Researchers from the University of Texas have discovered that antioxidants may increase growth of cancer in human beings.
For a long time, antioxidants have been viewed as beneficial for health, and perhaps even to bear preventative implications for cancer.
Dr. Sean Morrison, Director at UT Southwestern Medical Center, said “The idea that antioxidants are good for you has been so strong that there have been clinical trials done in which cancer patients were administered antioxidants.
“Some of those trials had to be stopped because the patients getting the antioxidants were dying faster. Our data suggest the reason for this: cancer cells benefit more from antioxidants than normal cells do.”
The study’s authors recommended that cancer be treated with pro-oxidants. Morrinson added that “We discovered that metastasizing melanoma cells experience very high levels of oxidative stress, which leads to the death of most metastasizing cells.”