[HN Gopher] Antioxidants such as Vitamin C found to spur cancer ...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Antioxidants such as Vitamin C found to spur cancer growth and
       metastasis
        
       Author : danielam
       Score  : 87 points
       Date   : 2023-09-04 14:35 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (newatlas.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (newatlas.com)
        
       | pcorsaro wrote:
       | The debate about Vitamin C in the cancer world is never ending.
       | My wife had stage IV colon cancer a few years ago, and we went
       | through tons and tons of research to try and find things to
       | supplement her chemotherapy. A lot of the "alternative" medicine
       | people suggest doing extremely high dose Vitamin C intravenously
       | because supposedly at higher doses, it becomes oxidative and
       | generates free radicals in the blood stream which can kill a lot
       | tumor types. Her oncologist didn't like the idea because there is
       | also lots of research that says it spurs growth in tumors. He
       | said that Vitamin C gets studied so much because it's cheap to
       | get, but it's never really produced any meaningful results. There
       | was a study he liked about taking extremely high doses of Vitamin
       | D, but I can't really remember why.
        
         | bettercallsalad wrote:
         | As somebody with a relative identified with stage IV cancer,
         | did you have any luck to finding an effective supplement to
         | chemo?
        
           | ambicapter wrote:
           | Tim Ferris' Tools of Titans has a section from a doctor (not
           | oncologist) who recommends fasting the days before chemo
           | treatment. Supposedly it sensitizes the cancer cells to the
           | chemo. I'm hesitant to give advice to cancer patients on the
           | internet but there's more recommendations (in my book it's
           | pg. 32-33). He also mentions keto diet, exogenous ketones,
           | metformin, dichloroacetic acid, and finally hyperbaric
           | oxygen, rapamycin in "modest, intermittent doses" and finally
           | sequencing the tumor to see if a checkpoint inhibitor could
           | be effective.
           | 
           | Again, recommendations from a health guru book and not an
           | actual doctor, that I'm just copying here in case it helps. I
           | have no experience with cancer other than a close relative
           | passing away when I was much younger.
        
             | maxk42 wrote:
             | Certain hard cancers are known to depend on blood sugar for
             | growth as they can't metabolize anything else. It makes
             | sense that a keto diet, therefore, would slow tumor growth,
             | and I've heard of oncologists recommending it. Keto diets
             | prevent prevent elevated blood sugar naturally. It's not a
             | silver bullet but when it comes to cancer you've got to
             | take every advantage you can get.
        
             | rgbrenner wrote:
             | It sounds like a really bad idea for a Stage IV cancer
             | patient to fast. In later stages they frequently already
             | have substantial weight loss... and in the last few weeks,
             | people actually stop eating entirely as the body starts to
             | shutdown. Death usually occurs when the weight loss reaches
             | 30-40%.
             | 
             | Encouraging them to stop eating seems like it would just
             | accelerate death.
             | 
             | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5114624/
        
               | chasil wrote:
               | There have been studies that p53 can be reactivated by
               | fasting.
               | 
               | In the context of chemotherapy, couldn't that be a
               | quantitatively useful benefit?
               | 
               | "Fasting improves therapeutic response in hepatocellular
               | carcinoma through p53-dependent metabolic synergism"
               | 
               | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35061544/
        
               | jsperx wrote:
               | I just went through 6 cycles of 5-day IV chemotherapy
               | (AIM) and I fasted for all of them, for a total of over
               | 35 days of water-only fasting during the last 5 months. I
               | can't find the PubMed link right now but there were small
               | studies that looked like healthy cells would go into kind
               | of a suspend/preserve mode that lessened side effects,
               | whereas cancer cells still experienced the intended
               | cytotoxicity. I tolerated the treatments quite well, lost
               | hair of course but only vomited twice during the whole
               | time. Lost weight each time but was able to put it back
               | on quickly during the following week for each cycle,
               | though I do want to watch body composition (don't want to
               | trade muscle for fat).
               | 
               | Did it make a difference in effectiveness? I actually
               | have my follow up scans tomorrow to find out. As you can
               | imagine, I really really hope so.
               | 
               | https://news.usc.edu/29428/fasting-weakens-cancer-in-
               | mice/
        
