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Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathophysiology of chronic pancreatitis. Thus, antioxidant therapy might attenuate oxidative stress and relieve abdominal pain in patients with the disease.
To test this hypothesis, researchers in India randomized 127 patients with chronic pancreatitis and substantial abdominal pain (i.e., pain requiring analgesics or hospitalization during the 3 months prior to enrollment) to daily antioxidant supplementation of selenium (600 µg), ascorbic acid (0.54 g), beta carotene (9000 IU), α-tocopherol (270 IU), and methionine (2 g) or placebo for 6 months. The etiology of each patient's pancreatitis was determined. All patients received analgesics on demand and pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy. Alterna…