[Dietary supplements as a treatment for cervical cancer: a systematic review]

Cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) require a careful selection of conventional and complementary therapies. The inclusion of dietary supplements within the aforementioned treatments set the tone within treatments. However, there are no reports of what kind of supplements could be used to provide a better response to the disease in these patients.

In this review, we analyze clinical trials of the past 20 years that evaluated dietary supplements on this population, with the objective to raise awareness on which of them are viable to be administered.

We performed a search for clinical trials that used a dietary supplement in women with cervical cancer and some degree of NIC analyzing them how to use the supplement, the conventional treatment, deficiency of the nutrient or compound to be evaluated, the characteristics of the population, the clinical trial and the supplement, as well as dosage and their effects.

Twenty were in total the number of studies reviewed. The articles were classified according to the nature of the supplement: Retinoids, vitamin E, probiotics, indoles, multivitamin, folic acid and selenium.

Some supplements were found to be effective in the treatment of cervical cancer and CIN. However, their effect depends on specific factors of the disease. The correct management of dietary supplements is an effective aid to help the patient with cancer and therefore, it is important to define what complementary therapies can be used for this population.