Ginseng, Flaxseed Could Benefit Cancer Patients

The first scientific tests of some alternative medicine products hint that American ginseng might lessen cancer fatigue and that flaxseed might slow the growth of prostate tumors.

But a big study proved shark cartilage worthless against lung cancer, and doctors said people should not take it.

The research was reported Saturday at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference.

The ginseng and flaxseed studies are small and preliminary, and specialists warned against making too much of them because the substances tested are not the same as what consumers find in stores.

Debra Barton, a research nurse at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., tested powdered, 4-year-old Wisconsin ginseng root to treat the extreme tiredness that most people suffer during cancer treatment.

She randomly assigned 282 people with cancer to take either 750, 1,000 or 2,000 milligrams of ginseng or dummy capsules daily for eight weeks.

One-fourth of those on the two highest doses said their fatigue was moderately or much better, compared with only 10 percent of those on the low dose or dummy pills.

The results are promising, but it is too soon to recommend that people use ginseng, Ms. Barton said. A better idea is exercise – the one treatment already shown to help cancer fatigue, she said.

The flaxseed study was aimed at fighting prostate cancer, not treating a side effect.

Four groups of about 40 men scheduled to have their prostates removed three weeks later were assigned to get either 30 grams of powdered flaxseed, a low-fat diet, both or neither until their surgery.

After the men’s prostates were removed, researchers found that tumors had been growing slower in the two groups taking flaxseed, based on how quickly cells were multiplying. Low-fat diets had no effect on this, said Wendy Demark-Wahnefried of Duke University Medical Center, who led the study.

Some early studies had suggested high doses of shark cartilage might extend survival of people with advanced cases of non-small cell lung cancer.

All 379 people in the new study were given standard chemotherapy and radiation. Half also were given shark cartilage twice a day. After about four years, there was no difference in survival.

Originally published by Associated Press.

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