Kelley, DDS, and recently modified by Nicholas Gonzalez, MD, who treats patients in New York; and the macrobiotic regimen, whose educational resources and specialized food products are widely available to patients in the United States. Coffee enemas, which are included in two of these regimens, are also discussed separately 
