What are you taking?

Mine is

SIMILAR.. NOT SO
high on selenium and some of the others
no shark..
I dont take . .mega doses
unless authorized by my naturopath

glad you feel good

I have to admit
to feeling better on supplements
than . RX.. for certain things

Sometimes.. take Rhodiola Rosea
for alertness, depression etc.
the astronauts took this
I believe

Not much of a list:

1000 mg C with bioflavonoids divided doses
alpha lipoic acid 100 mgs, synergy with vit. C
b6 100 mgs, wards off carpal tunnel
cal/mag citrate 1200 mgs divided doses
D3 1000 IU
Vit. E TOS 100mgs, when I remember
CoQ10 100 mgs
Biotin 300 mcg to keep the hair on the head.
Whey protein powder
barley grass

Selenium is essential micronutrient. A selenium-deficiency can predispose a person to developing cancer. It helps our immune system function, so it may also help to treat cancer. Donald Yance in Herbal Medicine Healing & Cancer recommends 800 mcg daily to treat bc.

I love Brazil nuts
must get some
cashews too
and pecans


oh, dont take advil
if I can help it
but have High BP
and it raises it


how about chromium??

anyone here take it??




I am a firm believer
that my supplements
(& higher power)helped
me through this DX
though my medical team
were not, so I was at
loggerheads

Liz,

I have gone back and forth on the flaxseed. Used it, read something, discontinued, read something else, started again. I have made the decision that it is doing more good than harm. It also helps me get more fiber in my diet. I have my estradiol checked periodically and it is very low (I think 5). Anyway, this is edge's latest from evidencewatch.com :

Lignans and Flax:
Flaxseed, also known as linseed, is a concentrated source of omega-3 fatty acids and phytoestrogenic lignans. Recent studies (in vitro, animal, and epidemiological) suggest that dietary lignans may be chemopreventive by virtue of anti-estrogenic, anti-angiogenic, pro- apoptotic, and anti-oxidant mechanisms (see Webb & McCullough (2005): Nutr Cancer (2005): Dietary Lignans: Potential Role in Cancer Prevention, who found the most support for a role of lignans in cancer for premenopausal breast cancer; see also Godnough, Nutrition Bytes (2005): Antitumorigenic Effects of Flaxseed and Its Lignan, Secoisolariciresinol Diglycoside (SDG).

Although MD Anderson Cancer Center, CIMER (Complementary/Integrative Medicine Education Resources) Reviews of Therapies (2005): Herbal / Plant Therapies: Flaxseed & Flaxseed Oil (Linum usitatissimum) which cautiously concluded that there is not sufficient human evidence to make a recommendation concerning flaxseed consumption and breast cancer risk reduction, another systematic review - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) About Herbs (2005): FLAXSEED ( Linum usitatissimum. Family: Linacae) - concluded that flaxseed has been shown to have chemoprotective effects and that mice studies have shown that flaxseed inhibits the growth and metastasis of human breast cancer, prostate cancer, and melanoma, and that furthermore flaxseed was also as effective as hormone replacement therapy in improving mild menopausal vasomotor symptoms.

McCann et al., Int J Cancer (2004): Dietary lignan intakes and risk of pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer found that premenopausal women in the highest quartile of dietary lignan intake had reduced breast cancer risk, but no association was observed between lignan intakes and postmenopausal breast cancer, concluding that dietary lignans may be important in the etiology of breast cancer, particularly among premenopausal women).

More recently, the RCT study of Thompson et al. (Clin Cancer Res (2005): Dietary Flaxseed Alters Tumor Biological Markers in Postmenopausal Breast Cancer) examined the effects of dietary flaxseed (daily intake of 25g flaxseed-containing muffin) on tumor biological markers and urinary lignan excretion in postmenopausal newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, finding reductions in two biological markers (Ki-67 labeling index and c-erbB2 expression) used to measure cancer cell growth, and an increase in apoptosis, suggesting that dietary flaxseed has the potential to reduce tumor growth in patients with breast cancer; the researchers suggest that the anti-proliferative action of flax was comparable to results for tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors in other studies. And the review of Hanf & Gonder (Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol (2005): Nutrition and primary prevention of breast cancer: foods, nutrients and breast cancer risk) observed that lignans from traditionally made sourdough rye bread, linseed/flaxseed and berries are local sources of potentially cancer-protective phytoestrogens. We note that the bioavailability of the antitumor component of flaxseed, the enterolignans, was 28% greater with ground flaxseed compared to whole flaxseed, and furthermore crushed or milled flaxseed was 43% more bioavailable compared with ground flaxseed, so it is clear that crushing and milling of flaxseed substantially improves the bioavailability of the antitumor enterolignans (J Nutr (2005): The Relative Bioavailability of Enterolignans in Humans Is Enhanced by Milling and Crushing of Flaxseed).

