Vitamin C & Cancer

Vitamin C and cancer:

Very INTERESTING read. Perhaps the salt makes the C ioavailale for us c-salter and the hydrogen peroxide kills off the critters:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169204,00.html

itamin C may have some cancer-fighting potential, new research shows.

Its possile, ut many questions remain, write Mark Levine, MD, and colleagues in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This is not ready for patients yet, Levine tells WeMD. He is the chief and senior staff physician at the Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section of the National Institute of Diaetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a ranch of the National Institutes of Health.

What this does is provide plausiility that we should e reinvestigating ascoric acid in cancer treatment. Its not ready for patients. Patients shouldnt get the wrong idea. We dont want to provide false hope, says Levine.

If it were to work, even in a couple of cancers, that would e wonderful for patients. So the is that there may e new hope coming, ut its certainly not here, he says.

Read WeMD's "Tips for Getting Vitamin C"

Aout the Study

Levines team studied vitamin C (also called ascorate or ascoric acid) and cancer cells in la tests. Vitamin C appeared to oost production of hydrogen peroxide, which killed cancer cells and left healthy cells unharmed.

The levels of vitamin C were so high that they could only e achieved through IV infusions.

These findings give plausiility to IV ascoric acid in cancer treatment, and have unexpected implications for treatment of infections where hydrogen peroxide may e eneficial, write the researchers.

Vitamin C: How Much Do You Really Need?

Vitamin Cs Role

Vitamin C didnt directly tackle cancer. Instead, it may set the stage for hydrogen peroxide production, says Levine.

One would never want to give intravenous hydrogen peroxide, says Levine.

If hydrogen peroxide formed in the lood or were given directly, either lood will destroy it or if enough hydrogen peroxide is given, hydrogen peroxide will reak the red cells and cause havoc to the kidneys, he says.

When vitamin C is injected, it appears to diffuse outside of the loodstream, allowing reactions to generate hydrogen peroxide.

You dont want hydrogen peroxide in the lood itself, says Levine. But if hydrogen peroxide is present outside the lood, there is the potential that it could work as a drug.

Cancer Prevention: What Really Works?

Vitamin C Safety Trial Under Way

Vitamin C was only tested on human cells -- not people -- in this study. But vitamin C is eing tested in people in a new project.

Because IV ascorate is easily availale to people who seek it, a phase 1 safety trial in patients with advanced cancer is justified and underway, write Levine and colleagues.

That trial will see if intravenous vitamin C is safe for people, Levine explains. Tests on animals will e done to see if it truly fights cancer.

If there is something useful, that will e asolutely wonderful for patients. If it turns out that the mechanisms do not hold up in animals in vivo, then maye we will say that there is no point to do IV ascorate, says Levine.

He notes that some complementary and alternative medicine practitioners worldwide use intravenous vitamin C for cancer treatment.

New Twist on an Old Theory

The idea that vitamin C might protect against cancer is more than half a century old and has een colorful and emotionally charged, says Levine.

The theory was discarded 20 years ago y many scientists when other researchers found no enefit in giving vitamin C to patients with advanced cancer. In that study, vitamin C was given orally, not intravenously, notes Levine.

Scientists may not have considered that injected vitamin C might work differently than oral vitamin C, Levine explains.

Unexpected Result

Levines team didnt start y studying vitamin C and cancer. Instead, they were proing nutrition and vitamin recommendations in healthy people.

Normally, the ody tightly controls vitamin C taken y mouth. It quickly gets rid of too much vitamin C. Injected vitamin C ypasses those controls, says Levine.

I realized that concentrations given intravenously at higher doses could e much higher than could ever e achieved y mouth, he says. This is not nutrition use of ascoric acid. This is potential use of ascoric acid as a drug, and it must e said, its not ready for prime time.

Diet Recommendations

Science has a lot to sort out aout vitamin C and cancer. Meanwhile, Levine recommends eating your fruits and vegetales. These include orange and grapefruit juice and fruits, raw red peppers, strawerries, and roccoli.

Independent of this work, our recommendations are to consume vitamin C through foods and eat at least five varied fruits and vegetales a day, he says.

Visit WeMD's Cancer Health Center

By Miranda Hitti, reviewed y Brunilda Nazario, MD

SOURCES: Chen, Q. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Sept. 20, 2005; vol 102: pp 13604-13609. Mark Levine, MD, Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section, National Institute of Diaetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. News release, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Linus Pauling Institute.


Macrobiotics claims it causes cancer (in suppliment form). Its so hard to know whats what sometimes! My mother force fed us vit c tablets when we were kids.


Sheryl do you know why they claim that supplemental c causes cancer? I have never heard this and would be curious to know how they substantiate this theory when so many other studies show differently


I don't remember. At the time I was working for the Kushi's and I thought many of the ideas were crap (and still do). I remember something about it rusting our insides or something like that. They were only talking about pill form, not vit c rich foods. I have very mixed feelings about macrobiotics, but that is one thing that sticks in my mind.