Vitamin C administered intravenously might help fight cancer: study
9/14/2005 Steve Walters EarthTimes Health News (www.earthtimes.org) A new research indicates that vitamin C might have cancer-fighting properties, but at very high doses, possible only through injection into the bloodstream. The study, by researchers from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, studied the action of vitamin C as ascorbate on cultures of nine cancer and four normal cells. They found that ascorbate increased the production of hydrogen peroxide that in turn killed cancer cells while leaving normal cells safe. If found effective, the vitamin can revolutionize cancer treatment and eliminate damage to healthy cells that are also affected when a patient undergoes chemotherapy. The findings, however, don't hold true for high oral doses of vitamin C, as many previous studies have discounted any cancer-fighting benefits of the vitamin. “These findings give plausibility to intravenous ascorbic acid in cancer treatment, and have unexpected implications for treatment of infections where hydrogen peroxide may be beneficial,” the researchers said in a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Because intravenous ascorbate is easily available to people who seek it, a phase 1 safety trial in patients with advanced cancer is justified and underway,” the report added. Mark Levine, the lead author of the study, said that further tests, especially on animals and humans, are required to take these findings seriously. “If it were to work, even in a couple of cancers, that would be wonderful for patients. So the message is that there may be new hope [...]