Overview
Vitamin C, also known as Ascorbic acid is the essential nutrient required by the body. Vitamin C possesses several properties such as Anti-Oxidant, iron absorption, collagen synthesis, and immunity boosting. Due to its oxidation properties, vitamin C is highly researched topic for treating cancers. Till date, there is no legal consent to use vitamin C for treating cancer patients. However, several clinical trials have shown improved results with the use of vitamin C. intravenous doses have proven to be more efficient than oral doses of Vitamin C. Cancer is the second most cause for the deaths worldwide. Therefore, vitamin C is making rounds in news headlines since 1970s.
What is vitamin C? How did it come into limelight?
Vitamin C is the essential nutrient which has to be supplied through diet and is not produced by the body. Recommended dose of requirement varies with different age groups. Vitamin C is commonly found in citrus fruits like oranges, gooseberry, tangerine, sweet-lime, vegetables, etc. It is the main nutrient which prevents development of scurvy, a disease most prevalent in ancient days among sailors. For vitamin supplements, visit 3MEDS-Best online pharmacy in Delhi.
Vitamin C has numerous functions, and one among them is its property as a biological oxidant. This property enables the body to fight against the free radicals which are known for the development of cancer. This property of vitamin C is researched to kill the cancer cells and improve the survival rate of cancer patients bringing it into limelight.
History of vitamin C
Vitamin C was not known till beginning of 18th century. Scurvy was the leading cause of deaths back then, and was a matter of serious concern. A Scottish naval physician James Lind in 1747 demonstrated that the intake of citrus fruits reduced the incidence of scurvy. In 1932, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, a Hungarian biochemist, identified the ascorbic acid, and later received the Nobel Prize for the same.
Studies conducted to link vitamin C and cancer, and controversies.
It has been shown that the prolonged periods of deficiency of vitamin C becomes the cause for plethora of diseases. Due to its property of collagen synthesis, it is believed that high doses of vitamin C can repair the damaged collagen and prevent cancer metastasis.
Linus Pauling, a world-renowned chemist, strongly recommended high-doses of vitamin C (above 1 g) to fight off various illnesses. William McCormick, a Toronto physician reported that cancer patients presented low levels of vitamin C in their blood. Based on this evidence, he postulated that vitamin C may be introduced to protect against cancer. In 1972, Ewan Cameron, a Scottish surgeon developed a hypothesis suggesting the effect of ascorbate in inhibiting the hyaluronidase which further suppress the cancer development.
In 1976, Cameron and Linus Pauling collaborated to conduct clinical trials on 100 patients, wherein they administered doses of vitamin C in terminally ill-patients. The cases were matched based on age, sex, type of cancer, and the stage of cancer. One group received vitamin C and the other group didn’t. The results showed greater improvement in overall health and one year survival rate by 22% in patients treated with vitamin C than those who weren’t treated with vitamin C. Another similar clinical trial was conducted independently in Japan which gave similar results.
Charles Moertel of the Mayo clinic conducted double-blind randomized controlled trials. The results obtained failed to show positive effects of vitamin C on treating cancer. This led to the eruption of controversies in the usage of vitamin C for cancer therapy.
However, intravenous doses of vitamin C appear to have upper hand over oral doses through plasma concentration arrived from Mayo clinic’s study, and Cameron, and Pauling’s studies. IV doses concentration is 25 times higher than the oral dose concentration. This rekindled new scope for vitamin C in treating cancer. Buy cancer injections at low price from 3MEDS.
Many clinical trials have passed phase 1 and 2 regarding the efficacy and safety of the vitamin C. Overall, studies reported that vitamin C has significant improvement on health of the patient. It also produces synergistic effects with other treatments like radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
How Vitamin C kill cancer cells?
Three types of mechanisms have been illustrated regarding vitamin C effect on cancer cells.
1. Switch from anti-oxidant to pro-oxidant.
Mark Lewin showed that the High doses of vitamin C in the presence of metals results in production of hydrogen peroxide which is highly toxic to cancer cells. Dr. Lewis Cantley, also found that vitamin C resulted in cell death via apoptosis. It also inhibited glycolysis pathway and thus, block the energy to the cancer cells.
2. Starving cancer cells from inside.
Cancer stem cells are highly dependent on mitochondria for their growth. Vitamin C interferes with the pyruvate enzyme which is required by mitochondria to produce energy. The pyruvate enzyme is the end product of the glycolysis pathway, which coincides with the studies of Lewis Cantley.
Combination of doxycycline and vitamin C also impacted the growth of cancer stem cells by cutting off the supply to mitochondria, thus, resulting in starvation of the cells and ultimately death.
3. Switching genetic control mechanism back on.
Small methyl groups are added to the DNA stretches to block the enzymes which initiate gene expression. However, for cancer stem cells, this process has to be reversed by removing the methyl tag and enabling them to grow into normal cells. This doesn’t function properly for leukaemia.
Conclusion:
The use of vitamin C for treating cancers is still controversial despite various studies conducted. Further, researches on vitamin C may establish it as one of the vital treatment modality. But for now, it is still questionable. However, in general vitamin C has numerous benefits on health and so for the improvement of survival rate among cancer patients. Buy Generic medicines for Cancer India from 3MEDS.
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