Study Shows Vitamin C's Cancer-Fighting Properties
(Washington, Reuters Health, 9/10/07)

Dr. Chi Dang of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and team, gave vitamin C to mice that had been implanted with human cancer. Dang’s team reports that, while scientists had assumed that vitamin C inhibited tumor growth by stopping free radicals from damaging DNA, this new study indicates that the vitamin actually uses a different mechanism to undermine the tumors’ ability to grow. In addition, the researchers found that N-acetylcysteine, also an antioxidant, stifles tumor growth in mice. The investigators say that understanding exactly how antioxidants, like C, block tumors could unlock ways to use them to effectively treat cancer. These new findings give credence to some of the ideas of Linus Pauling, who pioneered vitamin C research back in the ‘70s.

(Cancer Cell, 2007)