Pancreatitis

Efficacy of Alternative and Other Treatments According to GRADE* Ranking:

Selenium Supplement [1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]:

Please note, this management does NOT treat the condition itself. It may mildly help with some of the symptoms, and even then has insufficient evidence to back up this claim at present. IMPORTANT: Selenium is toxic in high doses. Massive overdoses can cause kidney failure, breathing difficulty and death. Selenium should only be taken at healthy levels which the body is able to tolerate.

Recommendation:  No recommendation (Available evidene does not support claims that selenium helps to prevent or treat pancreatitis)

Grade of Evidence: very low quality of evidence

Chlorella (Green Algae, Chlorella Pyrenoidosa) [1, 2, 3, 4]:

Please note, this management does NOT treat the condition itself. It may mildly help with some of the symptoms, and even then has insufficient evidence to back up this claim at present.

Recommendation: no recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to support claims that Chlorella helps to treat pancreatitis in any way)

Grade of Evidence: very low quality of evidence

* www.gradeworkinggroup.org

 Summary References

Treatments:

1. Ades T, Alteri R, Gansler T, Yeargin P, "Complete Guide to Complimentary & Alternative Cancer Therapies", American Cancer Society, Atlanta USA, 2009

2. Nakano, S et al. “Maternal-fetal distribution and transfer of dioxins in pregnant women in Japan, and attempts to reduce maternal transfer with Chlorella (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) supplements...” Chemosphere 2005 Dec; 61(9): 1244–55.

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=11347287&dopt=Abstract

4. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/chlorella

5. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/selenium?sitearea=ETO

6. http://www.cancer.gov/Templates/doc.aspx?viewid=ED8AD8E8-6AE5-458D-8091-393F4CB73F0D

7. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-selenium.html

8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9290116

9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9829869

10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10335455

11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2136228

12. http://www.springerlink.com/content/v0r644v4ju5153k2/

13. http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/101/5/283
 

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