Association of herbal/botanic supplement use with quality of life, recurrence, and survival in newly diagnosed stage II colon cancer patients: A 2-y follow-up study

•Stage II colon cancer patients using herbal/botanic supplements were more likely to have a healthier lifestyle than supplement non-users.•They had no improvement in their quality of life, and no difference in odds of colon cancer recurrence and all-cause mortality over 2 y postdiagnosis compared with those who did not use herbs/botanicals.•Further research should focus on specific herbal/botanic supplement with relatively longer follow-up to confirm our findings. Our objective was to investigate the association between herbal/botanic supplement use and perceived quality of life (QoL), cancer recurrence, and all-cause mortality in colon cancer patients. Patients (n = 453) newly diagnosed with stage II adenocarcinoma of the colon between 2009 and 2011 were recruited from the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry. Data including demographic variables, herbal medicine use and frequency, lifestyle, diet, cancer treatment, and QoL were collected by interviews at diagnosis (baseline) and 1 and 2 y after diagnosis. Mortality information was obtained via the National Death Index. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Colorectal (FACT-C) and Medical Outcomes Short Form 12 (SF-12) were used to evaluate QoL. At baseline, herbal/botanic supplement users were more likely to have a healthier lifestyle than non-users, including more physical activity (P