Ginseng Shows Benefits in Cancer Treatment
Flaxseed slowed the growth of prostate tumors in men, while ginseng helped relieve the fatiguethat cancer patients often feel, US researchers reported on Saturday in two of the first scientificallyrigorous looks at alternative medicine.
The studies reflect doctor's efforts to explore the risks and benefits of foods and supplements thatare routinely taken by their patients with little scientific proof they help. Americans spend between $36 billion and $ 46 billion year on complementary and alternative therapies, according to the NationalCenter for Health Statistics. "Patients are taking these compounds but we need to know if they are do-ing any good or any harm," said Dr. Bruce Cheson of Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, who led a panel on alternative therapies at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
In the flaxseed study, researchers at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina and col-leagues evaluated the seed's role as a food supplement in 16I men who were scheduled to undergo sur-gery for prostate cancer. "The growth rate was decreased in the men who got flaxseed," said Dr. NancyDavidson, an oncologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who is president-elect of ASCO. "Ithink this is fascinating." Flaxseed is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and lignins, a fiber found on the seedcoat. "We were looking at flaxseed because of its unique nutrient profile," said Wendy Demark-Wah-nefried, a researcher in Duke's School of Nursing, who led the study.
Half of the men in the study added 30 grams of flaxseed daily to their diets for about 30 days. Halfof the flaxseed group also went on a low-fat diet. After the surgery, the cancer ceils in both the flax-seed groups grew about g0 to 40 percent slower than the control group.
But Demark-Wahnefried is not ready to prescribe flaxseed. "It's a healthy food. It has a lot of vita-mins and a lot of fiber. But we can not definitely say at this point you should take flaxseed because it isprotective against prostate cancer," she said, adding that flaxseed now needed to be studied to see if itcan prevent prostate cancer.
In the ginseng trial, Debra Barton of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleaguestested three different does of the herb on patients with a variety of cancers who were expected to liveat least six months. Twenty-five percent of patients taking a 1, 000-my dose and twenty-seven percentof patients taking a 2, 000-mg does said their fatigue symptorns were "rnoderately better" or "muchbetter". Only 10 percent of those taking a 750-mg dose reported an improvement, which was about thesame as the placebo group. Patients on the trial took Wisconsin ginseng from a single crop that wastested for uniform potency. It was powered and given in a capsule form. "I wouldn't have predictedthis, I have to admit," Davidson said in an interview. "We might want to test this in a large scale.
The flaxseed study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the ginseng study was supported by US Public Health Service grants.
23. Paragraph 2__________
24. Paragraph 4__________
25. Paragraph 5 __________
26. Paragraph 6__________
A.the motivation offlaxseed study
B.the study on ginseng displays its good promise
C.the tots’responsibilities led them to carry out these two studies
D.ginseng is as good to cancer patients as flaxseed
E.the methods and results of the study on flaxseed
F.a different opinion Oil the use of flaxseed
27. Doctors in the US wanted to know__________
28. Both studies on flaxseed and ginseng show__________
29. It is the unique nutrient profile of flaxseed__________
30. In the ginseng trial the researchers tested the potency of ginseng__________
A.that led the researchers in Duke’S School of Nursing to study it
B.by giving different dose of the herb to patients with different cancers
C.whether the foods and supplements patients took every day were good or not
D.though both flaxseed and ginseng are all healthy alternative medicines
E.that either of them iS benefieial to cancer patients
F.because we still have to see if flaxseed can prevent prostate cancer
答案：23.C 24.E 25.F 26.B 27.C 28.E 29.A 30.B
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