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I seem to find myself between a rock and a hard place
Now I seem to find myself between a rock and a hard place! I been taking AREDS2 supplements for 12 years for immediate AMD.
Studies have shown that taking more than 75 mg of supplemental zinc daily is associated with a higher risk of developing aggressive or lethal prostate cancers. And AREDS2 has more than 75 mg of Zinc may be associated with a higher risk of developing aggressive or lethal prostate cancers.
Well my ADRES2 I take for AMD has 80 mg zinc and 180mg of vitamin E.
Also, clinical trials, including the SELECT trial, noted that high-dose vitamin E supplementation can slightly increase the overall risk of prostate cancer in certain men.
Now with my pathology report from prostate removal at a higher risk for recurrence I don't need to stimulate progression.
Then AREDS2 is the gold standard for immediate AMD.
What a mess. Heck from some of my research in the last 10 minutes the AREDS2 could have caused the prostate cancer or at least made it more aggressive.
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Is immediate AMD aka "wet AMD"? And you getting eye shots with the most current drug?
From all I have read, the effecacy/patient outcomes indicate the AREDS2 (or 3) with 25 mg zinc are the same as those with the 80 mg. Studies also show that the 80 mg of zinc in AREDS increases both serum and cellular zinc levels, which isn't good for a number of significant reasons. Given all that is known about the risks of too much zinc, including, but not limited to, increased risk of agressive PCa, I would insist on using the 25 mg medicaton unless/until my doctor provided me with data the indicates the meds with a higher dose were superior due to updated studies or genetic or lifestyle factors.
Bill
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3 Reactions@dailyeffort
Agree, for now I am just taking one AREDS2 while looking for something with around 25mg. Looked at Walmart today, but only seen the one AREDS2. Google search says there is a Areds2 with 25mg, but I think Google is confused. I sure wonder about some of those Bausch and Lomb AREDS products. PreserVision AREDS3 has B12 of 4,166 percent of daily value and 2,941 of B6 daily value. Seems like too much, I was always concern about all the zinc, but I took it for 11 years, never did any research. Guess I wasn't that concerned. Being stupid, thinking they wouldn't sell it or tell me to use it if it could be bad.
Will keep looking around for something with less zinc, but maybe more like 25mg. Retina specialist office staff said try Focus, Viteye or AREDS3 ( but I wonder about all that Vit B in it).
@chippydoo
No it is not wet AMD and not getting any shots. They found that I have the dry AMD immediate around 11 years ago and started me on those Areds2 pills. Twice a year I get eye check ups and pictures and the drusens have not gotten worse. Once I was told one drusen may have got a little bigger, but hardly noticeable. Every week I check myself out on an Amsler Grid and lines are the same, nothing has gotten worse.
@diverjer
I just checked Amazon - many different ARDES supplements are available, some even without copper or zinc and no B vitamins etc.
Honestly if you are concerned about mega vitamin doses just buy some basic multivitamin and buy separately Lutein & Zeaxanthin since those are really the ones that are the most important and not readily available in food IF you are not consuming enough vegetables or fruits that have them in abundance.
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2 Reactions@diverjer B6 & B12 are water soluble and excess gets washed out. B12 uptake is lower in seniors. Centrum senior multivitamin has the same level for B12. Now if you were in EU the B6 at about 50mg is above max of 12mg but it is below US level of 100mg and Japan max of 50mg. There are a lot of formulations to choose from, or you can roll your own.
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1 ReactionSeems like the more I research this, the more I think it contributed to my PC.
The options retina specialist office staff gave me has lower zinc, but the same high E of 180mg.
Right now just taking 1 a day instead of the 2 and think about options, maybe ir would affect reccourance? That is not mentioned.
While PreserVision AREDS 2 is considered the gold standard for slowing the progression of intermediate Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the high nutritional doses it contains can present systemic health risks over a period of 11 years:
1. High-Dose Zinc and Prostate Cancer
The AREDS 2 formulation includes 80 mg of zinc, which is double the established tolerable upper limit of 40 mg per day for adults.
• The Risk: Long-term epidemiological research, such as the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, found that men who take over 75 mg of supplemental zinc daily for more than 10 to 15 years have an increased risk of developing aggressive or lethal prostate cancer.
• Urinary Issues: High doses of zinc are also associated with higher rates of hospitalizations for non-cancerous urinary and genitourinary complications.
2. Vitamin E and Prostate Cancer
The formula contains 180 mg (400 IU) of Vitamin E, which is also significantly higher than standard daily dietary recommendations.
• The Risk: A major clinical trial known as the SELECT Trial monitored over 35,000 men and concluded that high-dose vitamin E supplementation (400 IU/day) increased the risk of developing prostate cancer by 17%
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1 Reaction@diverjer That’s the problem with supplements that offer MEGA doses of a particular nutrient or vitamin; it ceases being a ‘supplement’ - some small amount meant to make up for a deficiency - and turns out to be a poison or a mutagen.
Vitamin E, Selenium, Vitamin A and many other herbal remedies often do more harm than good.
I used to eat a lot of Brazil nuts since they were high in nutrition; sadly, also extremely high in selenium, which has been shown to be a contributing factor in the progression of prostate cancer. They now recommend eating no more than ONE per day…live and learn, huh?
Phil
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3 Reactions@diverjer Seriously, there's no point beating yourself up. I wondered for a while if I caused my prostate cancer by standing too close to the microwave, or being slightly overweight.
Let's take your example: SELECT found that 17% more people who megadose on vitamin E develop prostate cancer than those who don't megadose. What does that mean?
About 1 in 8 men will eventually develop prostate cancer (12.5%), so as a baseline, every male has an 87.5% chance of *not* developing prostate cancer. Among men who take a lot of vitamin E, the study noticed a correlated higher occurance, so lets say that 14.6% (12.5 × 1.17) of those men develop prostate cancer, and 85.4% don't.
In both cases, over 85% of men didn't develop prostate cancer, whether or not they were mega-dosing on vitamin E. Does mega-dosing increase the risk slightly? Or is there some "Factor C," a health issue or genetic predisposition that makes it slightly more likely that men will try mega-dosing on vitamin E and that they will develop prostate cancer? And even if mega-dosing on vitamin E does cause a slightly elevated risk of developing prostate cancer, is it absolute, or only in combination with other factors (e.g. did the extra 2.1% have a certain set of genes, comorbidity, other dietary factor, etc. not assessed by the study).
When we're talking about a 2.1% extra chance of developing a disease in absolute terms, and so much uncertainty around whether there's a direct causal relationship at all, it makes no sense just to assume you're responsible. You're not. You just have prostate cancer. Like all of us, you didn't choose it, and it's not your fault.
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5 Reactions@northoftheborder
I understand what you are saying. It's also the high zinc, it can cause PC, I just don't remember the percent right now. So it was really 2 things, zinc and E. If I had known, I wouldn't have taken, would had found something with less E and Zinc or at least had long talk about the risk and then decided. I doubt 11 years ago they actually knew there was a risk. Also, as been said those mega doses are most likely going to have some side affects.
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