Vitamin C and Cancer Therapy

For decades there has been an on-going debate about vitamin C and cancer therapy, starting with Linus Pauling, double Nobel Prize winner.

Available in pills, capsules, liquids, lozenges, chewables, crystals, and powders, vitamin C is the omnipresent superstar nutrient with health benefits that far exceed its fame as an immune booster.

Vitamin C has aided anti-cancer therapy when used intravenously (under a doctor's supervision), and taking smaller, more "normal" doses has been linked with both reduced cancer risk and lower risk of death from all causes.

To a great degree, ascorbic acid has been recognized as a powerful antioxidant that may be an important preventive measure against cancer. vitamin C's potential as a cancer treatment - once dismissed by Western medicine - is finally being re-evaluated with long awaited research.

Vitamin C History

In the mid-18th century, fruits and vegetables - especially lemons and limes - were found to prevent scurvy, a disease that had for centuries afflicted sailors on long sea voyages.

Vitamin C, of course, was the nutrient behind this scurvy protection - but it didn't get its citations until it was identified by Hungarian researchers in the 1930s. Quickly, synthesized vitamin C was being mass-produced, launching the legacy of history's most popular supplement.

Vitamin C found its champion in the 1960s, when famed chemist Linus Pauling began challenging the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for this nutrient in favor of higher dosages he believed would be more effective in preventing disease.

While the RDA hovered between 75 and 90 mg daily, Pauling was known to take up to 18,000 mg of vitamin C per day; the Linus Pauling Institute now recommends 400 mg daily.

Pauling's Studies of Vitamin C and Cancer

Linus Pauling believed these higher vitamin C doses showed greatpromise in neutralizing the common cold, supporting cardiovascular health, and even treating cancer. When he experimented with giving terminal cancer patients mega- doses of vitamin C intravenously, he found that the nutrient appeared to both lessen traditional cancer treatments' side ffects and increase lifespan.

Despite Pauling's acclaim, his vitamin C and cancer research was largely dismissed.

Pauling is Vindicated

Decades later, in January 2007, the FDA finally acknowledged the legitimacy of Pauling's approach by approving the Cancer Treatment Centers of America's investigation of high-dose intravenous vitamin C and its effects on cancer patients.

Meanwhile, Korean researchers making a similar investigation reported in February 2007 that cancer patients receiving mega-dose intravenous vitamin C were found to show greater physical, emotional and cognitive function, while reporting less fatigue, nausea, vomiting, pain and loss of appetite.

Intravenous superdose vitamin C is an entirely different class from supplementation - but many studies suggest that vitamin C supplements may help prevent cancer.

Already a supplement champion, we may just be beginning to understand the far-reaching health benefits of Vitamin C and Cancer Therapy.

Learn more about Vitamin C and cancer treatment from the Linus Pauling Institute for Micronutrient Research.

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