               | rgbrenner wrote:
               | I'm not a doctor. Ive just spent a lot of time looking
               | into this (as im sure you have) because a close relative
               | died from Stage IV lung cancer.
               | 
               | There are studies on fasting with chemo.. and depending
               | on the type of cancer its either effective or
               | ineffective. My comment was specifically about the end
               | stages where cachexia is common (from my link above):
               | 
               |  _" Cachexia is associated particularly with cancer where
               | the prevalence can reach 50-80% in advanced malignant
               | cancer."_
               | 
               | And all of the advice Ive found says fasting is not
               | recommended for patients with cachexia.
               | 
               | It sounds like it was fine in your case though because
               | you were able to regain the weight. Best of luck with
               | your scans.
        
           | darkclouds wrote:
           | IF you do an excess of iron (chloride), it reduces the CD4
           | cells and increases the cytotoxic CD8 cells.
           | 
           | I say chlorides because consistently for many studies,
           | notably zinc but applies to Iron, phytates and tannins bind
           | and inhibit the absorption of these two metals, but leave
           | copper alone. Chloride based metals get into the body very
           | quickly.
           | 
           | I'd also look at the mistakes in some studies, different
           | parts of the world have different theories and its possible
           | if you look at enough to see old theories being quoted and
           | not assertions from more recent studies.
           | 
           | The jury is out on what is a good diet to consume for
           | different types of cancer let along a healthy life, its
           | contradictory at best, zinc is good for tackling some
           | cancers, and bad for others. Copper is good for tackling some
           | cancers and not others, and that just looking at two common
           | metals in the diet.
           | 
           | So if the experts knew, I think they would recommend a diet
           | to go on, but they are so steeped in patient privacy they
           | undermine their own authority I think, not to mention come
           | across in general as quite dictatorial.
           | 
           | I have also been messing with some body building amino acids
           | and I liked histdine which is one of the four amino acids
           | that start with zinc, the other three are glutamic acid
           | (glutamate), aspartic acid and cysteine (N-Acetyl Cysteine).
           | Histidine is precursor for histamine which helps immune cells
           | migrate through tissue. Aspartic acid mediates some cysteine
           | based immune responses.
           | 
           | Its also worth looking at vit D, a Wellcome trust study had
           | reverse engineered the human genome about a decade ago and
           | found that most of the Vit D receptors are concentrated
           | around immune system genes (2776 iirc). But you need zinc and
           | cysteine to build the zinc fingers found on these vit D
           | receptors and vit D will switch on some genes and switch off
           | some genes.
           | 
           | Oncologists have access to the testing and measuring
           | equipment, I see no harm if interested in this stuff to get
           | the data from their tests and check their theories against
           | studies found in google scholar, if you wanted piece of mind.
           | 
           | These experts dont always publish their theories so there
           | isnt the transparency, and they dont ask about diet which can
           | be significant in some cases, so they undermine their
           | expertise imo.
           | 
           | And thats before you get into the debate of hackers tampering
           | with results and other things which seem to question the
           | fragile nature of computer security.
           | 
           | And I'm not recommending anything other than question the
           | experts.
        
         | ta988 wrote:
         | I was involved in some vitamin D work. It is really close to
         | what this doctor described about Vitamin C. Or most really
         | ubiquitous natural products really. I've seen all kind of
         | incredible claims and their contrary, and in the end no
         | epidemiologic study or clinical trial showed anything
         | conclusive.
        
           | wouldbecouldbe wrote:
           | vit D is even more random because it's correlated with so
           | much more; being outside; sun exposure; moving etc.
        
             | oldgradstudent wrote:
             | That's why observational studies consistently show vitamin
             | deficiency correlates with various types ill health, but
             | controlled experiments consistently show that
             | supplementation fails to improve it.
        
