Fight Cancer with Vitamins and Supplements: A Guide to Prevention and Treatment Book

Technical but very much worth reading

This is a rather technical book written in a peer-reviewed article style, which is not surprising since Dr. Kedar N. Prasad has written perhaps two hundred articles for various medical journals. While the style is therefore dry and filled with technical terminology (and some avoidable repetition) the book is nonetheless very much worth reading, especially if you are a doctor yourself or a health professional.

The key question being addressed is can micronutrients (vitamins and antioxidant supplements) reduce the risk of cancer? The answer is a qualified yes. So "Why Do Controversies Exist about Antioxidants in Cancer Prevention?" (which is the title of Chapter 6). The authors' answer is that "present trends in clinical research, in which a single antioxidant is used to evaluate the efficacy of antioxidants in reducing the risk … [of] cancer, lack scientific rationale..." Consequently the authors recommend the use of "multiple micronutrients, including both dietary and endogenous antioxidants, together with a low-fat and high fiber diet." (p. 136)

What I found most interesting is the material on cancer and how it develops and what are the probable causes. The authors make a distinction between environmental agents called "mutagens" which "are substances that can induce changes in genetic material (DNA) in cells" and carcinogens "that actually cause cancer." (p. 66). While the authors don't make a clear distinction between which are mutagens and which are carcinogens, they list a wide range of environmental agents that can increase our risk of getting cancer. They include ionizing radiation (x-rays and gamma rays); ultraviolet radiation; chemical carcinogens such as dioxin, asbestos and various pesticides; viruses, bacteria and parasitic infections. Lifestyle related substances include tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. There is an inconclusive (but cautionary) section on cell phone use.

A key point is that a combination of mutagens and carcinogens can greatly multiple the risk of cancer. For example, "the combination of UV radiation and X-rays is about twelve times more likely to generate cancer cells than either type of radiation alone." (p. 68) Drinking alcohol to excess while smoking cigarettes may multiply your chances of getting lung cancer, etc.

The central understanding presented in this book is that oxidation in our cells can lead to DNA mutations, and to breakdowns in our immune system's ability to repair cellular damage. Antioxidants, primarily in the form of fruits and vegetables and dietary supplements, can neutralize these "free radicals" and greatly reduce their numbers thereby reducing the probability of cellular damage and cancer. While acknowledging that "Cancer can occur spontaneously in individuals who have no known risk factors" (p. 137) the authors present in Chapter 7 their "Proposed Micronutrients and Lifestyle Recommendations" for reducing cancer risk. They include most of what we have known or sincerely believed for many years, namely that we should eat fresh fruits and vegetables, limit our fat intake, avoid nitrate or nitrite foods, don't smoke or drink alcohol to excess, exercise regularly, etc. What is perhaps new is their clear recommendation to "consume a daily multiple-micronutrient preparation" (p. 152)

Perhaps the most important part of the book is Chapter 8 which is a detailed and specific examination of cancer therapies in combination with the ingestion of micronutrients. The authors conclude with a chapter on recommended daily allowances of various foods and micronutrients by age and sex. I noticed an error in one of the tables. They give the number of calories in half a cup of rice as "10." Depending on the type of rice, it's more like 85 to 100.

Despite being highly technical this is the kind of professionally presented book that inspires confidence as a ready reference for understanding and hopefully reducing the risk of cancer, especially for health care professionals but also for lay persons seeking more information about cancer, its causes and prevention.

--Dennis Littrell, author of "The World Is Not as We Think It Is"