Vitamin C 'helps fight cancer'

High doses of vitamin C could be beneficial to cancer treatment, according to new research. US researchers have suggested that providing large doses of vitamin C via an intravenous drip to patients undergoing cancer treatment could be highly beneficial alongside traditional treatment methods, such as chemotherapy, when it comes to beating the disease.

Researchers from the University of Kansas suggest that providing vitamin C to patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer and other forms of the disease could be effective, low-cost and safe. Published in the journal 'Science Translational Medicine', the study involved laboratory tests on mice and patients that had advanced stage ovarian cancer.

Some 27 patients that were recently diagnosed with stage three or four ovarian cancer were involved in the study. Of those, 22 were treated with a high dose of vitamin C while also receiving chemotherapy treatment. It was found that they experienced fewer side effects from the treatment than those that did not receive the vitamin C drip. Scientists also found that the vitamin C helped to kill cancer cells but had no negative effect on healthy cells.    

Previous research had looked at whether vitamin C could be beneficial for cancer patients when taken by mouth. However, as the vitamin is excreted quickly by the body when taken in this way, the research did not provide positive results. As vitamin C is absorbed by the body when administered intravenously, this form of treatment is more beneficial to keeping cancer at bay.

Vitamin C has been looked at a number of times as a possible treatment for cancer and this trial could be used to show that it is an effective option for patients. However, a larger trial is needed to see whether this approach is truly beneficial.

Dr Kat Arney, science communications manager for Cancer Research UK, said: "It's difficult to tell with such a small trial - just 22 patients - whether high-dose vitamin C injections had any effect on survival, but it's interesting that it seemed to reduce the side-effects of chemotherapy.

"Any potential treatment for cancer needs to be thoroughly evaluated in large clinical trials to make sure it's safe and effective, so further studies are needed before we know for sure what benefits high dose vitamin C may have for patients."