Men’s Health Supplements Have No Impact For Patients With Prostate Cancer

A new study has suggested that men’s health supplements purporting to improve prostate health do not offer any significant health benefits to patients with prostate cancer. The research was led by Dr. Nicholas Zaorsky at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. The study focuses on the supplement use of approximately 2,200 men who had been recently diagnosed with localized prostate cancer. Researchers investigated the supplement use among participants and found that about one in two patients were taking some form of dietary supplement to improve their prostate health. Many of the patients involved however did not consult with their doctors prior to starting the supplements. Dr. Zaorsky indicated that,

“We’ve routinely told patients not to take any medication unless they have a diagnosis and they have a particular reason to take a drug. And to our knowledge, there is no diagnosis that would have been a reason for men to take these supplements, but now we have a study to back us up on this.”

Additionally participants that took part in the study were aged 36 years and older and had undergone radiation therapy sometime between 2001 and 2012. About 10 percent of those involved were found to be taking one or more of 50 types of men’s health supplements either during treatment or in the ensuing four years, Zaorsky indicated.

The types of pills that were of particular interest to the study were those labeled and marketed to consumers as being “recommended by urologists” or “clinically proven”. The one ingredient that was found consistently among 90 perecent of the supplements that were scrutinized for the study was saw palmetto. The substance in question is a plant extract often purported as a proven treatment for an enlarged prostate.

The use of health supplements by the participants wasn’t connected to any negative side effects; however, after taking various lifestyle factors such as diet or exercise into consideration, the overall survival rate of supplement users made no difference. In the end, researchers concluded that men’s health supplements offered no benefits in terms of improving the prognosis of patients with prostate cancer.

There was a difference of opinion regarding Dr. Zaorsky’s findings which came from Duffy MacKay a representative with the Council for Responsible Nutrition. Mackay indicated that health supplements do in fact undergo numerous clinical trials, although these trials are not designed with prostate cancer in mind. He further added,

“I don’t know what research databases they’re looking at but they are not offering scientific evidence to support their position. And none of these products claim to treat disease. They’re not allowed to.”

The group’s findings were recently presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, in San Antonio. Their research should be considered preliminary until it is published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.