Antioxidants on radiotherapy

LM070917 · February 2016

Hey all, just wondering if there are certain foods I need to avoid whilst on radiotherapy. The RO said to avoid antioxidants, but Imnot sure if this is just supplements or extends to food as well. Don't want to have anything that could interfere. I was told whilst on chemo to avoid green tea, as it does interfere, just wondering if rads is the same?

littleblueflowers · February 2016

My RO said no antioxidant supplements and go easy on high anti oxidant foods like blueberries. He also said absolutely no green tea. Hope this helps!

LMN · February 2016

Funny, I just bought two containers of blueberries mainly because last week I ate a whole container all at once. When I mentioned that I drink a lot of green tea to my radiation oncologist he said that is ok.

SelenaWolf · February 2016

You will find that different radiologists will provide different answers to this question, which makes it hard to make a decision that is right for you. Some RO's say no to any/all antioxidant sources, others say otherwise. This is because most of the studies about combining radiation treatment and antioxidant treatment tent to focus on the effects of mega-dosing on antioxidants while undergoing threatment and not on the very much smaller intakes you would get during the course of eating regular servings of foods that contain some amount of anti-oxidants. So, many RO's opt on the side of caution and request that you abstain from any/all sources of anti-oxidants, while others aren't as concerned about the normal amounts you would get through your diet, as long as you are not megadosing.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17761641

Fallleaves · February 2016

I just read a (looong) article on ways to reduce radiation resistance that mentioned 4 antioxidants that may radiosensitize cancer cells, while protecting normal cells. They are curcumin (found in turmeric), resveratrol (found in grapes, wine, peanut and other foods), genistein (found in soy) and quercetin (found in an array of foods). There was also a small RCT that found curcumin (2g, 3 times a day) was effective in reducing radiation dermatitis.

"Therapeutic Implications for Overcoming Radiation Resistance in Cancer Therapy"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC466185...

"Curcumin for radiation dermatitis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of thirty breast cancer patients."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23745991

rainnyc · February 2016

I would just mention that I completed my radiation at Memorial Sloan Kettering in December. One of the things that I looked forward to each day was stopping at the keurig machine on my way out for a free cup of reasonably good coffee. There were a few choices: three kinds of coffee--or green tea. I have heard so much about avoiding green tea during rads on these boards, that I could never figure this out!

Fallleaves · February 2016

Hi Rainnyc!

I didn't realize green tea was supposed to interfere with radiation therapy. I bookmarked this study that was done with 10 breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy, who were given EGCG, which is a component of green tea. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC330579...

The researchers looked at several factors related to cancer progression and metastasis (VEGF, MMP2, MMP9 and HGF) and found them to be lower in the blood of those who took EGCG, and found that EGCG enhanced the apoptotic effect of radiation on breast cancer cells.

Antioxidants on radiotherapy

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