Tag: EFFECTS OF CHEMOTHERAPY

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Antioxidants blog Cancer Respiratory health

GREEN COFFEE BEANS: PROMISING ANTIOXIDANT FOR PREVENTING SIDE EFFECTS OF CHEMOTHERAPY

Chemotherapy is used for managing acute or chronic leukaemia, malignant lymphomas or other tumors in the intestine, lung, breast and other organs. The use of chemotherapeutic substances is common when combating tumor cells and pathogens such as viruses and fungal infections.

Different medications are used, depending on the type of illness and condition of the patient. Cytostatic agents which are frequently used in chemotherapy and which cause severe side effects are for instance the anthracycline.  1

The use of drugs (whether chemotherapy, hormonal therapy or targeted therapy) constitutes systemic therapy for cancer in which they are introduced into the blood stream and address cancer at any anatomic location in the body. Systemic therapy is often used in conjunction with other modalities that constitute local therapy (i.e. treatments whose efficacy is confined to the anatomic area where they are applied) for cancer such as radiation therapy, surgery and/or hyperthermia therapy.

SIDE EFFECTS OF CHEMOTHERAPY

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The occurrence of acute or long-term side effects which occur later in connection with the chemotherapy, include the side effects to: 3

  • Skin
  • Mucous membranes
  • Increased sensitivity to herpes viruses or fungal infections
  • Alopecia – Temporary partial or total loss of hair
  • Psychological damage, particularly in women

Side effects to skin include

  • Dry or scaly skin
  • Itchy skin swellings
  • Red patches
  • Formation of blisters
  • Skin lesions with low-level mechanical impacts
  • Allergies
  • Skin discoloration along the infusion veins
  • Pigment spots
  • Hand and foot syndrome (PPE)

HOW CHEMOTHERAPY PRODUCES SIDE EFFECTS? 4

It was found that chemotherapeutic substances which are administered systemically or intravenously quickly penetrate from inside-out onto the skin via sweat and are distributed homogeneously over the skin surface. Then they penetrate the skin from outside in the same manner as the topically applied substances. The highest concentration of chemotherapeutic substances on the skin is observed in places where the highest sweat glands occur, e.g. on the forehead, the axilia and the balls of the hands & feet. The majority of skin irritations also occur here.

Chemotherapeutic substances frequently accumulate in the hair follicles. They are in part expelled there together with the fat from the sebaceous glands and this contributes to rapid loss of hair during a chemotherapeutic treatment.

Chemotherapy also increases the free radical activity inside body, which, in turn, can overcome the body’s natural antioxidant defenses causing diseased state in the body.

HOW CAN WE GET RID FROM THIS PROBLEM OF SIDE EFFECTS FROM CHEMOTHERAPY? 

5It has been found by the scientists that the occurrence of side effects from chemotherapeutic substances on the skin or on the hair can be prevented or significantly reduced when antioxidant agents or such substances which are known as radical scavengers are used during or subsequent to chemotherapy together with microparticles. Obviously, to ensure an effective protection or treatment it is necessary to neutralize the free radicals on the skin or scalp surface before they penetrate the skin from outside and are stored there over a long period of time causing the side effects.

GREEN COFFEE BEAN EXTRACT AS ANTIOXIDANT – FOR MANAGEMENT OF SIDE EFFECTS FROM CHEMOTHERAPY

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Green coffee bean extract has become one of the top selling weight loss products in the market. Green coffee bean extract has good health-related benefits. The highest quality green coffee bean extract comes with higher polyphenol anti-oxidants such as chlorogenic acid.

The majority of coffee drinkers miss out much of the benefits that coffee contains because the deep roasting process of green coffee beans significantly reduces the anti-oxidant content of it. Now-a-days, green coffee bean extract containing chlorogenic acid is being studied for its effect on the management of the side effects of chemotherapy.

Here are four studies that show green coffee bean extract and its chlorogenic acid may benefit cancer patients: 7

  • A June 2014 study in The Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry found that chlorogenic acid showed promise in fighting breast cancer and recommended that it “would be a promising candidate for further evaluation as an antioxidant and anticancer agent.”
  • A 2009 study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistryalso looked at breast cancer cells. Researchers in this study also found that the chlorogenic acid could potentially serve as cancer fighter and have a “chemopreventive” effect.
  • A January 2015 study published in the Journal of Cellular Oncology showed breast cancer is not the only cancer that appears to be helped by chlorogenic acid. This study looked at the effect of chlorogenic acid on lung cancer cells. That study proposed that chlorogenic acid could “represent a novel therapeutic option for the treatment of (lung) cancer.”
  • A February 2015 study published in Anti-Cancer Drugsshowed that chlorogenic acid could actually help a cancer patient’s body be more receptive to chemotherapy treatment. That study shows potential in making chemotherapy for liver cancer more effective.

This scientific evidence suggest that the green coffee bean extract containing chlorogenic acid can be opted as management strategy to get relief from the side effects of chemotherapy treatment.

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