Vitamin C May Help Slow Cancer Growth, Support Responsiveness To Chemotherapy
August 5, 2010 by Personal Liberty News Desk
Results of a recent New Zealand study suggest that taking vitamin C supplements may help cancer patients slow the growth of certain invasive tumors.
Lead investigator Margreet Vissers, an associate professor at the University of Otago’s Free Radical Research Group, and her colleagues believe the findings establish a direct link between low levels of vitamin C and the size and aggressiveness of cancerous tumors.
For the study the researchers introduced varying levels of the nutrient to cancer cells and assessed the ability of the corresponding tumors to grow and survive after established cancer therapies had been introduced.
The scientists discovered that tumors with low levels of vitamin C had higher amounts of HIF-1, a protein that encourages cancer growth in stressful conditions. On average high-grade tumors had 40 percent less vitamin C than less advanced cancerous tissue.
Based on these findings Vissers suggested that the nutrient could not only help slow the growth of solid tumors, but also improve the body’s response to chemotherapy.
There’s enough information now for people to be seriously thinking about doing this, to apply this to the clinic or be setting up some clinical trials," Vissers told the New Zealand Herald.
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