Zinc, cancer study
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Stage III and IV head and neck cancer patients receiving zinc supplementation have a better three-year, local-free survival rate than matched control patients, according to researchers of the Chi-Mei Foundation Medical Center in Taiwan. In a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study beginning in 2003 and published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, 50 patients undergoing radiotherapy for two months took 75 mg per day of zinc supplement Pro-Z, a powder extracted from bovine prostate that is chelated to zinc. Patients in the experimental and control groups had similar results; patients with any of the four cancer stages had marginally better three-year LFS rates when supplemented with zinc, though insignificant. However, patients with stage III and IV cancer had notably better and significant LFS rates when taking Pro-Z and undergoing radiotherapy...