VITAMIN C - Scientific Paper Abstracts

Altern Med Rev 1998 Jun;3(3):174-86

Ascorbic acid in the prevention and treatment of cancer.
Head KA

Alternative Medicine Review. P.O. Box 25, Dover, ID 83825, USA. kathi@thorne.com
n: S0D
Proposed mechanisms of action for ascorbic acid (ascorbate, vitamin C) in the prevention and treatment of cancer include enhancement of the immune system, stimulation of collagen formation necessary for "walling off" tumors, inhibition of hyaluronidase which keeps the ground substance around the tumor intact and prevents metastasis, prevention of oncogenic viruses, correction of an ascorbate deficiency often seen in cancer patients, expedition of wound healing after cancer surgery, enhancement of the effect of certain chemotherapy drugs, reduction of the toxicity of other chemotherapeutic agents such as Adriamycin, prevention of free radical damage, and neutralization of carcinogenic substances. Scottish as well as Japanese studies have pointed to the potential benefit of high dose vitamin C for the treatment of "terminal" cancer. Mayo Clinic studies, however, have contradicted the Scottish and Japanese findings, resulting in accusations of methodological flaws from both sides. Numerous epidemiological studies have pointed to the importance of dietary and supplemental ascorbate in the prevention of various types of cancer including bladder, breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, lung, pancreatic, prostate, salivary gland, stomach, leukemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

J Am Coll Nutr 1998 Jun;17(3):250-5

Relation of serum ascorbic acid to serum lipids and lipoproteins in US adults.
Simon JA, Hudes ES

General Internal Medicine Section, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San
Francisco, CA 94121, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation of serum ascorbic acid level to serum lipid and lipoprotein levels among a random sample of the US adult population.

METHODS: Using linear regression, the relation of serum ascorbic acid level to serum lipid and lipoprotein levels was examined among 5,412 women and 5,116 men enrolled in the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II), 1976-1980. Age, race, body mass index, level of physical activity, level of education, alcohol intake, and dietary energy, cholesterol, and fat intakes, and other potential confounders were included in the multivariate models.

RESULTS: Serum ascorbic acid level was independently associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) among women; each 1 mg/dl increase in serum ascorbic acid level (range 0.1 to 2.7 mg/dl) was associated with a 2 mg/dl increase in HDL-C level (p = 0.001). Because other investigators have demonstrated an inverse relation between ascorbic acid intake or blood levels and total serum cholesterol in individuals with elevated total serum cholesterol levels, we analyzed four subgroups of NHANES II participants with total serum cholesterol levels > 200 mg/dl. Among women with total serum cholesterol levels > or = 200 mg/dl, each 1 mg/dl increase in serum ascorbic acid level was independently associated with an increase of 2 to 3 mg/dl in HDL-C level (p < or = 0.05). Serum ascorbic acid level was not significantly associated with other serum lipids or lipoproteins. CONCLUSIONS: If the observed associations are linked causally, they would suggest that ascorbic acid is a factor in cholesterol homeostasis among women and may be particularly important for women at increased risk for coronary heart disease.