CMost cancer patients combine CAM (herbal remedies) with conventional therapy in the hope of boosting the effect of conventional medicine [22,27]. A study of women being treated for early stage breast cancer showed that 10.6% had been using one or more CAM at the time of diagnosis, while an additional 28.1%began using CAM (including herbal remedies) after surgery [11]. Similarly a multinational survey found that 35.9% of cancer patients were either past or present users of complementary and alternative medicine. Herbal medicines were by far the most commonly used group of treatments, escalating in use from 5.3% before the diagnosis of cancer to 13.9% after the diagnosis of cancer [24].
Generally, herbal products are utilized for two reasons, first, to lessen symptoms of disease and second to prevent sickness. Examples include palliative use of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) for relief of acute depression, the use of Ginkgo biloba for enhancement in perception/understanding and the use of Echinacea for improving cold symptoms [28]. In the second circumstance, herbal supplements are taken especially in the anticipation of averting disease or modifying the effects of threat for certain illnesses. Such as intake of green tea and other ?avonoid rich botanicals to yield benefit of the natural antioxidants in them and the consumption of garlic because of the high organo-sulfur compounds that have been experimentally proven to prevent cancer in animals [28].
In the domain of cancer prevention, herbs may performance through numerous mechanisms to shield the body. Initiation of phase I and phase II metabolic enzymes by herbal supplements is quite typical and maybe liable for some of this action [28]. These phase I and II enzymes provide major protection against carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and other forms of toxicity mediated by carcinogens through initiation of their metabolism, particularly phase 2 enzymes such as glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), UDP-glucuronosyl transferases, and quinone reductases [29]. Taking example of garlic, its intake and supplement use is prevalent in both, Eastern and Western cultures [30]. Garlic along with numerous other organo-sulfur compounds derived from garlic demonstrate robust chemo-preventive action against experimentally induced cancers of the mammary gland as well as esophagus, stomach, colon, liver and lungs [28]. Initiation of phase I and phase II enzymes, nonetheless, can result in a likely significant side effect of herbal products. Such as St. John’s Wort that is extensively utilized, has been shown to encourage the CYP3A family of activation enzymes, through which half of current medications are also metabolized, hence offering the likelihood of herb-drug interactions [28].