Can vitamin C be used in the treatment of cancer? The answer seems to be a controversial one: One study vitamin C is ineffective, while another shows that it may help the cancer cells to survive, and still another study shows that vitamin C is effective in treating cancer.
History
In the 1970s Linus Pauling, Nobel Prize recipient for chemistry, introduced the idea of using vitamin C in the treatment of cancer. Drs. Pauling and Ewan Cameron conducted studies showing that cancer patients who took vitamin C survived an average of 300 days longer than those who did not. Dr. Charles Moertel and his colleagues at the Mayo Clinic published a study showing that vitamin C treatment did not work. Both studies were flawed, however. Dr. Pauling's study did not follow the randomized, double-blind method that is now considered standard, and Dr. Moertel's study did not replicate Dr. Pauling's study.
Vitamin C is Ineffective Orally
Because the body regulates how much vitamin C actually gets into the bloodstream, studies have shown that taking vitamin C orally is ineffective against cancer.
Vitamin C May Hinder Treatment
Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York found that cancer cells treated with vitamin C could survive chemotherapy better than those not treated; it is believed that vitamin C supports the mitochondria of the cell.
High Doses of Vitamin C Taken Intravenously
It was found that when vitamin C was given by injection, which put greater amounts of vitamin C into the bloodstream, cancer survivor rates increased. Dr. Pauling first used injections in his study, and researchers have since shown that this may be the best way to use vitamin C in cancer treatment.
How Does Vitamin C Work?
There are several theories as to why vitamin C seems to work: one is that the body generates hydrogen peroxide, which supports normal cells and acts against cancer cells. Another theory states that vitamin C is an anti-oxidant rounding up free radicals that cause cancer. There are several others, but no one knows for sure whether or why vitamin C seems to work.
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