Science and good medicine is not always what it seems. We all believe that if something is logical it must be true, but often the most logical assumptions we make do not stand up to good scientific inquiry.
Many of us choke on the fact that Provenge extends life while it has no effect on our PSA. How can this be true, we all know that PSA scores allow us to have a window on our cancer, but the truth is that it does extend life without changing our PSA levels.
Taking calcium and vitamin D supplements while on hormonal therapy to treat our prostate cancer seems both logical and like good medicine. We all operate on the assumption that calcium and vitamin D will counter our risk of bone loss.
However, epidemiologists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center showed that calcium and vitamin D supplementation did not prevent bone loss and, in fact, may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and aggressive prostate cancer. The study was published online in the July issue of the journal The Oncologist.
Gary Schwartz Ph.D. who is a prostate cancer epidemiologist who was the lead author in this study at Wake Forrest said, “It wouldn’t be so bad if there simply was no obvious benefit…. The problem is that there is evidence that calcium supplements increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and aggressive prostate cancer, the very disease that we are trying to treat.”
A major side effect of androgen deprivation therapy (AD