Vitamin C triumphs over cancer

Could pumping 2,000 oranges’ worth of vitamin C into patients’ bloodstreams be the key to fighting cancer?

According to researchers from the University of Kansas, this may be the case. In a paper published in Science Transition Medicine, the researchers demonstrate that large doses of vitamin C can cure ovarian cancer in mice and mitigate the side effects of chemotheraphy in humans. In the early stages of this study, vitamin C was intravenously injected into mice, and after careful observations, the researchers determined that the vitamin C injections induced cell death in cancerous tissues and inhibited the development of ovarian cancer.

These anti-cancer properties are thought to be caused by the hydrogen peroxide that forms after ascorbic acid, one molecular form of vitamin C, builds up in the space between cells. Hydrogen peroxide is toxic to cells: It can damage DNA, inhibit growth and wreck havoc on cellular metabolism.

In the study, the hydrogen peroxide seemed to preferentially target cancerous tissues. The researchers have not yet determined the exact mechanism behind this biased toxicity.

Whatever the mechanism, the preferential weakening made the cancerous cells more chemotherapy, the team found. This suggests that vitamin C could lower the necessary dose of potent chemotherapeutic agents that a patient would need.

After investigations with mice, the researchers performed a clinical trial with 27 patients suffering from Stage 3 or Stage 4 ovarian cancer. All the patients received traditional chemotherapy, and some also received high doses of vitamin C. The patients who received vitamin C injections reported less nausea and seemed to be more energetic. This suggested to the researchers that vitamin C reduced the negative side effects of chemotheraphy.

The association between vitamin C and anti-cancer activity is not new. In the 1970s, the famous chemist Linus Pauling thought vitamin C could work against a number of ailments including cancer and the common cold. The Mayo Clinic tested this idea but ultimately disagreed with Pauling. The Clinic’s researchers found that 10,000 mg doses of the vitamin, administered orally, were no more effective than a placebo in treating cancer.

Pauling criticized the study, stating that intravenous injections would have been much more effective than orally administered doses. Despite Pauling’s rebuttal, the Mayo Clinic research triumphed, influencing doctors, research scientists and the public. Interest in determining the anti-oncogenic properties of vitamin C dwindled, and research on the topic stopped for many years.

Now, thanks to the growing demand for more efficient cancer medications, vitamin C is making a comeback in oncological research. Cancer experts are calling for further studies to determine if vitamin C can become an approved tumor remedy. Many doctors and patients are already showing interest in low-cost complementary and alternative medicines. Thus, vitamin C-related cancer studies may greatly benefit the medical community.

However, although there is significant interest in vitamin C, research funding may be hard to secure. Governmental and private agencies may be cautious in handing out grants due to the decades-long stigma that has discredited the use of vitamin C as a cure for cancer. Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies will have trouble monetizing such a treatment because essential nutrients, like vitamin C, cannot be patented. For now, researchers are left hoping that grant reviewers will focus on scientific facts rather than vitamin stigmas.