           | Aurornis wrote:
           | Vitamin D deficiency isn't great, but the health influencer
           | industry really blew this out of proportion. The number of
           | people taking excessive doses because they think more is
           | better is getting scary.
           | 
           | You don't need a lot of Vitamin D to avoid deficiency. Taking
           | even 5000 IU for an extended period of time can cause Vitamin
           | D excess.
           | 
           | Vitamin D confuses a lot of people because it accumulates
           | over a very long time period. You can take the same dose
           | every day but not approach overdose range for a year or more.
           | It builds up if you're taking too much, and there is a lot of
           | overlap between "too much" and some of the regimens pushed by
           | health influencers.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | Alex3917 wrote:
         | > Her oncologist didn't like the idea because there is also
         | lots of research that says it spurs growth in tumors.
         | 
         | To be fair, if that's the effect you're going for it doesn't
         | seem like the best option. If you want something to promote
         | oxidative stress, take something like pawpaw supplements or a
         | drug like metformin.
         | 
         | Tumors need more energy than normal cells, and oxidative stress
         | interferes with the ability of your mitochondria to produce
         | energy. So yeah, it makes intuitive sense that antioxidants are
         | not what you'd want for cancer. Although as you mentioned,
         | these systems are pretty complicated and there are a lot of
         | chemicals that can act as antioxidants in some circumstances
         | and oxidative agents in others.
        
           | chasil wrote:
           | > Tumors need more energy than normal cells, and oxidative
           | stress interferes with the ability of your mitochondria to
           | produce energy.
           | 
           | Isn't the mitochondria usually silenced in cancerous cells?
        
             | azalemeth wrote:
             | Not exactly. My understanding of the Warburg effect is that
             | cells rely upon glycolysis for their _additional_ energetic
             | demands but still have functioning mitochondrial with the
             | ability to oxidise fats; a lot of the pentose phosphate
             | pathway is upregulated in tumors as they're busy making
             | amino acids for protein biosynthesis. Of course, tumours do
             | literally everything imaginable somewhere so take this with
             | a glacier sized disclaimer. The main thing is that the
             | reactions that are favoured tend to be either anaplerotic
             | (contributing carbon towards the Krebs cycle) or straight
             | up anabolic. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/artic
             | le/PIIS2352-39...
        
       | haunter wrote:
       | Everything [in excess] causes cancer
        
       | tylerekahn wrote:
       | The Block Center does high dose intravenous Vitamin C as part of
       | their chemo+complementary regimen.
        
       | jasfi wrote:
       | Does this mean a bad diet is preferable when you're fighting off
       | cancer?
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | mistrial9 wrote:
         | there are clusters of very different disease that are all under
         | the label "cancer"... the short answer is "no"
        
         | dundarious wrote:
         | > The researchers say their findings highlight the potential
         | risk of taking antioxidant _supplements_ when they're not
         | needed.
         | 
         |  _Emphasis_ mine.
        
       | ginko wrote:
       | Can't wait for fruit to come with a cancer warning.
        
         | dundarious wrote:
         | You are probably joking, but because it leads to very
         | illegitimate conclusions ( _emphasis_ mine):
         | 
         | > The researchers say their findings highlight the potential
         | risk of taking antioxidant _supplements_ when they're not
         | needed.
        
         | gotoeleven wrote:
         | This product is known by the state of California to cause and
         | prevent cancer.
        
           | baz00 wrote:
           | Yep. My digital multimeter causes cancer, only in California.
        
         | magicalhippo wrote:
         | Bananas are radioactive[1], just lacking the label.
         | 
         | [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose
        
           | downvotetruth wrote:
           | Calafia can't match the Chiquita "little gift" bananas
           | sticker that lets you know she'll keep giving.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | LorenPechtel wrote:
       | If it helps the body it likely also helps the cancer.
        
