Tag: Antioxidant

Grant Will Fund Cancer Clinical Trials to Test High-Dose Vitamin C

Original Article: https://medicine.uiowa.edu/content/grant-will-fund-cancer-clinical-trials-test-high-dose-vitamin-c

Posted on: Monday, November 19, 2018

Cancer researchers at University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center have received a five-year, $9.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to test the use of high-dose, intravenous (IV) vitamin C in the treatment of cancer.

The integrated project, led by Joseph Cullen, MD, UI professor of surgery, and Douglas Spitz, PhD, UI professor of radiation oncology, is designed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of adding high-dose IV vitamin C to standard cancer treatments for three of the deadliest cancers affecting the U.S. population: pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive type of brain cancer.

“Success in this project would suggest that adding high-dose IV vitamin C to cancer treatment protocols could be a safe, simple, and cost-effective approach to improving treatment for many kinds of cancer,” Cullen says. “If the results from our early- and mid-phase clinical trials are positive, the next step would be to test this therapy in large, stage 3 clinical trials that could lead to approval of this approach and have a powerful and lasting impact on clinical cancer care in the coming years.”

The UI team has persevered for many years to bring high-dose, IV vitamin C therapy to patient trials. They have often faced resistance and skepticism due to vitamin C’s controversial and mixed history as a cancer therapy. The biggest stumbling block has been the underappreciated fact that vitamin C consumed by mouth and vitamin C delivered intravenously lead to vastly different levels of vitamin C in the blood. That difference—a tiny amount from oral consumption compared to very high levels from IV—completely alters how the substance acts on cancer cells.

Starting with experiments on cancer cells in petri dishes and then in animals, UI researchers have shown that high-dose vitamin C is selectively toxic to cancer cells while being relatively non-toxic to normal cells.

Their studies show that this is due to biological glitches in cancer cells that cause them to selectively generate hydrogen peroxide from the high levels of vitamin C (relative to normal cells). Hydrogen peroxide is generally toxic to cancer cells and also makes the cancer cells more sensitive to radiation and chemotherapy. Recent results from clinical trials done by the UI program, as well as others, have shown that combining high-dose IV vitamin C with standard radio-chemotherapy is safe and well-tolerated by patients. These early stage trials also produced encouraging efficacy outcomes, and even suggested that adding vitamin C to the standard cancer therapies reduces the damage to normal tissue through its antioxidant function.

How the grant will be used

The new grant will support three clinical projects:

  • Investigating whether high-dose vitamin C added to chemotherapy can reduce metastatic disease in phase 2 trials for pancreatic cancer
  • Investigating whether high-dose vitamin C combined with radio-chemotherapy improves outcomes in patients with late-stage, inoperable non-small cell lung cancer
  • Tracking the effects of high-dose vitamin C on cancer cells in patients with the brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme using MRI scans

Integration of the clinical work with basic research will allow the team to determine whether certain biomarkers or functional imaging tests can be used to predict which cancers might be most susceptible to treatment with high-dose vitamin C.

“This project, which has its roots in basic science conducted decades ago at the UI, is a perfect example of bench-to-bedside research that’s advancing cancer care for patients,” says George Weiner, MD, director of the UI Holden Cancer Center. “At the UI and at Holden, we pride ourselves on exceptional collaboration among physicians and scientists from diverse areas of cancer research. Philanthropic gifts helped our outstanding team of researchers get this work off the ground. We appreciate the essential financial support from the NCI that allows us to take it to the next level.”

group portrait

The research team

In addition to Cullen and Spitz, key personnel on the grant include UI the team of Garry Buettner, PhD, Bryan Allen, MD, PhD, John Buatti, MD, Brian Smith, PhD, Daniel Berg, MD, Muhammad Furqan, MD, Michael Henry, PhD, Frederick Domann, PhD, John Sunderland, PhD, Vincent Magnotta, PhD, and Kellie Bodeker, MSHS, CCRC.

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Dietary supplements: Do They Help or Hurt?

