The current webpage is designed to make additional research available concerning how nuts, seeds, beans and grains (if any) or their major bioactive components can act as doxorubicin sensitizers or protect against its toxic side effects. At the bottom of this webpage are links to studies relating to the beneficial nuts, seeds, and grains listed in Foods to eat and avoid during doxorubicin.
Nuts, seeds and grains heighten the cytotoxic effects of doxorubicin or protect against its adverse side effects through the actions of polyphenols, the gamma-tocotrienol form of vitamin E, or the hormone melatonin:
Please read the applicable food webpages when making your own food lists since these pages contain important advice, consumption limits, and other pertinent information.
The beneficial compounds listed above should be obtained by eating the applicable nuts, seeds or grains rather than taking supplements. When a beneficial micronutrient is administered at low doses by consuming food, it is likely to have subtle chemopreventive effects, whereas the same compound administered at high doses is more likely to have pharmacological effects, with possible unwanted outcomes. For example, relatively high levels of ellagic acid supplementation have been demonstrated to induce kidney, lung, and heart damage in laboratory rats.