Effects of Zinc Supplementation on Cancer Patients

TAIWAN, China—Researchers from the Chi-Mei Foundation Medical Center in Taiwan evaluated the impact of zinc supplementation on the survival of patients after receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancers. In a double blind randomized study (International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics. 2007; 69, 3: 466), subjects were divided into two groups; experimental and control. Fifty subjects in the experimental group received a predetermined dose of a zinc supplement while 50 in the control group were given a placebo.

After three years, results from the study found that both groups were disease-free and possessed metastases-free survival rates (p = .019, p = .54, and p =. 35, respectively). However, patients who had taken a zinc supplement had a slightly improved local-free survival rate ( p= .092). Researchers also found that those in the experimental group with Stages III-IV disease had an improved LFS rate when receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy

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