More than 80 percent of local cancer patients regularly take dietary supplements in the hope of increasing their chances of recovery, but a survey found that some turn to such products in place of cancer medications, the Hope Foundation for Cancer Care said yesterday.
The survey, conducted between Sept. 5 and Oct. 24 last year, found that 82.1 percent of respondents use nutritional supplements, taking an average of 4.3 kinds of supplement, the foundation said.
Seven percent of respondents reported taking at least 10 dietary supplements, the foundation said.
“The poll shows that the number or types of supplements a patient takes is directly proportional to the severity of his or her illness, as evidenced by the fact patients with stage-four cancers take approximately five kinds of nutritional supplements, compared with an average of 3.5 among individuals with stage-one cancer,” foundation chairman Wang Cheng-hsu (王正旭) told a press conference in Taipei.
Wang, who is director of the Keelung Chang Gung Cancer Center, said the most common dietary supplements among cancer patients are nutritional drinks, followed by vitamins and glutamine.
About 35 percent of respondents said they take nutritional supplements to strengthen their immune system, while 31 percent used such products to increase their physical strength and 20.4 percent to assuage the side effects of cancer treatments.
While 4.9 percent of respondents said they believed dietary supplements could help prevent a recurrence of their cancer, 1.2 percent thought such products could cure cancer, Wang said.
“More alarming is that 37 percent chose not to inform their physicians about the nutritional supplements they are taking, because they thought the doctors might not fully understand the efficacy of their supplements [31.9 percent], the doctors did not need to know [27.7] or the doctors might talk them out of taking the products [14.9],” Wang said.
Chen Chao-tzu (陳昭姿), director of the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center’s Center for Advancement of Nursing Education, said many people think that since dietary supplements are categorized as food, they are harmless and free of side effects.
“Such products still have side effects, but it may take longer for them to manifest themselves. Some dietary supplements might interact with cancer drugs, or even affect chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments,” Chen said.
The survey collected 375 valid samples. The majority, or 45.1 percent, of the respondents had breast cancer, followed by lymphoma, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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