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Cancer Therapy Interactions With Foods And Dietary Supplements (PDQ®): Integrative, Alternative, And Complementary Therapies - Health Professional Information [NCI]

This information is produced and provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The information in this topic may have changed since it was written. For the most current information, contact the National Cancer Institute via the Internet web site at http://cancer.gov or call 1-800-4-CANCER.

Overview

This cancer information summary provides an overview on cancer therapy interactions with different foods and dietary supplements.

This summary contains the following key information:

  • The combination of cancer drugs taken by patients and the complementary and alternative medicine used may interact, causing adverse outcomes.
  • Research on dietary supplement and cancer drug pharmacokinetics (PK) interactions is limited, but there is evidence for several possible interactions and adverse reactions.
  • For many specific antioxidant supplements, there is insufficient information available to determine if they are safe and effective as a complementary therapy to standard cancer treatment.
  • Certain constituents of foods and dietary supplements (e.g., St. John's wort, grapefruit juice, and epigallocatechin gallate from green tea) can alter the PK of specific types of drugs.
  • Some research has shown a dietary supplement/food and drug PK interaction between grapefruit juice and imatinib.
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