As effective as chemotherapy and radiation can be in the treatment of cancer, both come with a wide variety of well-known side effects. Nausea, vomiting and gastrointestinal symptoms are common, because rapidly dividing cells of the mucous membranes of the mouth, stomach and the intestines are often destroyed along with the cancer cells. Similarly, fatigue and anemia can occur when rapidly dividing cells of the bone marrow—which make red and white blood cells—get depleted.

The ingredients in this IV, when administered at the right time in conjunction with a comprehensive treatment plan provided by your oncologist, can help mitigate some of these side effects. B vitamins and minerals, which are essential in cellular DNA formation, gene expression, neurotransmitter formation and energy production are included to provide support to these fundamental biochemical processes. And powerful antioxidants like vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid and glutathione can be added to help “mop-up” the increased oxidative burden that comes with cancer and its treatment after radiation and chemotherapy.

We encourage you to discuss the use of this IV with your treating oncologist—especially when including antioxidants—as the timing and use of these agents is important and sometimes controversial in overall treatment (see below for more details).

Pair With: After discussion with your oncologist, add vitamin C,  glutathione for continued oral high absorption antioxidant support.

Ingredients and Science

Science

Chemotherapy and radiation treatment creates a huge increase in demand for new essential nutrients. This happens because “innocent bystander” tissues are damaged during treatment and new cells must be made to regenerate these tissues.

B-Complex, B1, B2, B3, B9 (folate), B6, B12, and minerals such as magnesium and manganese are especially important as they are necessary for the Citric Acid Cycle (also called the Krebs or TCA cycle) which is how your metabolism operates and energy is produced in your body. These nutrients also play an indispensable role in methylation—the process by which your body generates the carbon groups(C-H3) that are essential for managing just about every operation in every cell in the human body. Methylation is involved in immune system function, DNA synthesis, neurotransmitter production, hormone metabolism, detoxification and energy creation to name just a few.

This is why the basic form of this IV is built on these key B vitamins and minerals. Providing your body high doses of these nutrients while you undergo chemotherapy and radiation provides your body the support during this time of increased demand.

With your oncologists approval we can also add powerful antioxidants to the IV which may further mitigate side effects. To understand why this works, we need to know a little bit about how radiation and chemotherapeutic agents work.

The actual mechanism that drives these treatments is the generation of free radicals. Free radicals are toxic oxidative substances such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS). When the generation of ROS/RNS exceeds cellular adaptive and repair capacities—a condition that is referred to as oxidative stress—biological molecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, and membrane phospholipids become damaged through oxidative reactions. Oxidative stress results in the failure of normal cellular functions and even cell death.

This is how radiation and some chemotherapeutic agents kill cancer cells. They drive up oxidative stress to the point where these cells—along with other “innocent bystanders”—are destroyed.