Vitamin supplements show positive results in helping breast cancer patients

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Editor---Instead of repeating the same news over and over with every program throughout the day, some maintain it would be far better to bring to the table those news items that can be of great value to others.  In the spirit of that, here's a tidbit that needs a headline, for cherry-picking the news may eliminate information that is important such as the benefits that do exist with supplements and alternative medicine.

There were a number of items mentioned on the Internet that never made it to mainstream news, yet they are very important when women are trying to decide whether or not to take supplements.

“Older women who developed invasive breast cancer while taking multivitamin supplements with minerals had a 30% lower rate of breast cancer mortality than women who did not take supplements, according to an analysis of data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). This was published online October 7 in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.”

Then again in Medscape it was reported:  “Vitamins might reduce breast cancer mortality”

Along the same lines of this are reports that show that a sham or pretend knee surgery provided patients with a more positive attitude and relief than those who actually had the operation.  In fact it turns out that many people who have had extensive knee surgery end up with arthritis and other issues.  That does not mean there aren't benefits from knee surgery, but some of the issues related to it are seldom mentioned in the press, according to a doctor who has looked at conventional medicine's mistakes and wondered why the negatives are emphasized with alternative medicine and not as often with conventional approaches to helping patients.

The message that remains most important is that there are positives and negatives in both alternative and traditional medicine, but one must go beyond the mainstream media oftentimes to find the positive in the stories related to alternative or non-conventional treatments.  So it pays to research options for care as widely as possible to become informed when there is anticipated risk, including the risks from medications that can also cause harm as well as help.