Evidencewatch Commentary on Lignan Consumption and Breast Cancer
Although these findings, especially those of the Thompson study (above) are highly promising, the quite small number of subjects studied (19 and 13 respectively in the treatment and placebo groups) as well as the very short study duration (approx. one month) caution against drawing definitive conclusions concerning long-term flaxseed consumption benefits for women with breast cancer, and it is certainly highly premature to suggest that flax/lignan consumption may be a substitute for tamoxifen and/or aromatase inhibitors.

However, that said, given the well-known healthful benefits of flax/lignan consumption, and the potential for other positive health benefits independent of breast cancer risk, suggests that incorporation of high fiber flaxseed/lignan components into the diet appears to be without harm and may be healthful overall, especially for premenopausal women.

And for menopausal women, there may also be a benefit: the randomized blinded crossover trial of Dr. Lorraine Turner reported at the annual breast cancer symposium sponsored by the Cancer Therapy and Research Center held in San Antonio (Turner et al., 27th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (2004): Does flaxseed relieve vasomotor symptoms?) found that flaxseed (40g daily consumption) significantly relieved vasomotor hot flashes in 85 postmenopausal women treated for breast cancer, with the fall in hot flushes correlating with a rise in urinary lignan markers, an important finding suggesting that lignans may potentially be deployed as an alternative for hot flash relief in women who have undergone breast cancer treatment, and possibly other postmenopausal women in general; the median number of hot flashes - from a baseline of 208 per month - was reduced by 38% during flaxseed supplementation. Furthermore, despite some previous studies appearing to suggest that isoflavones can cause hypothyroidism, the study found that flaxseed was not associated with any thyroid function abnormalities.

The Thompson study is confirmative of the earlier work of Brooks et al. (Am J Clin Nutr (2004): Supplementation with flaxseed alters estrogen metabolism in postmenopausal women to a greater extent than does supplementation with an equal amount of soy) which found that dietary supplementation in postmenopausal women with 25 g ground flaxseed (but not with 25 g soy flour) significantly alters the metabolism of estradiol in favor of the less biologically active estrogen metabolite (2OHE1).

Furthermore, given the fact that enterolactone is quantitatively the most important circulating lignan, Pietinen et al. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev (2001): Serum Enterolactone and Risk of Breast Cancer: A Case Control Study in Eastern Finland) examined the association between serum enterolactone and risk of breast cancer, finding a significant inverse association between serum enterolactone and risk of breast cancer was seen both among premenopausal and postmenopausal women, and noting that high enterolactone levels were associated with higher consumption of rye products, tea and higher intake of dietary fiber and vitamin E.

And following up their earlier research, McCann et al. (Breast Cancer Res Treat (2006): Dietary lignan intakes and risk of breast cancer by tumor estrogen receptor status) have further established that the observed inverse association of lignans with breast cancer may be limited to ER- tumors.





High-fiber Diet:
Although some studies fail to support a strong association between fiber intake and breast cancer risk (Cho et al., Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev: Premenopausal dietary carbohydrate, glycemic index, glycemic load, and fiber in relation to risk of breast cancer), more recently, and more definitively, found that a high-fiber, low-fat diet intervention is associated with reduced serum bioavailable estradiol concentration in women who have breast cancer, with increased fiber intake independently related to the reduction in serum estradiol concentration (see Rock et al., Clin Oncol: Effects of a High-Fiber, Low-Fat Diet Intervention on Serum Concentrations of Reproductive Steroid Hormones in Women With a History of Breast Cancer; see also Mattison et al, Br J Cancer: Intakes of plant foods, fibre and fat and risk of breast cancer - a prospective study in the Malmo Diet and Cancer cohort, where it was found that high fiber intakes was associated with a significant 40% reduction in breast cancer risk, and that the lowest risk of breast cancer was associated with the combination high fiber-low fat). Note however that intake of dietary fat per se has not been conclusively established as associated with higher breast cancer risk. Nonetheless, increased dietary fat is typically associated with increased caloric intake, in turn potentially leading to overweight and obesity, which are known risk factors for breast cancer, thus motivating in this way a low dietary fat diet. See also the work of Australian researchers Graham Giles and colleagues (Giles et al., Int J Cancer (2005): Dietary carbohydrate, fibre, glycaemic index, glycaemic load and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer) who found that that increased intake of fiber and carbohydrate may be associated with the diagnosis of cancers of more favorable prognosis, and the earlier results of the DIANA Trial (Berrino et al., Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev (2001): Reducing Bioavailable Sex Hormones through a Comprehensive Change in Diet: the Diet and Androgens (DIANA) Randomized Trial) who found that a radical modification in diet targeted to reduce insulin resistance, and involving increased phytoestrogen intake, decreases the bioavailability of serum sex hormones in hyperandrogenic postmenopausal women; see also the review of these issues by Michele Forman (J Nutr (2007): Changes in Dietary Fat and Fiber and Serum Hormone Concentrations: Nutritional Strategies for Breast Cancer Prevention over the Life Course).

