Breast Cancer: Multivitamin and Mineral Supplements

Multiple enzyme digestive formulas can be taken with meals to aid in digestion. This is especially helpful for women who are undergoing or have recently undergone any form of chemotherapy. The effects of the drugs used will often compromise the function of the digestive tract for some time and therefore will adversely affect the ability to digest foods and nutrients properly and completely. A multiple enzyme digestive formula will aid in the absorption of nutrients, which is important in maintaining health and proper functioning of the body.
Cadmium and magnesium are minerals that are important in helping to maintain and create bone mass. It is particularly important to take them after chemotherapy and radiation treatments. For reasons still unclear, women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy have a significant loss of bone during this period. Because it is difficult to digest, many women find to hard to take calcium during chemotherapy. On the other hand, if it is tolerable, taken during this time it may be beneficial. The chemotherapy drugs may affect the osteoblastic cells that are constantly replacing reabsorbed bone. This loss is small in relation to one’s total bone mass, perhaps 1 to 2 percent, but it is difficult to replace later.
There are several medications to help correct osteoporosis that results from breast cancer chemotherapy. One class of medications is known as bisphosphonates. A group of German doctors recently performed a clinical trial using bisphosphonates in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. The groups of women receiving the bisphosphonate clodrinate had a significantly lower systemic recurrence rate compared with the women who did not take the medication. Other breast cancer research groups are in the process of repeating the experiment to see if the results can be repeated and reproduced. If so, this would be a major breakthrough in that bisphosphonates have a very low side effect profile.
One of the richest food sources of calcium is seaweed. It can be eaten daily as a salad, vegetable, condiment, or seasoning. Other rich sources are dark green, leafy vegetables such as kale, collards, beet greens, cabbage, and broccoli. Additional sources of calcium include tofu, molasses, and almonds.
Essential fatty acids are critically important but are largely absent in American food sources, since they are damaged or destroyed during modern food processing. As a result, most Americans are chronically deficient. It is recommended to take both flaxseed oil and evening primrose oil, alternating every two weeks to facilitate replenishment of damaged and hydrogenated fat that has been used by all cells in the body in the absence of high quality fats. The dosage should be up to 1,000 mg of evening primrose oil or one tablespoon of flaxseed oil per day.
Until more research is done on diet and breast cancer, it is impossible to say how much soy and flaxseeds a woman should take following the consultation of her conventional Western treatments. One estimate is that 200 mg of soy equals 0.3 mg of pharmaceutical estrogen. Another estimate is that a half cup of soybeans and two soybean snacks are equivalent to about 200 mg of plant estrogen.
Beta carotene is a powerful antioxidant that provides protection to all lipid-rich tissues in the body, including the skin; the mucous membrane of the mouth, nose, throat, and lungs; the soft tissue and linings of the digestive tract, kidney, and bladder; and breast tissue. Several studies have shown that an increase in dietary beta carotene may significantly decrease the risk of breast cancer. Carotene is abundant in carrots, but it is present in even higher concentrations in green leafy vegetables such as beet greens, spinach, and broccoli.