Why IV Vitamin C is effective in cancer treatment
In the 1970s, Linus Pauling observed that treatment with intravenous Vitamin C on patients with terminal cancer, followed by oral supplementation, had survival times four times longer than those not treated. However, two randomized clinical trials — Creagan, et al., 1979; Moertel, et al., 1985 — conducted at the Mayo Clinic with oral ascorbate alone showed no benefits.
Since then, most research has focused on treatment with intravenous ascorbate. This has led to a war of claims between Linus Pauling and the detractors of Intravenous Vitamin C therapy. [1]
What was behind the criticism of the findings of this famous Nobel-Prize-Winner scientist? The fact that no one could claim a patent over Vitamin C and thus be able to make money out of it.
Patients are looking for safe and affordable options to manage their cancer. Intravenous Vitamin C has that potential, based on basic research studies and clinical data. A potential obstacle is that pharmaceutical companies do not tend to fund vitamin trials because natural products cannot be patented. Because Vitamin C does not have a patent potential, its development will not be supported by the pharmaceutical industry.
Benefits for cancer patients
Cancer cells originate and thrive in a rich-in-free-radical environment. IV Vitamin C, however, is a potent antioxidant. which effectively fights free radicals and eliminates them from our body, preventing the new formation of cancerous cells and inhibiting the growth of existing tumors. [2]
IV Vitamin C also enhances the immune system. The presence of cancer in our bodies is not a coincidence nor a question of fate. Our immune system is constantly battling against all that is foreign to our bodies, even cells of our own that turn malignant. It takes a certain degree of immunodeficiency to allow the growth of cancer in us. Vitamin C, however, is very effective in keeping our immune system fit for the battle.
Vitamin C improves the quality of life. In studies conducted in the 70s and 80s by Linus Pauling, Ewan Cameron and his colleagues suggested that large doses of Vitamin C (10 g / day injected intravenously for 10 days followed by at least 10 g / day orally indefinitely increased the well-being of patients, hence improving quality of life, energy levels, appetite and resilience to the adverse effect of other treatments. [3]
Vitamin C kills cancer cells. Cancer cells are no match for high doses of IV Vitamin C. The peak mMol concentration of Vitamin C reached by IV infusion, is selectively cytotoxic on cancerous cells, but does not cause any adverse effect on healthy cells, which also benefit from it. In recent studies, one by Bonuccelli, Lisanti et.al, and another by Lewis Cantley and collaborators at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, published in Science magazine in December 2015, has clearly shown that the contribution of increased levels of vitamin C in its oxidized form, dehydroascorbate, destroys human cancer cells carrying mutations in KRAS or BRAF oncogenes, which are present in more than half of colorectal tumors, and which are also especially refractory to treatment. The transcendence of this finding has had a tremendous impact on the science community. [4,5]
So, what do you think? Scientific evidence supports it, as well as the clinical experience of Verita Life. And we are not alone. It is being used in many hospitals and clinics around the world as a safe, effective and affordable element that has extraordinary benefits in the treatment of cancer.
References
- Horgan, J (1993). “Profile: Linus C. Pauling – Stubbornly Ahead of His Time”. Scientific American. 266 (3): 36–40. Bibcode:1993SciAm.266c..36H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0393-36
- Carr AC, Maggini S. Vitamin C and Immune Function. Nutrients. 2017 Nov 3;9(11). pii: E1211. doi: 10.3390/nu9111211.
- Cameron E, Pauling L. Supplemental ascorbate in the supportive treatment of cancer: Prolongation of survival times in terminal human cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976;73(10):3685-3689. (PubMed)
- Gloria Bonuccelli, Ernestina Marianna De Francesco, Rianne de Boer, Herbert B. Tanowitz, and Michael P. Lisanti “NADH autofluorescence, a new metabolic biomarker for cancer stem cells: Identification of Vitamin C and CAPE as natural products targeting “stemness.” Oncotarget. 2017 Mar 28; 8(13): 20667–20678. Published online 2017 Feb 16. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.15400 PMCID: PMC5400535 PMID: 28223550
- Yun, J., Mullarky, E., Lu, C., Bosch, K.N., Kavalier, A., Rivera, K., Roper, J., Chio, I., Giannopoulou, E.G., Rago, C., Muley, A., Asara, J.M., Paik, J., Elemento, O., Chen, Z., Pappin, D.J., Dow, L.E., Papadopoulos, N., Gross, S.S. & Cantley, L.C. “Vitamin C selectively kills KRAS and BRAF mutant colorectal cancer cells by targeting GAPDH”. Science 350, 1391-1396. (2015)