Holistic Health Articles and Research Related to Herbal Medicines, Foods and Phytochemicals : Antioxidants and Benign lung tumors

Saturday, 23 November 2013

Antioxidants and Benign lung tumors

Benign lung tumors, growth from many different structures in the lung, is defined as a conditions of abnormal cell growth with no tendency of spreading or masses that push normal cells out of the way rather than invading surrounding tissue restricted to a limited area in the lung. Approximately one out of 500 chest radiographs shows the incidental finding of a solitary pulmonary nodule and almost one half of these pulmonary lesions are caused by a tumor. Unfortunately, only 2% to 5% of all lung tumors are of benign origin, e. g. lipoma, fibroma, hamartoma, and chondroma, and the majority are malignant neoplasms, most commonly primary lung cancer followed by metastases of extrapulmonary primary carcinomas. According to the study by Universitätsklinik für Pneumologie(a)
D.3. Antioxidants to prevent benign lung tumors
In the study to determine whether vitamins, minerals and other potential agents, alone or in combination, reduce incidence and mortality from lung cancer in healthy people, showed that
1. Zinc and copper
Zinc, copper and selenium are important cofactors for several enzymes that play a role in maintaining DNA integrity. However, limited epidemiologic research on these dietary trace metals and lung cancer risk is available. According to the study by, dietary zinc and copper intakes are associated with reduced risk of lung cancer. Given the known limitations of case-control studies, these findings must be interpreted with caution and warrant further investigation(26).

2. Antioxidants vitamin C and vitamin E
In the study to evaluate the evidence of the supplements vitamin C and vitamin E for treatment and prevention of cancer, identified only 3 studies that reported statistically significant beneficial results: vitamin C (in combination with BCG) was found to be beneficial in a single trial of bladder cancer and vitamin E (in combination with omega-3 fatty acid) increased survival in patients with advanced cancer. In the ATBC trial, in analyses of 6 individual cancers, the prevention of prostate cancer in subjects treated with alpha-tocopherol was statistically significant (RR=0.64, 95% CI: 0.44, 0.94)(27).

3. Selenium
In a systematic review of selenium for lung cancers, and assessed potential interactions with conventional therapies, found that Selenium may be effective for lung cancer prevention among individuals with lower selenium status, but at present should not be used as a general strategy for lung cancer prevention. Although promising, more evidence on the ability of selenium to reduce cisplatin and radiation therapy toxicity is required to ensure that therapeutic efficacy is maintained before any broad clinical recommendations can be made in this context(28).

4. Etc.