There has been significant progress in the diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer this past year. In this article, guest author Gwendolyn Stritter, MD, discusses some of the latest research and observes how there is increasingly “more information about which herbs, supplements, and other alternative/complementary approaches can minimize treatment side effects and possibly even reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence.”

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests combining certain chemotherapy treatments with certain antioxidants at specific dosages can help improve drug effectiveness or reduce the severity of side effects. In this evidence-based review article, we searched through thousands of peer-reviewed, published studies and discuss how antioxidants may enhance or, in some cases, inhibit the therapeutic action of specific chemotherapy drugs used in the treatment of breast cancer.