16/02/2022
SUPPLEMENTS AND MEDICAL TREATMENT: CONFUSION ABOUNDS AMONGST DOCTORS
A cancer patient of mine recently asked his oncologist if turkey tail mushroom as a supplement would be helpful for him. His enquiry was brusquely swept away as he was told, quite incorrectly, that there was no evidence that “things like that have any medical benefit” and are “a waste of money.”
Another patient, about to start chemotherapy, told her oncologist that she was using turkey tail extract - but was advised to stop it as “it might interfere with our medication.”
Two different consultants gave quite different views. However, if they believe that it has no effect or benefit for a patient, how can this “ineffective” supplement then interact or interfere with chemotherapy? They either work or they don’t, but doctors can’t have it both ways.
When asked about this, the oncologist’s response was that it could add pressure to the liver which is already having to deal with chemotherapy drugs. Since turkey tail is a mushroom, this begs the question as to whether cancer patients on chemotherapy should not eat mushrooms whilst undergoing treatment? I’ve never seen any advice to avoid mushrooms whilst being treated for cancer.
I have friends who are oncologists and they admit that sometimes they struggle to read the myriad new reports published in their own medical journals of expertise - because of lack of time. It’s therefore not surprising that many doctors or oncologists have little, if any, knowledge of supplements of any description but still tell their patients not to take them.