       | alaaf wrote:
       | Is this about concentrated synthetic vitamin C or about the
       | natural form? From a chemistry perspective the same, but the
       | natural one comes in a different "package" of other substances
       | (vitamin C complex). I wonder if the effect is the same.
        
         | ta988 wrote:
         | There were a lot of studies on that early on but they were not
         | really followed on. Most of the time current studies use
         | synthetic or natural but purified enough that there is nothing
         | else there (so the same molecule really)
        
       | Sunspark wrote:
       | For ascorbic acid (vitamin C) specifically, there is such a thing
       | as too much of it.. in humans, the level that is too much is when
       | it gives you loose stools.. if you back off that, then the body
       | is likely using what it needs.
       | 
       | Most animals make vitamin C internally in the amounts they need.
       | We are only one of a handful that do not, because we have a
       | mutation that prevents us from finishing the process, otherwise
       | we would also be making it ourselves too.
       | 
       | Animals don't drop dead left and right from cancer. I would
       | suggest if one tries to eat a balanced diet then this will help
       | with avoiding cancer.
       | 
       | Lastly, the longer you live, the more certain it becomes that you
       | will get cancer of any type. What we are doing here is trying to
       | live healthy enough that we die before we live long enough for
       | cancer to become a problem.
        
         | pazimzadeh wrote:
         | That exactly right, high dose vitamin C that doesn't go through
         | the GI tract (given IV) is pro-oxidant rather than anti-
         | oxidant.
         | 
         | Intravenous High-Dose Vitamin C in Cancer Therapy
         | https://www.cancer.gov/research/key-initiatives/ras/ras-cent...
         | 
         | High-dose vitamin C enhances cancer immunotherapy
         | https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aay8707
        
         | Aurornis wrote:
         | > For ascorbic acid (vitamin C) specifically, there is such a
         | thing as too much of it.. in humans, the level that is too much
         | is when it gives you loose stools.. if you back off that, then
         | the body is likely using what it needs.
         | 
         | You're describing absorption tolerance, but the body doesn't
         | need anywhere near that much Vitamin C.
         | 
         | The idea that you need to "titrate to bowel tolerance" as the
         | alternative medicine practitioners say is rather nonsensical.
         | Nothing in the diets we evolved to consume has anywhere near
         | enough Vitamin C to cause loose stools (from Vitamin C excess)
         | 
         | You can consume more than enough Vitamin C for your body to
         | ever use with regular food. Taking these megadose supplements
         | at unnaturally high doses may get some absorbed into your body,
         | but it just gets excreted back out.
         | 
         | Absorption and use are two different things.
        
         | DoesntMatter22 wrote:
         | Animals don't drop dead left and right - in the wild -from
         | cancer because they typically die before cancer grows. Cancers
         | generally grow pretty slow. You don't go from 1 cancer cell to
         | 2 billion in 6 months. It typically takes a long time. Animals
         | raised indoors do get cancer at a fairly high rate.
         | 
         | Though not as much as humans. The diet factor is a huge part
         | for sure. Virtually all the major bodies like the UN agree on
         | this.
        
         | classichasclass wrote:
         | Humans and other related primates are also very efficient at
         | recycling vitamin C. Our daily requirements aren't zero, but
         | they are lower than I think is popularly surmised.
        
           | sph wrote:
           | It virtually reaches zero the lower amount of carbohydrates
           | you consume. Vitamin C shares the same intake pathway as
           | glucose, so the least glucose in your bloodstream, the less
           | need for supplementation, and the trace amounts found in meat
           | are enough.
           | 
           | Inuits consuming their diet of purely meat and fat for 6+
           | months a year do not get scurvy, and it is not a generic
           | mutation either, as testified by Europeans that lived among
           | them and adopted their diet without issue. See Vilhjalmur
           | Stefansson, the ethnologist who spent years living and eating
           | like an Inuit, and anyone following a strict carnivore diet.
           | 
           | The entire meme about sailors getting scurvy because they
           | didn't eat their vegs is because their diet was pretty much
           | poor quality carb-heavy food like rice, potatoes and bread,
           | so even just supplementing with lemons was enough to keep
           | scurvy at bay.
        