Published by Harvard Health Publishing

Original article: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/dietary-supplements-do-they-help-or-hurt

What you need to know before taking a vitamin or mineral supplement.

The average American diet leaves a lot to be desired. Research finds our plates lacking in a number of essential nutrients, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins A, C, and D. It’s no wonder that more than half of us open a supplement bottle to get the nutrition we need. Many of us take supplements not just to make up for what we’re missing, but also because we hope to give ourselves an extra health boost—a preventive buffer to ward off disease.

Getting our nutrients straight from a pill sounds easy, but supplements don’t necessarily deliver on the promise of better health. Some can even be dangerous, especially when taken in larger-than-recommended amounts.

How Much of Each Nutrient Do You Need?

Here are the recommended levels of daily intake for several important nutrients.
Nutrient How Much You Don’t Exceed
Calcium 1,000–1,200 mg 2,000 mg
Folate 400 mcg 1,000 mcg
Iron 8 mg 45 mg
Vitamin A 700 mcg RAE* 3,000 mcg RAE
Vitamin B 6 1.5 mg 100 mg
Vitamin B 12 2.4 mcg No established

upper limit
Vitamin C 75 mg 2,000 mg
Vitamin D 600–800 IU 4,000 IU
Vitamin E 15 mg 1,000 mg
*Retinol activity equivalents

The Excitement Over Supplements

We’ve heard a lot of encouraging news about supplements. A series of studies hailed vitamin D as a possible defense against a long list of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, depression, and even the common cold. Omega-3 fatty acids have been touted for warding off strokes and other cardiovascular events. And antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and beta carotene were seen as promising silver bullets against heart disease, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s disease.

Here’s the big caveat: Many of those exciting supplement studies were observational—they didn’t test a particular supplement against a placebo (inactive pill) in a controlled setting. The results of more stringent randomized controlled trials haven’t yielded the same good news.

“Often the enthusiasm for these vitamins and supplements outpaces the evidence. And when the rigorous evidence is available from randomized controlled trials, often the results are at odds with the findings of the observational studies.”

– Dr. JoAnn Manson, Chief of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Principal Investigator of a large randomized trial known as VITAL (Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial).

Because observational studies may not fully control for dietary factors, exercise habits, and other variables, they can’t prove whether the treatment is responsible for the health benefits. “People who take supplements tend to be more health conscious, exercise more, eat healthier diets, and have a whole host of lifestyle factors that can be difficult to control for fully in the statistical models,” Dr. Manson continues.

Diving Deeper

Some supplements that were found to have health benefits in observational studies turned out, with more rigorous testing, to be not only ineffective but also risky. Vitamin E, which was initially thought to protect the heart, was later discovered to increase the risk for bleeding strokes. Folic acid and other B vitamins were once believed to prevent heart disease and strokes—until later studies not only didn’t confirm that benefit but actually raised concerns that high doses of these nutrients might increase cancer risk.

How to Get Your Nutrients

We need a variety of nutrients each day to stay healthy, including calcium and vitamin D to protect our bones, folic acid to produce and maintain new cells, and vitamin A to preserve a healthy immune system and vision.

Yet the source of these nutrients is important. “Usually it is best to try to get these vitamins and minerals and nutrients from food as opposed to supplements,” Dr. Manson says.

What Are The Best Sources?

Fruits, vegetables, fish, and other healthy foods contain nutrients and other substances not found in a pill, which work together to keep us healthy. We can’t get the same synergistic effect from a supplement. Taking certain vitamins or minerals in higher-than-recommended doses may even interfere with nutrient absorption or cause side effects.

