Dietary Supplements for Mesothelioma
Dietary supplements may be useful for helping with treating mesothelioma, a cancer that most often occurs because of exposure to asbestos fibers, or side effects of chemotherapy. These dietary supplements include vitamins, minerals, natural substances, antioxidants and herbs.
Consult your doctor or pharmacist before making any changes to your treatment plan or adding any dietary supplements to ensure these are safe and without major drug interactions.
Why Does Treatment Matter?
Some patients are deficient in various vitamins or minerals and dietary supplements can replenish these. In addition, for some patients undergoing chemotherapy who have difficulty eating or for those with dietary restrictions, patients can commonly become deficient in various nutrients.
How to Begin
Before taking any dietary supplements, contact your doctor or pharmacist to ensure this change is safe and without major drug interactions when combined with any of your other medications.The FDA treats dietary supplements as food products and as a result these are not regulated in the same way that prescription medications are. It is important to exercise good judgement to determine which supplements are reputable or to ask your pharmacist for their recommendation.
Vitamins
Some vitamins could provide benefits to help fight cancer. Some of the vitamins that have been studied and may provide benefit include:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin K
- Vitamin D
Minerals
Minerals may also assist in cancer prevention. Minerals help with healthy bone cell activities. For example, phosphorous and calcium have been shown to make up a healthy structure within the tissues. Potassium, calcium and magnesium have also shown benefits. Doctors will sometimes recommend using a combination such as this to help the body to combat some of the effects of chemotherapy.
There are also supplements which come from animals or plants. Before you begin taking supplements, you should discuss the potential benefit or risk of each one with your doctor or pharmacist to determine whether this is a safe addition. While these are natural medicines, they are not without safety risk or risk of drug interaction.