Popular wisdom - updates - Brief Article

Sixty-five percent of cancer patients who participated in a study on alternative cancer therapies reported that they routinely use a range of dietary supplements--the most common type of alternative therapy.

In the study, which was conducted on people living in western Washington, more than 70 percent of adult patients said they use supplements as a kind of alternative therapy, and almost all reported substantial improvements in their well-being as a result.

Researchers identified patients as users of alternative medicine if they received care from an alternative provider within the past year or had used at least one alternative supplement or therapy. Depending on the type of therapy, 83 to 97 percent of the participants in the survey said they used alternative medicine for general health, and nearly all reported that these therapies improved their well-being.

Patients who underwent multiple cancer treatments--chemotherapy, radiation or surgery--were twice as likely to use alternative medicine as compared to those who had undergone surgery alone. Survey respondents who reported using dietary supplements said that they use several different products simultaneously.

The results of the survey Show that supplement use is common among cancer patients, and that healthcare providers need to be made aware of this situation, says Ruth E. Patterson, RD, principal researcher in the study reported September 4 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine: Research on Paradigm, Practice and Policy.

"Anyone who is in active cancer treatment should talk to his or her medical team about the use of vitamins and supplements," she says.