Personal Injury Law

Herbal Supplements May Promote Prostate Cancer

By Linda Snyder

Two men looking to improve their muscular mass and sexual performance got more than they bargained for when taking an herbal dietary supplement. Both men are now suffering from an aggressive and incurable form of prostate cancer.

When analyzed, researchers found the two hormones, testosterone and estradiol in the dietary supplement. As reported in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, they tested testosterone and estradiol together on prostate cancer cells and found more aggressive growth than testosterone alone. Additionally, an attempt to stop the cancer cell growth by increasing concentrations of the anti-cancer drug bicalutamide was unsuccessful.

U.S. doctors recently reported that many supplements marketed as "safe" and "natural" could contain unknown and potentially dangerous ingredients, and are virtually unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"Unlike prescription and over-the-counter drugs, the law does not require nutritional supplements to undergo pre-market approval for safety and efficacy," says Dr. Shahrokh Shariat, a resident in urology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the study's lead author. "The current FDA regulatory system provides little oversight or assurances that dietary supplements will have predictable pharmacological effects or even that product labels provide accurate information for consumers."

Whether it's to produce bigger muscles, increase sexual prowess or feel younger, most people turn to "natural"  herbal remedies for dietary supplements, because of the failure or distrust of conventional medicine and they believe the natural products are drug-free and thereby safer.

As part of the study, researchers investigated web site promoting the natural or herbal dietary supplements and found these companies promised a "fountain of youth," a "youthful heart, relief of stress, and improvements in mood disturbances, stamina, energy, strength and virility."

And now it seems the natural remedies they trusted are now killing them.

Full post as published by Colorado Springs Personal Injury Lawyer on April 28, 2008 (boomark / email).