More recently the UK Women's Cohort Study conducted by Jane Cade and her colleagues at the University of Leeds (Cade et al., Int J Epidemiol (2007): Dietary fibre and risk of breast cancer in the UK Women's Cohort Study)

Funny about the chocolate! I found 70% bars in my local health food store yesterday. Isn't that great.

Anyone heard about taking miatake mushrooms? Also what
about greens? I am just starting to supplement and most of what is listed by you was on the list I was given...I think I am having trouble with the CoQ10, but I am not sure. And then my question is can you or did you take during Chemo or Radiation? Did you tell your doctor or
just do it. I am a newbie...just had my post op visit this week and waiting to see an Onc (Stage 1, grade 2, E+ (82%)....looking for any advise

Quote:

---

Anyone heard about taking miatake mushrooms? Also what
about greens? I am just starting to supplement and most of what is listed by you was on the list I was given...I think I am having trouble with the CoQ10, but I am not sure. And then my question is can you or did you take during Chemo or Radiation? Did you tell your doctor or
just do it. I am a newbie...just had my post op visit this week and waiting to see an Onc (Stage 1, grade 2, E+ (82%)....looking for any advise

---

I can't tell you about the mushrooms. I was told not to take any supplements while on chemo or radiation. I can't remember if I was allowed a multi? Had I to do it over again I may have taken the Co enzyme Q 10.
I think it has been shown to help protect the heart from
damage from Adriamycin.

Margerie,
You mention Dr. Love's newest book. What is it called? You are the second person that has mentioned her book.

Thanks, Ann

What is the whey protein for?
I haven't heard about the asprin being beneficial.

I go back and forth about what to take. It can be overwhelming. Right now I'm taking:

Calcium/Magnsium 2:1 ratio
multivitamin and/or B complex and C
Milk Thistle
D

I probably need to get on a good program and stick with it. I wish I had a natural medicine person here.

It would be nice to find a really good list for all of us that would include brand names.

I take
Q 10 150 mg

Selenium 200 mcg (if I remember)

Vit D 3 1000 - 2000 mg

Maitake 1000 mg (thinking of switching to D-Fraction which is more expensive)

Men's Multi (has no Iron, I don't menstruate, Iron can damage your liver if you have to much)

Fish Oil 3000 mg

Vit. C 1000 mg

Calcium 1000 mg (chewable, the big pills give me tummy aches)

Turmeric (3000 mg up from 2000, when I don't take it, my hotflashes are back and penguin walk as well...funny isn't it?)

Forgot to add Melatonin 3 mg (per onc's recommendation for sleep, he takes it too)

I am going to get Astralgus today (Dr. Weil's recommendation for immune support) and Grape Seed.

I am on the fence with DIM, thought about it, am to scared with all the estrogenic write up on it...it does make sense BUT....don't know)

I stopped my red wine completely due to Edge's posting on bc.watch....makes sense

God Bless

BBS, what is considered low in copper. How many mgs? I thought if you took X amount of zinc you needed to add copper. Or maybe I'm wrong.
Shirley

Interesting,
I knew to take zink when I had a cold....

Has anyone taken or heard of the benefits of Boswellia?
Sounds very interesting...

God Bless

Wow,
I was reading the osteoarthitic stuff in combination with Turmeric and thought it could be beneficial for our bone pain with the AI's (and my daughters hip problems )

The above article however is awesome news. I read of trials involving regular brain tumors as well.

I hope something good comes out of the trials.

God Bless

the flax muffins dont have the whole seed in them, do they? as you may know, the body can not digest them whole, they should be finely diced, because even when crushing them, the oxidation process my lose vital nutrients.