         | bitwize wrote:
         | As frugivorous apes we got enough vitamin C from our diet that
         | that mutation was a survival advantage. Synthesizing nutrients
         | you can get from your diet is a waste of energy.
         | 
         | Similarly, other species of animals cannot synthesize certain
         | nutrients they get from their diet. Cats, for example, cannot
         | synthesize taurine and must get their required taurine from
         | consuming meat.
        
           | justrealist wrote:
           | > As frugivorous apes we got enough vitamin C from our diet
           | that that mutation was a survival advantage. Synthesizing
           | nutrients you can get from your diet is a waste of energy.
           | 
           | This is speculative and honestly not the simplest
           | explanation. Deleterious mutations _will_ happen in the
           | absence of selective pressure, and there was no selective
           | pressure.
           | 
           | You don't have to cast everything as evolution playing 4D
           | chess. Sometimes genes just break, and not for good reasons.
        
             | maxk42 wrote:
             | Not to mention it's been at least 4.5 million years since a
             | human ancestor was last a frugivorous ape.
        
       | joshuajill wrote:
       | I find the fact that media keeps talking about cancer as one
       | single disease unhelpful at best.
       | 
       | Look at what the title of the research article is: "Antioxidants
       | stimulate BACH1-dependent tumor angiogenesis"
       | 
       | The researchers conclusion: "We conclude that BACH1 is an oxygen-
       | and redox-sensitive angiogenesis transcription factor."
       | 
       | Then compare how the author of the article put it.
        
       | alistoriv wrote:
       | So... they support anabolic processes. Shall we avoid eating and
       | drinking too?
        
       | cjbenedikt wrote:
       | One more reason why very little research goes into that area is
       | that the pharma industry isn't interested in a "cheap" solution.
       | It is nigh impossible to find grants for any research to that
       | end. However, some work sounds promising
       | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9231292/#:~:tex....
        
       | ipnon wrote:
       | "Dosis sola facit venenum."
        
       | throwawaymaths wrote:
       | Kind of hilariously, James Watson was on a crusade about this,
       | specifically yowling about how Pauling was totally wrong to
       | megadose C (he argued specifically from the Warburg hypothesis)
       | but it was around then that he started making tone-deaf, arguably
       | racist comments (...also many racist comments against scots irish
       | americans), and he got canceled and i think everyone stopped
       | listening to him writ large.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | nmitchko wrote:
       | With all we see around cancer, it's time to study fembendazole
       | and other anti-tubulins seriously.
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | Why? The way you say it implies this is self-evident, but I'm
         | completely clueless about either of these and why this
         | logically follows.
        
       | ramoz wrote:
       | Similar thread from just the other day:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37349870
        
       | kypro wrote:
       | Isn't this already known? The reason I only take a low dose of
       | Vit E is because higher doses can increase the risk of cancer -
       | like I assumed is true of all antioxidants?
        
         | CrHn3 wrote:
         | That does not seem to be the case for coQ10[1]. With coQ10,
         | it's only effective at a therapeutic level which entails higher
         | doses[2].
         | 
         | Vitamin E as a-tocopherol has been associated with increased
         | prostate cancer[3]. Natural tocopherols rich in g-T, g-TmT, or
         | similar tocopherol mixtures show more promise for cancer
         | applications[4].
         | 
         | 1. https://www.cancer.gov/about-
         | cancer/treatment/cam/hp/coenzym...
         | 
         | 2. https://youtu.be/9Z7X9WPWv4Y?si=avOV0u4ruy_zNslr&t=746
         | 
         | 3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21990298/
         | 
         | 4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4899293/
        
         | arcticbull wrote:
         | Vitamin E is fat soluble, which means that you can definitely
         | take too much (unlike C for instance, which is water soluble).
         | It can cause headaches, nausea, blood thinning and rarely even
         | fatal bleeding. I suspect that's a much bigger reason to be
         | careful with the quantity of fat-soluble vitamins you take.
         | 
         | But also note that vitamins aren't FDA regulated, and they're a
         | complete grab bag in terms of quality and bioavailability.
         | 
         | Generally unless prescribed by a doctor for a specific
         | condition or if you know your diet is lacking in a specific
         | vitamin (like B complex for vegans), you get more than enough
         | from your diet. [1]
         | 
         | [1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/mens-health/do-
         | multivitamins-...
        
