Has anyone tried "BreastDefend"?

meirav

I googled for news on "metastatic breast cancer" and this came up first.

I know the whole Integrative medicine field is very questionable, but this seems to be a

research made by "Indiana University Health's Cancer Research Laboratory"

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/winning-the-battle-against-breast-cancer-metastasis-2012-05-08

My mom's already getting some of the ingredients that are in the formula(DIM,Breast Mate) but it seems that conventional drugs are the ones doing the job(side effects included)

Thanks

Cherilynn64

I actually JUST started taking that this week. This was on the recommendation of a young 34 year old who just had her lumpectomy....she went to a natutopathic oncologist who highly, highly recommends this particular supplement. She warned me how expensive it was, but I was spending that much on 2 of the supplements separately that are in this together....so it will end up being a little less for me with BreastDefend than what I was spending before.

I will be making an appointment with another naturopathic oncologist in the same office....so I will be asking her about this and what her take on it is. 

Cheri 

Chickadee

So they tested this only on mice? Are there published human trials? Independent verification of the results?

meirav

I don't think so. but it seems that my mom's feeling better with homeopathic supplements.

(In combination with conventional treatment)

She's already taking DIM(broccoli),Breast Mate(Mushrooms) and other things , but if this extract is more focused then

she might start taking it.

Her homeopath ( which is also a MD ) said he'll talk to Dr Eliaz (the developer of the formula).

we have no high hopes,  but even some benefit is good.

Chickadee

There is an Alternative treatment forum. You may wish to share this with the ladies who post there.

DivineMrsM

"My mom's already getting some of the ingredients that are in the formula(DIM,Breast Mate) but it seems that conventional drugs are the ones doing the job(side effects included)"

meirav, not sure what you are saying in this above statement.

This supplement does sound promising, but wonder how effective it could be on a er+pr+her2- cancer with bone mets?  You'd think the researchers, with this kind of success, would also experiment with other kinds of breast cancers.  

Still, your post has piqued my interest. 

K-Lo

 I agree with Chick.  The IU people only speak to early experiments with mice.  No data on humans.   The leap to someone selling and women using now is definitely in the alternative medicine world.

dlb823

meiav, the Integrative Doctor who developed Breast Defend, Issac Eliaz, is very accessible.  In fact, here's a link to his FB page, where you can contact him, if it might be helpful:

https://www.facebook.com/ieliaz

He's very responsive to questions about his work on this product, which I don't personally take, but have read about, and which has led me to eat more citrus pectin, one of its main ingredients.       Deanna

sweetbean

Interesting - thanks for posting this.  I'm going to check it out - I'm all about streamlining my supplements!

meirav

what I meant by this "My mom's already .." is that she is taking some of the ingredients in the formula

separately, so she's taking many pills instead of one (/few of the same kind).

I'll wait for her doctor's answer or maybe ask Dr Eliaz.I think that this disease should be attacked from as many sides as possible.

That's why I'm not blind to the alternative medicine world.

Oncologists totally disrespect it, but there are studies that show that some supplements enhance the reaction to the conventional treatments. 

  

elaineweil

Hello to all,

I am a nurse practitioner who works with cancer  patients and am also a patient myself, diagnosed with breast cancer early last year. I have been using a number of Dr. Eliaz's products for a number of years with patients, and also take them myself. His company, Econugenics, is one of the few companies that does extensive research on their products. Product research is a priority for him which is admirable, given the expense involved. It is surely helping to move the entire industry toward more research based recommendations. Studies usually progress from cell studies to animal studies and eventually to humans...which is the most difficult because it is very hard to ask people to just take one thing when they have cancer....this would not be acceptable...so there are lots of inherent difficulties and challenges in studying people....The mouse study on Breast Defend actually injected cancer cells into the mouse paw, which is a better simulation of possible human condition and increases the relevance of the study...in addition , cell line studies showed Breast Defend to be highly effective in killing aggressive types of breast cancer cells, even at low dosages--another very promising finding. Also the ingredients themselves have been studied independently and we know they have anticancer properties accomplished by numerous mechanisms. A synergistic blend of ingredients such as those formulated in Breast Defend, hits the cancer cells from a number of different angles which is so important because cancer cells are smart and adapt quickly to any particular attempt to block only one growth factor, etc......The way I see it is that in the field of integrative medicine, you have to look at the larger picture of the formulator, the company itself and their integrity and trustworthiness in terms of how they conduct themselves. Dr. Eliaz's company is shock full of research studies on many of their products, so I feel very confident about both using and recommending his products. Check out Pectasol-C, Honopure and Mycophyto...all products I use extensively where I work, and take myself. I hope this is helpful....a good website to take a look at is the following:

 www.dreliaz.org/recommended-product/for-breast-cancer

best to all, 

Elaina

mary625

I came across BreastDefend and the news of the study in the February 2013 Prevention magazine.  I'm not sure why the delay in reporting the news there.  I am taking some of the things that are in BreastDefend at the advice of my naturopath.  I was thinking about switching to BreastDefend after I read the article because I thought it might be a more convenient way to get those things in a single product.  However, I'm not that familiar with DIM -- I know there are a lot of threads about that on here that I will read.  My feeling about supplements is that I will take them on theory as long as they are not known to be harmful.  Does anyone know of DIM or any other of the BreastDefend ingredients to be harmful? 