Food Sources of Nutrients
Nutrient Food sources
Calcium Milk, yogurt, sardines, tofu,

fortified orange juice
Folic acid Fortified cereal, spinach,

lentils, beef liver
Iron Oysters, chicken liver, turkey
Omega-3

fatty acids

 Salmon, sardines, flaxseed,

walnuts, soybeans
Vitamin A Sweet potato, spinach, carrots,

cantaloupe, tomatoes
Vitamin B6 Chickpeas, salmon,

chicken breast
Vitamin B12 Clams, beef liver, trout,

fortified breakfast cereals
Vitamin D Salmon, tuna, yogurt,

fortified milk
Vitamin E Wheat germ oil, almonds,

sunflower seeds, peanut butter

 

How Dr. Manson Weighs Supplements

Before you take any supplements for disease prevention, it’s important to know whether the potential benefits outweigh the risks. To make that conclusion, you need to look at the results of well-designed studies. A recent randomized trial in men suggested multivitamins have possible benefits for cancer prevention. For many of the other popular supplements, including vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, results from randomized controlled trials should be available within the next five years, according to Dr. Manson.

Until then, be judicious about your use of supplements. If you’re lacking in a particular nutrient, ask your doctor whether you need to look beyond your diet to make up for what you’re missing—but don’t take more than the recommended daily intake for that nutrient unless your health care provider advises it.

Choosing supplements do not have to be hard with New Leaf Wellness‘s compounding pharmacy, New Leaf Rx. Learn more about you can have them delivered directly to your door step and formulated specifically for you!

Supplements Every Guy or Gal Needs

Mixed messages, misguided information, supplement companies partnering with other industries  as ambassadors for their brand and it is all so confusing what to believe. So, today we can at least shed some light on supplements every guy or gal needs.

Supplements Every Guy or Gal Needs

You try to eat healthy, but there are still those splurges on nachos, beer, and pizza (and that’s just the short list of your cheat foods). So, you are likely nowhere close to getting all the nutrients you need each day. You are not alone. Who really eats nine servings of fruits and veggies every day? That’s where a few well chosen capsules can help.

“Supplements won’t counteract poor eating habits, but they can help to make a healthy diet better.”   – Dr. Robert Sieman, Medical Director of New Leaf Wellness

In other words, while you still need all the fruits and vegetables you can stomach, on those days when you opt for a beer rather than a smoothie, the right supplements can help to fill in the gaps from a less than ideal diet.

Like Multivitamins

No rocket science here, but it’s surprising just how many guys and gals still do not take a multi. The key to making them work is to make them part of your routine. Instead of stashing the bottle on a shelf, keep it by your toothbrush or coffee pot- something you hit every day without fail.

 

We have carefully crafted a multi for both guys and gals that helps fill in the gaps to ensure you are getting the most nutrition everyday. So, if you want to splurge on the nachos on Friday night, go for it.

Learn more about Xena Vitality Women’s Multi Complex or Alpha Vitality Men’s Multi Complex at:   https://nlrxnutrition.myshopify.com/

 

Feel like you need more than a multi? Are you struggling with a disease that is attacking your immune system? Do you have a bug and no time to let it run its coarse? Check out our IV Therapy options!

 

What You Need To Know About Melatonin

Melatonin has commonly been used as an over-the counter remedy to sleep better. But it is so much more! Here’s what you need to know about Melatonin:

Melatonin is secreted by the pineal gland. It is a circadian rhythm hormone- thereby affecting the patterns of sleep. Research has shown that the cells of the body rejuvenate and repair during the deeper stages of sleep. It is during the deeper stages of sleep that the body produces natural killer cells or CD4 cells.

Melatonin increases the deep stage of sleep and stage IV sleep, thereby increasing and enhancing immunity.

Improved sleep patterns serve to energize the body and improve mood.

Melatonin has powerful antioxidant effects which accounts for disease prevention qualities.

Melatonin has tremendous cancer prevention effects due to its enhancement of the immune system.

Melatonin deficiency results in poor sleep, jet lag, irritability, hypersensitivity and premature aging.

Glutathione Treatments

Glutathione Series Part 3 of 3:

Glutathione, commonly referred to as the master anti-oxidant, is a compound produced in the body that is present in various tissues, acting as a neutralizer of toxins and promoting repair.

