Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
washingtonpost.com
Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
1–10 of 27 posts
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#2For anyone that's curious, the article is here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu...
I'd complain about the WSJ's practice of not properly referencing the study, but I'm afraid that's becoming about as played out as the complaints about paywalls.
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#3For anyone that's curious, the article is here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... I'd complain about the WSJ's practice of not properly referencing the study, but I'm afraid that's becoming about as played out as the complaints about paywalls.
The headline points to the Washington Post, not the WSJ. Did someone change it?
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#4Makes total sense. Free radicals are thought to damage a cell and turn in cancerous. Antioxidants mitigate the number of free radicals so the rate of damage is lower, but once cancer is occurring, antioxidants aren't going to do anything to prevent the spread of cancer. In this experiment, cancer was transferred directly showing that AO actually hinders the bodies ability to fight cancer. Could free radicals actually be part of the immune system?
Another theory, which i think is interesting is that free radicals damage strong as well as weak cells, those weak cells that are killed by free radicals could actually more easily transition into cancer in the absence of free radicals.
It is too easy to explain less free radicals as good. There isn't a single variable in this equation.
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#5Makes total sense. Free radicals are thought to damage a cell and turn in cancerous. Antioxidants mitigate the number of free radicals so the rate of damage is lower, but once cancer is occurring, antioxidants aren't going to do anything to prevent the spread of cancer. In this experiment, cancer was transferred directly showing that AO actually hinders the bodies ability to fight cancer. Could free radicals actually…
Is that what they're saying ?
My understanding of the case against antioxidants is that thefree radicals (etc.) are an essential cell signaling mechanism ... and the signal is "kill me, I'm a bad cell".
If you somehow disrupt or eliminate the signal, you allow bad, or inefficient, or perhaps cancerous cells to live longer than they would otherwise.
I'm paraphrasing directly from the excellent, excellent book _Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life_ by Nick Lane, which is highly skeptical of antioxidant supplementation and is a truly fascinating book.
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#6Makes total sense. Free radicals are thought to damage a cell and turn in cancerous. Antioxidants mitigate the number of free radicals so the rate of damage is lower, but once cancer is occurring, antioxidants aren't going to do anything to prevent the spread of cancer. In this experiment, cancer was transferred directly showing that AO actually hinders the bodies ability to fight cancer. Could free radicals actually…
you just explained why low dose chemo/radiation works
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#7Every 5 or 10 years there is a big study that gives rise to a health fad: antioxidants, low fat, high fat, low carb, no carb, complex carbs, red wine, ...
These are then almost predictably found to either be bunk or gross oversimplification 5 or 10 years later.
You would think the scientific and medical establishment would realize after a while that there must be something deeply wrong with their whole approach to these studies and their interpretation, but no. The next one is always a breakthrough and around the circle we go. Or are there industries making big bucks on pimping this stuff?
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#8Makes total sense. Free radicals are thought to damage a cell and turn in cancerous. Antioxidants mitigate the number of free radicals so the rate of damage is lower, but once cancer is occurring, antioxidants aren't going to do anything to prevent the spread of cancer. In this experiment, cancer was transferred directly showing that AO actually hinders the bodies ability to fight cancer. Could free radicals actually…
Is that what they're saying ? My understanding of the case against antioxidants is that thefree radicals (etc.) are an essential cell signaling mechanism ... and the signal is "kill me, I'm a bad cell". If you somehow disrupt or eliminate the signal, you allow bad, or inefficient, or perhaps cancerous cells to live longer than they would otherwise. I'm paraphrasing directly from the excellent, excellent book _Power,…
I wonder if this is why fasting may be healthy: it flushes marginal cells.
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that what they're saying ? My understanding of the case against antioxidants is that thefree radicals (etc.) are an essential cell signaling mechanism ... and the signal is "kill me, I'm a bad cell". If you somehow disrupt or eliminate the signal, you allow bad, or inefficient, or perhaps cancerous cells to live longer than they would otherwise. I'm paraphrasing directly from the excellent, excellent book _Power,…
I wonder if this is why fasting may be healthy: it flushes marginal cells.
Interesting, but do you have any evidence that fasting is healthy?
Re: Scientists think antioxidants may make cancer cells spread faster
#10Makes total sense. Free radicals are thought to damage a cell and turn in cancerous. Antioxidants mitigate the number of free radicals so the rate of damage is lower, but once cancer is occurring, antioxidants aren't going to do anything to prevent the spread of cancer. In this experiment, cancer was transferred directly showing that AO actually hinders the bodies ability to fight cancer. Could free radicals actually…
> Could free radicals actually be part of the immune system?
Yes, it it already well-known that generation of free radicals is part of a normal immune response[1]. Basically, certain immune cells go into an inflamed area and start generating and releasing as many free radicals as they can in order to cause maximum damage. So if that particular immune mechanism is important in the body's response to cancer, then taking excessive antioxidants could plausibly impair the body's ability to fight cancer.