Cancer: Vitamin C 'gives chemotherapy a boost'

Vitamin C in high doses may increase the anticancer effects of chemotherapy according to a new U.S. scientific study.

And injected large quantities of vitamin C helped to boost chemotherapy in mice and humans according to a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Researchers from the University of Kansas tested in rodents and some patients the effects of vitamin C on chemotherapy.

After grafted with human ovarian cancer cells in mice, they injected the vitamin C. They also administered vitamin c to patients with advanced ovarian cancer.They found that the ovarian cancer cells were sensitive to treatment with vitamin C and non-diseased cells that remained healthy.

This treatment at high dose of vitamin C was administered in conjunction with conventional chemotherapy. It has been effective in destroying cancer cells, it also helped reduce the negative effects of chemotherapy.

Promising trials

Researcher Jeanne Drisko, co-author of the study believes that "there is really a interest in using vitamin C for cancer."

"Patients are looking for safe and affordable treatments to better manage their cancer, "she recalls. "According to the study, and the first clinical data, vitamin C administered intravenously has exactly this potential. It is effective and accessible to all."

But the use of vitamin C is facing an economic barrier. Pharmaceutical industries are unlikely to fund trials of vitamin C intravenously because there is no possibility of patenting natural products.

"Because vitamin C can not provide potential patent, so development will not be supported by pharmaceutical companies," said Dr. Qi Chen, principal investigator of the study.

Dr. Kat Arney, head of communications of the English Institute "Cancer Research UK", has responded to this new study. "As the experiment was conducted on 22 patients, it is difficult to say whether high doses of vitamin C injection have a real impact on patient survival. But it is interesting to note that it reduces Side effects of chemotherapy "and concluded that" any potential cancer treatment should be carefully evaluated in large clinical trials to ensure that it is safe for patients and effective. Further studies are needed before prescribing vitamin C to patients. "

Cold: Vitamin C Useful in prevention for Childern

Athletes but also the children would benefit from taking the vitamin C supplementation in order to avoid colds and recover faster after taking cold. In any case it says a study by scientists at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Also effective in children

These were given to a group of 11,000 volunteers a regular dose of vitamins C and then studied their resistance to viruses in winter. Among the participants, there were children, runners, soldiers or even making the teenagers swimming in competition

The researchers found that among people who work outdoors or who regularly practice a sport, taking vitamin C was shown to halve the risk of having a cold and otherwise, to heal faster. By cons no effect was noted in people who have no physical activity

Children also seem more susceptible to this supplementation. The results of the study, children who took a regular dose of one gram of vitamin C given the average length of their cold reduced by 18%. Harri Hemild and Elizabeth Chalker, the authors of the study conclude: "the failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that the habit of taking vitamin C is not justified but it may be helpful for people experiencing brief periods of intense physical activity. "