Are adjuvant nutrition therapy programs for cancer effective?

  This clinical trial included 32 patients aged 32-81 years with “high risk” typical breast cancer whose tumors had metastasized to the axillary lymph nodes.  They were followed up for 18 months according to the Adjuvant Nutritional Therapy for Cancer (ANICA) protocol. According to the Danish regulations, nutritional therapy is used as a complementary therapy to surgery and drug therapy. The patients were given a mixture of nutritional antioxidants (vitamin C 2850 mg; vitamin E 2500 iu; β-carotene 32.5 iu; selenium 387 μg and minor vitamins and minerals), essential fatty acids (1.2 g linolenic acid and 3.5 g n-3 fatty acids) and coenzyme Q10 (90 mg daily) The ANICA program was based on the synergistic effect of these The ANICA program is based on the principle of exploiting the synergistic effects of these different types of nutritional supplements, as cancer may be associated with biochemical dysfunction and vitamin deficiencies. These substances often show deficiencies or are effective when used alone in cancer treatment, including coenzyme Q10. The observations in this trial were biochemical indicators, clinical physical status, metastasis of cancer, quality of life and survival. Patient adherence in the trial was good.  The main findings were: 1) no patients died during the study period (the expected number of deaths was 4); 2) no patients showed further metastasis of the cancer; 3) patients’ quality of life improved (no weight loss and reduced use of pain medication); and 4) 6 patients showed significant partial remission of the disease.