Non-cancer-specific supplement review

Butt said:

What specific supplements do you take? Unrelated question:  How long have you been NED? 

I take an embaressingly long list of supplements.  A non-updated list is on my profile.  I do not have a current list, but hope to get to that one of these days.  I have been NED for 2.5 years.

Joan M said:

Do I really have to cut down on salt?

I have been using more salt latley becuase the chemo dulls my taste buds.  It will be hard to lower the intake.  I am on a few supplements.  I take red krill oil instead of fish oil.  I just can't swallow those huge fish oil pills.  also been drinking tumeric chai tea my daughter gave me - it's really good! and seems to help with inflammation and arthritis pain.

Thanks again for your research Sandia!  

I don't avoid salt.  I mean, it is one of the electrolytes, isn't it?  And people with colectomies often need extra electrolytes.  I think that anything that keeps you eating while on chemo is likely a good thing.  My recollection is that there is abundant research that says turmeric helps make chemo more effective, but since I am off chemo, I am not following that issue.  The study on this post is for the general population, not people with cancer, so I would not put too much stock in it.  I only posted it as an alternative viewpoint to mine that supplements are helpful.

JanJan63 said:

That's pretty eye opening

That's pretty eye opening that you take lots of supplements and have been NED for so long. I just read on another post that you take Melatonin. I'm going to check into that one. I really upped my vitamin D intake because of you. 

Jan

I just stumbled accross this one last night:   Link Our results constitute the first demonstration of a regulatory role of vitamin D on human colon stem cells, indicating a homeostatic effect on colon epithelium with relevant implications in IBD and CRC.

Sunshine

[N]ew favourable associations between sunlight and disease have been discovered. There is growing observational and experimental evidence that regular exposure to sunlight contributes to the prevention of colon-, breast-, prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple sclerosis, hypertension and diabetes. Initially, these beneficial effects were ascribed to vitamin D. Recently it became evident that immunomodulation, the formation of nitric oxide, melatonin, serotonin, and the effect of (sun)light on circadian clocks, are involved as well.

 Melatonin

[S]everal studies have indicated that melatonin can modulate microtubule and microfilament structure formation, and suppress the invasive and metastatic potential of invasive and metastatic potential of breast (6), colon (8), liver (10) and lung (13) cancer cells via different signaling pathways. . . These results provide evidence for the potential clinical application of melatonin in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancers.

My recollection is that melatonin is absorbed in the digestive system and colon, so that people with a reduced colon may benefit more from melatonin supplementation.