supplements

taken the first six months after treatment resulted in lower recurrence and 18% reduced risk of mortality. The authors stated: “Our results do not support the current recommendation that breast cancer patients should avoid use of vitamin supplements.”¹

vitamin D

concentrations at 55 nmol/L had a 1.55 times longer disease-free survival than those with 35 nm/L concentration.² However, this was not seen in the WHEL trial where no relation between vitamin D and breast cancer recurrence was found.³

vitamin C and E

for three years posttreatment (vitamin E nearly halved the risk.)⁴

green tea

consumption (more than three cups a day) was inversely associated with breast cancer recurrence (pooled RR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.56–0.96) in a meta-analysis of 5716 cases.⁵

Black cohosh

lengthens disease-free survival among 18,861 patients observed for 3.6 years. After 2 years following initial diagnosis, 14% of the control group had developed a recurrence, while the black cohosh extract group didn’t reach this proportion until after 6.5 years.⁶ However, black cohosh was found to increase the risk of lung metastasis in HER2-expressing transgenic mice. Caution in HER2+ patients is advised.⁷

coenzyme Q(10) and a mixture of other antioxidants

(e.g. vitamin C, selenium, folic acid and beta-carotene) survived longer than predicted among the treatment group; on average, surviving 5 more months than the control group.⁸

PSK

(extract from Coriolus versicolor) was added to biannual chemotherapy × 5 years. They studied 134 randomly selected breast cancer survivors who were HLAB40+. The benefit was not apparent among those whose tumors were HLAB40−.⁹

melatonin

significantly increased the survival time of tumor-bearing animals. This is only recommended for those with ER+ tumor history.¹⁰

• Whole-foods multivitamin/mineral complex without iron (such as Innate’s Iron-free one daily)

• Selenium, 400 mcg from food (100 mg per Brazil nut) and supplementation combined

• Vitamin D3 to achieve serum concentration of 50–60 ng/mL

• Green tea at 5+ cups a day or the equivalent in capsules (two 300 mg capsules of Vitanica’s green tea, which include 50 mg of whole plant (95% polyphenols,80% catechins, 55% EGCg, 10% caffeine)

• Coriolus versicolor mushroom extracts from JHS Natural Products (five 600 mg capsules daily in divided doses) × 6 months minimum and either add or put in quarterly rotation with therapeutic dosages of curcumin, artemisia, astragalus, AHCC, or arabinogalactan, etc.

• Melatonin, 20 mg at bed