           | kypro wrote:
           | > Vitamin E is fat soluble, which means that you can
           | definitely take too much
           | 
           | I think we're talking about different things here. You're
           | talking about the risk of toxicity from taking high doses of
           | fat-soluble vitamins. I'm talking about the risk of taking
           | anti-inflammatory supplements / drugs generally (regardless
           | of dose).
           | 
           | In general I agree with you on taking vitamins, however the
           | reason I take a very low dose of Vit E is because I have a
           | genetic predisposition to liver inflammation. Vit E is one of
           | the few things which helps me reduce this inflammation which
           | helps me mitigate against long-term damage, but reducing
           | inflammation too much can increase risk of liver cancer,
           | hence why I only take a low dose. This is also the reason
           | patients with late-stage liver disease are typically not
           | given Vit E because they're at a higher risk of developing
           | liver cancer.
           | 
           | On taking Vitamins generally I think most people in the West
           | would benefit from a high-quality low dose Vit D supplement.
           | Something around 1,000 - 3,000 UIs daily is almost certainly
           | safe and the majority of people would benefit. Higher doses
           | are probably preferable in many cases, but you should be
           | monitoring blood concentrations at that point to ensure
           | you're not reaching toxic levels. Otherwise, yes,
           | supplementing is silly unless you have a reason for it.
           | 
           | I hang out in a lot of liver health communities one of the
           | most common reasons I find people have unexplained elevated
           | liver enzymes is because they're taking low quality (often
           | herbal) supplements.
        
             | arcticbull wrote:
             | What's interesting with Vitamin D supplementation is there
             | doesn't appear to be any strong clinical evidence for its
             | effectiveness unless you're severely deficient and on the
             | road to rickets.
             | 
             | So long as your serum 25OHD concentration is >50nmol/L
             | according to this meta analysis, there's no clear effects.
             | [1]
             | 
             | > In conclusion, supplementation of vitamin D-replete
             | individuals does not generate overall health benefits;
             | however, correction of severe vitamin D deficiency remains
             | essential.
             | 
             | Probably would be a lot better off going outside and
             | synthesizing your own. Spending time in nature and in the
             | sun does a lot of other useful things - for instance UV
             | exposure induces nitric oxide synthesis too, which lowers
             | blood pressure. [2]
             | 
             | [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41574-021-00593-z
             | 
             | [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5593895/
        
               | kypro wrote:
               | > there doesn't appear to be any strong clinical evidence
               | for its effectiveness unless you're severely deficient
               | and on the road to rickets.
               | 
               | > So long as your serum 25OHD concentration is >50nmol/L
               | according to this meta analysis, there's no clear
               | effects.
               | 
               | I mostly agree. Above 50nmol/L it's not so important, but
               | most evidence would still point towards it being slightly
               | healthier to be on the higher end of the reference range
               | for Vit D, so therefore if you wanted to optimise your
               | health you probably should be targeting around
               | ~150nmol/L. We know our ancestors would have had Vit D
               | concentrations around these levels so there's no good
               | reason to think it would be unhealthy either.
               | 
               | Additionally, and what you missed here is that a lot of
               | people in the northern hemisphere get close or fall below
               | that 50nmol/L clinically deficient level during winter
               | months. This is why I think in general it's probably
               | better for people to take a low dose of Vit D than not
               | (especially during the winter).
               | 
               | But to your point, if you're spending time outside and
               | getting a bit of sun exposure every day then it's
               | probably not needed.
        
