ANTIOXIDANTS HELP CANCERS SPREAD!
COMMON antioxidants found in vitamins and dietary supplements can be bad for your health, experts warn, because they may promote the growth of existing cancers!
Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet discovered excessive doses of vitamins A, C, selenium and zinc can stimulate blood vessels in lung cancer tumors — but believe the effects could be applicable to all types of the disease.
The scientists stress natural levels of antioxidants derived from food are safe — but caution supplements packed with the nutrients could fuel malignancies!
“We’ve found antioxidants activate a mechanism that causes cancer tumors to form new blood vessels, which is surprising, since it was previously thought that antioxidants have a protective effect,” says Karolinska professor Martin Bergö.
“The new blood vessels nourish the tumors and can
help them grow and spread.”
The research team explains healthy levels of antioxidants reduce damaging free oxygen radicals in the body. But when elevated amounts are introduced, the substantial drop in free radicals activates the BACH1 protein, triggering the formation of new blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis.
“Many clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of an
giogenesis inhibitors, but the results have not been as successful as anticipated,” adds Bergö’s colleague Ting Wang.
“Our study opens the door to more effective ways of preventing angiogenesis in tumors. For example, patients whose tumors exhibit high levels of BACH1 might benefit more from anti-angiogenesis therapy than patients with low BACH1 levels.”
Wang says the next step is to examine how free radicals can regulate BACH1.