Glutathione has been used to treat neurodegenerative disorders and as adjunctive to chemotherapy. There are various reports of it being used for anti-aging purposes with the rationale that the aging process involves damage from free radicals and glutathione neutralizes the toxins and promotes healing and repair. Various studies have demonstrated correlation of glutathione levels to the health of the tissue.

Feedback from individuals receiving IV or IM glutathione frequently mentions the improvement in skin health and appearance.  People using IV glutathione or booster shots are generally seeking wellness to improve overall health.

This master anti-oxidant is formed by the combination of three different amino acids and exists in two forms, active and inactive. The body uses Glutathione in cellular repair and in detoxification of toxic metabolites and to prevent cellular damage. In the process glutathione is transformed from its active to inactive form. During times of stress, the ratio of active:inactive glutathione can even serve as a marker of tissue toxicity.

Oral supplementation of glutathione is less efficacious as it get’s broken down by the enzymes in the digestive tract. Therefore, the only ways to increase the levels are by IV glutathione supplementation. New Leaf Wellness offers many different IV’s and Glutathione can be done as an IV push after an IV or by itself.

Could Glutathione be the Key Against Aging?

Glutathione Series Part 2 of 3:

If there were such a thing as a supplement that “does it all”, glutathione would have to be a top contender for the number one spot. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that can repair and protect the body from harmful toxins and other dangers we encounter in our polluted environment.

Briefly, Glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide comprised of three amino acids, cysteine, glutamic acid (ionic salt from glutamate), and glycine. All three of these amino acids are considered to be non-essential, meaning our body synthesizes them.

So if the body produces its own glutathione, then why is it necessary to consume foods or take supplements that support glutathione production? The simple answer: Oxidation.

Oxidation is caused by nutrient-deficit diets, a polluted environment, pharmaceuticals (prescribed and over-the-counter), physical and emotional stress, electromagnetic stress, and radiation.

Oxidative stress is a primary cause of aging, sickness and disease. The oxidation of cholesterol is the root cause of heart disease and arteriosclerosis, not necessarily cholesterol levels as so many believe.

Glutathione is found in every cell of the body. It is thought that the younger you are the more glutathione your body produces.  However don’t be misled by statements such as this because there are two very different explanations for decreased Glutathione levels:

  1. As we get older glutathione decreases due to the “normal aging process”, and
  2. The oxidative stress of our environment, the chemicals in our food, and both normal and unnecessary emotional stressors in life, cause glutathione levels in the body to decrease, thus compromising our immune systems and the body’s ability to detoxify.

And although the first explanation may be grounded in some truth, the second is far more logical. In fact, it is because of decreased immune function that we have an increase in all major diseases today!

Glutathione is vital for protecting against:

  • Aging
  • Autoimmune
  • Cancer
  • Heart disease
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Dementia

Undisputedly, glutathione is needed in the body not just for normal functioning of the immune system, but also for optimal functioning. Remember the term oxidation? Glutathione is ‘the’ master anti-oxidant that aids all other anti-oxidants, such as Vitamin C and Vitamin E, in free radical scavenging.

For years, vitamins have been touted as free-radical killers and not only has this been proven by research, we now know that Glutathione is the most valuable player of them all! Imagine if you would, a football team. Each and every player has a vital role in moving the team toward its major goal—to win. If we were to think of each player as a different supplement, both offensive and defensive, a very interesting analogy would come about.  When a team’s offense is on the field, they need to block or counter every move the defense makes in order to stay alive in the game.  And which player is the one that is most often considered the MVP (most valuable player) on the winning team?   The quarterback. A great quarterback can actually help the other players to excel in their roles on the field. In other words, he helps his teammates shine.

And the quarterback in the body’s fight against oxidation, and thus disease, is glutathione. The goal of glutathione and all of the free-radical scavengers in the body is simple—life!

The correlation between glutathione and the fight against free radicals has been known for quite some time, so it is unfortunate that a majority of the general public likely hasn’t heard of it. To learn more, contact a New Leaf specialist today.