CAN YOU TAKE ANTIOXIDANTS WITH HERCEPTIN?

I do.  My oncologist has a list of all my supplements and says those are fine.  Always best to check with your doctor, of course.

I've never heard that about lemongrass tea, Chainsaws. Can you explain further?

Sure Keiva :>

the potential (not proven - only potential) interaction is possible with platinum-containing drugs like carboplatin - I'm a chicken so I always check everything out before I take it :>  One of the posts I read about lemongrass was from a woman who checked with her pharmacist and got the response below.  She has since passed away so I don't want to post the link here, but PM me and I'll send it to you if you want to look at the whole post (on another web site).  I take supplements, but try to check them out because there can be interactions.  Eating grapefruit while taking my tykerb is listed as a no-no on the tykerb site. 

Thank you for patiently waiting for our response regarding your lemongrass question. I had given this drug information question to our pharmacy student here at Kaiser. She had researched your question this past week and through discussion with the research she found, we have our answer here. The bottom line recommendation is for you to not start the lemongrass tea regimen. Please read:

"Will drinking lemongrass tea (active ingredient citral) interfere with a chemotherapy regimen of gemcitabine/carboplatin? What kind of cancers has lemongrass tea been studied with?"

Citral (3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienal) is a chemical found in many plant species that gives them a lemon-like taste and smell. It can be found in citrus fruits such as lemons, the herb lemon verbena and the plant called lemongrass. It's also added to many foods and other products such as candies, detergents and fragrances, to give them a lemony aroma.

The Israeli research group led by Dr. Yacob Weinstein found that citral exhibited anti-cancer properties when studied in a test tube. The Israeli researchers studied citral's effect on hematopoetic cancer cells-meaning these cancer cells were derived from the cells in our bodies that make blood. This kind of cancer cell studied by Dr. Weinstein is found in cancers like leukemia. Citral's anti-cancer effect has not been studied in breast cancer or other cancer cells.

The concentration of citral used in Dr. Weinstein's study was similar to the concentration of citral found in a cup of lemongrass tea. There are no studies showing how much lemongrass tea a person needs to drink to achieve this concentration in their body. Metabolism studies in rats show that citral is extensively broken down as soon as it enters the blood stream. Within 5 minutes of a citral dose, none of the original citral compound could be detected in the rats' blood. Therefore it may not be possible to achieve a high enough concentration of citral in your body to affect any cancer cells, even with drinking large amounts of lemongrass tea.

Citral can affect several proteins and chemicals in the body. Citral has been shown to be an inhibitor of the same enzyme that is involved in breaking down alcohol. Citral can also cause metabolic enzymes in the liver to become more active. Citral can cause levels of a protective natural antioxidant chemical called glutathione to be reduced.

Gemcitabine (Gemzar) is not broken down much by liver enzymes and does not require the presence of glutathione to be metabolized, so it is possible that drinking lemongrass tea will not interact with gemcitabine.

Carboplatin undergoes little metabolism in the body and is eliminated mostly by the kidneys. However, there is some evidence that the natural protective chemical glutathione plays a role in reducing the toxic effects of carboplatin on the body and may reduce side effects and damage caused by the drug. Since citral can reduce glutathione levels, drinking lemongrass tea while taking carboplatin could cause an increase in side effects from the carboplatin.

Even though all the data discussed here are very preliminary and have not been studied extensively in humans, I think it would be safest to avoid drinking lemongrass tea if your chemotherapy regimen contains a platinum-containing drug like carboplatin. Your body may need glutathione to help you heal from the carboplatin and citral may reduce your glutathione levels enough to keep you from doing that. I hope that you have found this information helpful. Please contact our clinic if you have any further questions regarding this.