Has anyone continued to drink acai juice or eating flax seed oil DURING chemo therapy?

with flax seed you have to make sure you check with your doctor because flax seed will interact with your other meds, he can tell you which meds you cant take with it.

My friend’s mom drank Ensure during chemotherapy to help her meet her nutritional needs. It’s not an alternative therapy but, it seems to be approved by doctors.

Dont know about acai, but I have a friend on adjuvant chemo for ovarian cancer (carboplatin + paclitaxel) who has flax seed oil every day, in important amounts. She is responding well to her chemo (according to CA 125 counts), and does not seem to have worse side effects than other people. Indeed, she has taken up weight during chemo instead of losing. She also has a diet that’s quite high on antioxidants, tumeric & other spices as well as a high amount of fruits.

I dont think that any actual foods (except the ones you may be unconfortable with because of chemo, like spicy foods) are really bad for cancer patients as such. The assumption that antioxidants will make some chemos less effective was largely based on theory, and not on actual in vivo (within a living organism) studies. Opinions on the influence of antioxidant on chemo/radiotherapy are now shifting based on such studies:

Impact of antioxidant supplementation on chemotherapeutic efficacy: A systematic review of the evidence from randomized controlled trials.
Cancer Treat Rev. 2007 Mar 14

On the same track, there is a new drug, NOV-002, now in trial, which would exploit *synergy* between antioxidant and chemotherapeutic agent. This drug is an orally active precursor of endogenous antioxidant gluthation.

However supplements may be harmful because of sometimes high doses (uncontrolled) of certain molecules (that can affect metabolism & elimination of chemo agent, causing worse side-effects) and possible contamination (bacterial or other) due to inappropriate extraction method.

The important thing is to eat well (including things you like !) and to be sure to get enough iron to make up for red blood cell loss. Meat is ideal for that; better absorption, minimal digestive/constipation problems. My friend is a vegetarian and started including meat in her diet while on chemo.

edit

After a short research of litterature, I’ve seen there’s much confusion on the subject of antioxidants. I’m beginning to think the ‘antioxidant’ classification is the cause of this. It covers so many types of chemicals that it is very doubtful all of them have the same effect in vivo, and that the ‘antioxidant’ action is their main mechanism. Even well characterized drugs have side-effects, so I dont see why ‘antioxidants’ would not have. ‘Antioxidant’ seems to be an inapropriate oversimplification that causes confusion in scientists and health professionals. Compounds should be researched according to their real chemical class (ex.: polyphenols, flavonoids, gluthation, ect.)

Oh…oh…

What can I say that will help you understand the methods of chemotherapy? I love acai juice, and I am health conscience just like you. That is the best way to be!

But not when you’re on chemo. Let me explain…one of the best ways, and yes, it’s not a great way, but the only way as of yet that physicians have learned to help treat cancer is chemotherapy. It’s basis is that the body is given a dose of medicine that destroys delicate DNA; DNA is most vulnerable during replication, hence, the target is rapidly dividing cells, and cancer cells are dividing out of control. This also means the chemo will destroy other rapidly dividing cells, like blood cells which they will monitor. You will hurt your body to help it. I know, it is not great.

So, chemo is basically a dose of free radicals – free radicals are destroying the DNA.

Antioxidants combat free radicals, that is why we should eat them…because in essence damaged DNA can cause cancer.

Are you with me? The treatment for cancer with chemotherapy depends on your body NOT interfering with the free radicals. Acai juice is one of the strongest antioxidants, it will totally make the chemo less effective. If you drink it, it will decrease the chance the chemo will work to destroy the rapidly dividing cells, the cancer cells.

I’ll tell you what, when you are done with chemo and your doc tells you THEN do as much as you can with helping your body heal. Then drink the Acai juice and whatever else healthy you want. And when you are free of cancer, indulge in it daily to help prevent any new DNA damage that could lead to cancer.

I hope this made sense. And my best to you, I will send all of my thoughts and healing energy to you this moment.

Dana