While herbal supplements have risen in popularity over the past few years – touted for everything from their health benefits to weight loss properties – a new study highlights the importance of consulting your doctor before consuming any natural remedies.

According to Chicago researchers, herbal supplements such as acai berry, cumin, herbal tea, turmeric and long-term use of garlic may negatively impact chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients.

The researchers warned that the popular supplements may intensify or weaken the effect of chemotherapy drugs and in some cases, may cause a toxic, even lethal reaction.

“With the growth of the Internet, patients have better access to information about alternative products and often turn to dietary and herbal supplements to treat their illness because they think they’re natural and safe,” said June McKoy, MD, study researcher.

“What people don’t realize is that supplements are more than just vitamins and can counteract medical therapies if not taken appropriately,” McKoy explained.

Currently, more research is needed to understand which supplements interact with chemotherapy drugs and the extent of those interactions. The researchers encouraged that patients openly communicate with their doctors about supplement use.

“Patients need to tell their doctors what medications they are taking – including vitamins and supplements – to avoid any possible interaction,” said McKoy.

Herbal supplements can interact with chemotherapy drugs in a number of different ways. Some interfere with the metabolism of drugs, making them less effective, while others, such as the long-term use of garlic, may increase the risk of bleeding during surgery.

Prior studies have indicated that 50 percent of patients undergoing chemotherapy did not inform their doctors they were taking supplements.

“Some believe it’s not important, while others are uncomfortable admitting they are pursuing alternative therapies,” said McKoy. “The truth is, integrative approaches can be beneficial for cancer patients, but it’s important to take these approaches at the right time and under the supervision of your doctor.”

Researchers have discovered a compound that attacks certain cancer cells by depriving them of their energy source, glucose.

Because the compound can selectively target cancer cells, while leaving normal cells alone, researchers hope it may someday be an option other than chemotherapy for cancer patients.

Chemotherapy can be rough for patients because most of the drugs are unable to distinguish between which cells are cancerous and which are not. Instead, the chemicals simply target all rapidly dividing cells, which include healthy blood cells and cells that make hair.

However, drugs that can target a phenomenon exclusive to cancer cells – such as using glucose for energy – could fight the disease with considerably less side effects.

“This study demonstrates an approach for selectively inhibiting the ability of cancer cells to take up glucose, which is a pretty powerful way of killing those cells,” said senior study author Amato Giaccia, PhD, Stanford University professor and director of radiation oncology.

For the study, the researchers focused on a common kidney cancer in adults, called renal cell carcinomas, for the study. The cancer is resistant to chemotherapy, and patients typically must have the kidney removed.

Using mice, researchers tested the effects two candidate drugs, STF-62247 and STF-31, on renal cell carcinomas. Both succeeded in starving the cancer cells of glucose and slowing tumor growth.

Additionally, there was no apparent damage to normal tissues, immune systems or blood cells of the mice.

The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

In December, the Food and Drug Administration drafted a proposal to remove the approval of Avastin for breast cancer treatment. Now, tensions have hit a fever pitch during a current hearing as patients and the drugmaker Roche plead for the government organization to reconsider.

The FDA first approved Avastin for breast cancer in 2008 after a study showed the drug stalled cancer growth by almost six months when used in combination with chemotherapy. Because the drug was given accelerated approval, the FDA required Roche to run follow-up studies to confirm the drug’s effectiveness.

However, the later studies weren’t as successful, finding only a one to three month delay in cancer growth. None proved that Avastin extended the lives of patients with advanced breast cancer, and some patients had severe side effects such as holes in the stomach and intestines.

Nevertheless, since the FDA began its hearing for Avastin on Tuesday, breast cancer patients have stepped forward to recount their success stories, thanks in part, to the drug. Some have held signs and chanted outside the FDA building in favor of Avastin.

Personally, I agree with these patients. I think that the FDA should keep the approval of Avastin for breast cancer, pending new studies.

Metastatic breast cancer, in many cases, is very difficult to treat, and the choices of treatments are often limited.