IAmEnough

I'm curious about this as well mary625. Hopefully we'll see more response here.

elaineweil

Hi, 

I have been using Breast Defend for over a year. If you go to dreliaz.org, an educational website, you can look in their research section and see all the research that has been done on it. A new article just came out about a study done with Breast Defend and Modified Citrus Pectin showing synergistic beneficial effects. You can see an article about the study at this link, www.cnbc.com/id/100591120. The breast cancer that I had was triple negative, so I didn't have concerns about any potential interactions with Tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors which women with estrogen receptor positive tumors usually take for years after surgery or other initial treatments. I talked with someone at the company who makes BreastDefend about this and they are in the process of doing studies to test how it interacts with breast cancer cells and Tamoxifen and aromataste inhibitors, whether it enhances or inhibits the effects of these drug treatments. So you might want to be in touch with them over the next few months and see when results are available. These considerations are important for many botanicals that are commonly taken for breast cancer but studies have not been done to my knowledge So this will be important information. 

Renya

So sorry to hear of your mom's dx,  don't despair,  I was dx'd at Stage 4, now going into 4th year, all tumor markers normal after a "high as the sky" readings...I reduced those with natural....DIM is excellent, add Curcumin/Tumeric, Fucoidan, Maitake/REishi/Shitake Mushroom, B-17/Amigdalin, BetaD Glucan.    I assume your mom was Dx'd w/DCIS - best to do a specific dx search for best nutrients.   I was told I would be gone in Nov/2011, then changed to March, 2012, here it is April, 2013, I am thriving, TM's normal, all bloodwork, stats perfect.  Last Scans showed reduced invasion in ribs/pelvis and spine spot shrinking a bit.  Due another scan in July.   I went on CesiumChloride, will not know if it cleaned out the remaining invasion until scans.  I opted for LaserBreastSurgery, no pain, no cutting, i've had NO chemo or radiation.  Get on a healthy diet, ck out the nutrients that actually "eat" cancer, avoid sugars, dairy, glutemates, go for whole foods,you will see a big improvement.  Best to you & your mom.

lightandwind

Renya,

would like to ask you about cesium chloride. my onc thinks I have micomets because after mx last year my tumor markers were 99. the have been normal lately though I take femara and a bunch of natural supplements. What do you consider the 5 most effective supplements you have taken? I started taking something called salvestrol platinum. It is expensive and must be ordered only from europe but I think it has helped me. I take fucodian and tumeric. I noticed you had too. Did you mets shrink away the most w/ the maple bicarb combo? what is the best resource for the cesium chloride? I want to make sure I do it safely? Really love your posts and love your story. Hope to hear from you.

~michelle

lightandwind

Renya, I private messaged you.

Englishmummy

I'm bumping this as I am interested in it too.....
I was looking at this supplement - has anyone else used it or got any updated information?  Does it contraindicate tamoxifen?

I did find this http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22842551

solfeo

Maybe this should go on the Complimentary and Holistic board, but since it follows up on what was said before I'm posting it here. I'll post something over there also.

I take a lot of supplements and I'm starting tamoxifen tomorrow. After doing a lot of reading on the subject, I share elaineweil's concern above that many supplements have the potential to interact unfavorably with tam, by either reducing the effectiveness or increasing toxicity of tam. If I'm going to take it and subject my body to the adverse effects, I don't want to be taking anything else that prevents it from working. But I also don't want to give up all supplement use, when many are purported to attack the cancer in a different way from tamoxifen, and could possibly provide some added benefit. Tamoxifen isn't always that effective on its own, depending on heaven knows how many factors unique to any individual's constitution and cancer . It's a real dilemma for someone like me who would prefer to skip the tam all together, but I'm just a little too afraid to trust alternatives alone.

My philosophy regarding supplement use, since there is often not a lot of scientific proof of efficacy in humans, has always been to lean towards those substances that might help and most likely can't hurt, with at least some science behind them. That's all well and good when you're taking supplements only, but when you add in a drug like tamoxifen that is easily affected by other drugs and supplements that are metabolized in similar ways, it's a whole different ballgame. I'm not happy about it but I've already had to eliminate the possibility of more than one supplement due to probable interactions with tam.

elaineweill mentions a study that was underway to test how BreastDefend interacts with Tamoxifen. It has finally been completed and the outcome looks good in mice. The results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in the spring of 2015, but as far as I can tell it hasn't been published in a peer reviewed journal yet. Anyway, here it is:

BreastDefend enhances the effect of tamoxifen in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in vitro and in animal models in vivo

I'm leaning towards taking it, but still have quite a bit of research and thinking to do.

CAHarp

I prefer Host Defense Mycobotanicals Woman. Less expensive and these mushrooms come from Fungi Perfecti-the best source for mushrooms.

http://www.fungi.com/product-detail/product/host-defense-mycobotanicals-woman-capsules-60ct.html