Cancer and ascorbic acid, Vitamin C, have a pretty controversial relationship. In the 1970s, after experiments on lab mice proved promising, Vitamin C used in high doses was thought to help cure cancer. Vitamin C in a high dosage proved to be able to visibly shrink tumors in mice. Recent findings, on the other hand, show that Vitamin C supplements blur the effects of cancer treatments, especially chemotherapy.

Scientists tested on lab dishes the effect Vitamin C has over cancer cells when subjected to chemotherapy. The result wasn’t pretty promising. The tests showed that the chemo killed from 30% to 70% less cancer cells than it did with the blood not treated with ascorbic acid. Also, scientists have implemented human cancer cells into mice and discovered that when given Vitamin C supplements the tumors grew more quickly. For a better understanding of why this happens, researchers tested the mice with five different chemotherapy drugs, including Gleevec.

Though Vitamin C didn’t completely neutralize the effect of the chemo, the result does not look good, the drugs not being able to destroy as many cancer cells as expected. Researchers think that a possible reason for which this happens is that Vitamin C protects mitochondria, the exact same part chemo attack in order for the cell to die. By doing this Vitamin C prevents chemotherapy drugs from working their true potential.

This recent discoveries are not yet to be definitive, further research are needed and other more complex experiments. This is another chapter in the relation between cancer and Vitamin C and something tells me it might not be the last one. Cancer is one of the most fatal and most spread diseases around the world and the fact that any discoveries, no matter how important or of what nature, are made, is a good thing.