I am aware of the discrepancies in cancer survival rates with the use of Avastin. However, there are some patients that do show significant improvement after taking it, and it is unfair to have the drug’s approval removed for this use when there is a select group of women that could definitely benefit from it.

Medical treatment, especially for something as complicated as metastatic cancer, has to keep whatever positive gains toward a cure it has and build upon that to get to newer drugs and better treatments with higher degrees of success.

Now, I know that even without FDA approval of Avastin for metastatic breast cancer, doctors can still utilize the drug. However, Medicare may not cover its costs, and certainly many private insurance agencies may think twice before approving claims for it. This could be devastating for the 17,000 breast cancer patients out there that are currently taking Avastin.

Because, really, at the end of the day, it is the patients and their families who will be hurt the most.

Researchers from the Monell Center have finally succeeded in growing human taste cells in a dish.  After years of futile attempts, researchers say this achievement will be a valuable tool in learning about the human sense of taste and how it functions in health or disease.

They also expect it will assist with current efforts to prevent and treat taste loss or impairment due to infection, radiation, chemotherapy and chemical exposures.

“People who undergo chemotherapy or radiation therapy for oral cancer often lose their sense of taste, leading to decreased interest in food, weight loss, and malnutrition,” said lead author M. Hakan Ozdener, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., a cellular biologist at Monell, in a press release. “The success of this technique should provide hope for these people, as it finally provides us with a way to test drugs to promote recovery.”

Taste cells are located in papillae, or the little bumps on our tongues. The cells contain receptors that interact with chemicals in foods to allow us to distinguish between sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami.

They are also among the few cells in the body that have the ability to regenerate.  New taste cells generally mature from progenitor ‘stem’ cells every two weeks.

Scientists have long believed that it was necessary for taste cells to be attached to nerves in order to function properly and regenerate, which is why it was previously thought to be impossible to isolate and grow the cells in culture.

“It had become ingrained in the collective consciousness that it wouldn’t work,” said Monell cellular biologist Nancy E. Rawson, Ph.D.

In 2006, however, Monell researchers were able to grow and maintain taste cells from rats in culture.  Afterward, they moved on to experiments with human cells.

By taking samples of tongue tissues from volunteers, researchers were able to adapt their techniques to grow human taste cells in culture.

They also demonstrated that the cells were fully functional, with the same key molecular and physiological properties of parent cells.  Like the parent cells, the new cells could be activated by sweet and bitter taste molecules.

The study was published in the journal Chemical Senses.

Scientists have grown sperm cells in a dish from the testicular tissue of mice, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A team of Japanese scientists from the Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine in Yokohama, Japan, were able to grow healthy sperm in a lab and use them to produce fertile offspring.

This achievement comes after decades of unsuccessful attempts to develop spermatogonial stem cells into actual sperm.

The scientists hope this breakthrough can help doctors one day design fertility treatments for men – in particular, young boys undergoing treatment for cancer.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer can potentially kill the cells that create sperm, which can leave patients infertile.  While adults can bank sperm before treatment, that option isn’t available to boys who haven’t hit puberty yet.

The findings have been published in the journal Nature.

Click here to read more from the Los Angeles Times.

Supplementing diets with fish oil may help cancer patients maintain or even gain muscle, PhysOrg. com reported.

Researchers from the University of Alberta compared the effects of fish oil with that of standard care on weight, muscle, and fat tissue in non-small cell lung cancer patients.  They found that 69 percent of patients who consumed fish oil gained or maintained muscle mass during chemotherapy treatments, while only 29 percent of standard care patients maintained muscle mass.  Standard care patients lost over two pounds of muscle on average.

In general, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy tend to lose muscle mass and become malnourished, which leads to fatigue, decreased quality of life, inability to receive necessary treatments, and shorter survival.

Researchers said that only two grams of fish oil per day was necessary to counter muscle deterioration due to chemotherapy.

Click here to read more from Physorg.com.