               | arcticbull wrote:
               | > We know our ancestors would have had Vit D
               | concentrations around these levels so there's no good
               | reason to think it would be unhealthy either.
               | 
               | Yeah, I certainly don't think it's unhealthy, I just
               | haven't seen any studies demonstrate really any effect at
               | all over the lowest normal value. If you have some
               | studies I'd love to see them so I can cite them in the
               | future.
               | 
               | I think we're basically in agreement.
        
           | gremlinsinc wrote:
           | What about vitamin D? I've had gastric sleeve surgery a
           | decade ago. Ever since every blood test I take usually has me
           | deficient in that. My doctor has me on 5 to 10k, right now
           | trying 5k. I also have gout and an abnormally high amount of
           | kidney stones sitting in my kidney, last month I had to get a
           | catheter and 2 trips to the ER over one lousy kidney stone.
           | 
           | I'm wanting to figure out the best way to regulate the things
           | in my body with less Kidney stones, uric acid etc, and that
           | won't upset my depression, anxiety, and ADHD.
        
             | Gibbon1 wrote:
             | My suspicion about vitamin D is the positive effects are
             | minor. Short term deficiency doesn't do anything. But long
             | term chronic deficiency negatively impacts your health. And
             | deficiency in children is much worse than in adults[1].
             | 
             | I think sure take vitamin D but don't expect much.
             | 
             | [1] Friend that's a public health nurse says they're seeing
             | kids with rickets and bad teeth in Marin County. Because
             | vegetarianism, sunscreen and milk alternatives. They don't
             | see any of that with poor kids in Oakland because they're
             | on WIC and not getting woo woo healthcare.
        
               | arcticbull wrote:
               | > woo woo healthcare
               | 
               | What a time to be alive.
        
           | ukFxqnLa2sBSBf6 wrote:
           | Another condition for supplementation is the possession of a
           | disorder which causes malabsorption, like SIBO.
        
           | 2devnull wrote:
           | I don't know, the advice in that link is, don't take a
           | multivitamin because there isn't a lot of evidence it will do
           | a lot of good. Instead they say you should just have a
           | perfect diet, and to consult with a dietician if you feel you
           | aren't getting a perfect diet.
           | 
           | Seems to me that few people eat a perfect diet, and I'd be
           | amazed if there's evidence dieticians work better than
           | multivitamins. People don't eat right, not because they need
           | education, but because unhealthy diets are tasty, cheap,
           | convenient, etc...
           | 
           | And multivitamins are not all the same, they have radically
           | different formulations, so I doubt the results of any
           | research that didn't specify a specific multivitamin, or
           | break results by gender or age. (Vitamin needs/ deficiencies
           | are often age related. Consider subsets like prenatal
           | vitamins, vitamins for the elderly, etc...)
        
         | GoToRO wrote:
         | I saw a documentary where they presented a study in which they
         | did exactly that: they gave about 7 people high doses of
         | antioxidants. Because antioxidants good. About 3 of them got
         | cancer before they could finish the study. They had to stop the
         | study early.
        
           | arcticbull wrote:
           | n=7 is pretty small for a nutritional study that didn't even
           | finish. I'd be very wary of relying on that.
        
             | GoToRO wrote:
             | Nobody is relying on anything. The early results were too
             | scary for people (scientists and patients) to continue.
             | 
             | Anyway, the conclusion was that more antioxidants is not
             | necessarily better and that we still don't understand how
             | things work.
        
       | tptacek wrote:
       | In mice (with xenografted tissue).
       | 
       | They've been reporting this since 2015:
       | 
       | https://newatlas.com/medical/antioxidants-stimulate-blood-ve...
       | 
       | The actual press release from Karolinska might be more
       | informative and a better link than whatever New Atlas is:
       | 
       | https://news.ki.se/antioxidants-stimulate-blood-flow-in-tumo...
        
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