Women who use the herb ginseng may be more likely to survive breast cancer, and have a better quality of life after treatment, new study findings suggest.
The study cannot establish whether ginseng is the reason for the better prognosis. But investigators say the results lay the groundwork for future clinical trials to see if there is a cause-and-effect benefit.
The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, included 1,455 Chinese women who were treated for breast cancer and then followed for up to 6 years. It found that women who had been using ginseng before their diagnosis were 30 percent less likely to die during follow-up than women who had never used the herb.
In addition, breast cancer survivors who had started using ginseng after their diagnosis reported greater emotional well-being and a more active social life than those who never tried the herb.
Based on these findings, future clinical trials should investigate the use of ginseng along with conventional breast cancer treatment, according to study co-author Dr. Xiao-Ou Shu of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
