Many of us take vitamin C to ward off a cold, but research is finding that in large doses, the antioxidant might also be a cancer killer. A number of studies have found that large infusions of vitamin C can kill or block the growth of cancer cells while sparing healthy cells.
High-dose vitamin C appears to kill cancer cells will leaving normal cells unharmed.
Interest in vitamin C’s anticancer potential has been sluggish after some government-sponsored studies into the topic in the early1970s failed to show benefits of vitamin C to already terminal cancer patients.But that was likely because the studies used oral doses that were too low, say Balz Frei, PhD, and Stephen Lawson, both of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
"We know that IV vitamin C produces levels in blood that are many times greater than those achieved with oral supplementation, and these very high concentrations may be necessary to kill cancer cells,"says Lawson.
This idea that large IV doses of vitamin C destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact is the basis of more recent studies by Mark Levine, MD of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. High concentrations of vitamin C can act as a pro-oxidant in the body, producing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which damages cancer cells and ultimately leads to their demise. Meanwhile, normal cells survive because they aren’t as vulnerable to the effects of hydrogen peroxide. In a recent study,Dr. Levine found that injecting vitamin C directly into the bodies of mice inhibited tumour growth by about 50%.
"Hopefully, Levine’s work will spark renewed interest into the cancer therapeutic potential of vitamin C," Frei says. "What are needed now are randomized,placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trials of IV vitamin C in cancer patients." Future research will help determine the optimum dose and delivery method, and enable scientists to learn exactly how vitamin C creates the hydrogen peroxide that destroys cancerous cells.
Source: Linus Pauling Institute, Sept 29, 2008
