Supporting Evidence, Potential Adverse Effects, and known Drug Interactions of the Complementary Alternative Medicines which are Frequently used by Prostate Cancer Patients

A significant number of prostate cancer patients use complementary alternative medicines (CAMs) as an adjunct to their conventional treatment. Examples of CAMs that are frequently used by prostate cancer patients include green tea extract, lycopene, and pomegranate fruit extract. In many cases there is little if any clinical study-based evidence to support the efficacy of CAMs in this setting, and, importantly, some CAMs can cause serious adverse effects when taken a high doses and/or have significant drug interactions. The latter is an important consideration in this patient group as most patients are older and take multiple medications in addition to their anti-cancer drugs.