Foods/Supplements-Vitamins: Vitamin C - Intravenous High Dose

[pjoshea13]

Another in my alphabetic tour. Oral vitamin C will be considered elsewhere.

I have known a number of men try high dose (intravenous) vitamin C [IVC]. Some stopped because of the expense & lack of result. I didn't keep track of the others. The subject doesn't seem to generate much exitement these days. There have been no PCa clinical trials

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid; ascorbate [Asc]) is an antioxidant. Most antioxidants become pro-oxidant at high enough doses. The favored route to cancer cell death involves the generation of a lethal oxidative reaction in the cells. For vitamin C, this requires a dose much larger than any possible oral dose.

A 2014 study [1] purports to prove that IVC [Asc] cannot be effective. It is full text & goes into some detail, but I will quote sparingly:

"This is the first study of the anticancer effects of Asc that has taken into account physiological concentrations of iron."

"Sub-physiological concentrations of iron in cell culture media allow the accumulation of H2O2 {hydrogen peroxide}, which easily crosses the membrane in order to provoke intracellular oxidative damage resulting in cell death."

"On the other hand, when iron is present at the physiological level (even at the lower physiological limit), the decomposition of H2O2 compensates for H2O2 generation and prevents its accumulation."

{HIF-1α is Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1-alpha. As the name suggests, it is induced in PCa cells when they receive insufficient oxygen. This happens when a tumor outgrows its blood supply & it is really bad news. The consequences of HIF are that the cells become extraordinarily difficult to kill & VEGF (Vascular endothelial growth factor) is produced to facilitate the growth of new blood vessels.}

"It has been shown recently that HIF-1α-signalling cascade is essential for cancer cells' resistance to ascorbate-provoked cytotoxicity." "Several studies have shown that the supplementation of Asc to cultured cancer cells provokes a drop in HIF-1α level. However, we found that Asc provoked an increase in HIF-1α level in LNCaP whereas it did not exert significant effects in PC-3 cells." {These are PCa cell lines.}

"The Pauling/Cameron–Creagan/Moertel “conflict” about the applicability of oral Asc in cancer treatment that went on throughout the 1970's and the 1980's ended in disappointment. As a matter of fact, the concept of oral Asc application suffered from a major error at the very beginning. Namely, the bioavailability of ingested Asc is limited by the refractory response – a set of mechanisms that our organism uses in order to maintain flexible redox poise and normal redox signalling. The findings of Levine and co-workers that even mega doses of oral Asc cannot raise its level in the blood over modest 200 μM pointed out the problem. This instigated renewed interest in the application of Asc in cancer treatment, but this time using intravenous administration in order to bypass limited intestinal absorption and to reach millimolar Asc concentrations in the blood and interstitial fluid. This was followed by somewhat spectacular results of a large number of in vitro studies which showed that cancer cells are efficiently killed by pharmacological Asc acting as a pro-drug for H2O2 production. Unfortunately, it appears that research of the anticancer effects of Asc suffered from systematic errors once again and that we are on the verge of yet another disappointment. In addition to findings presented here, other evidence predict a grim future for Asc-based cancer therapy. For example, Asc shows relatively limited efficiency in animal tumour models."

"... our findings could be used in order to adjust current therapeutic approaches. Co-application of iron chelators in order to reduce redox active iron to a level that promotes the anticancer activity of Asc appears to be realistic. Iron chelation has shown significant in vitro and in vivo anticancer effects irrespective of Asc (most likely by causing iron deficiency)"

From Wikipedia [2]:

"The use of vitamin C in high doses as a treatment for cancer was promoted by Linus Pauling, based on a 1976 study published with Ewan Cameron which reported intravenous vitamin C significantly increased lifespans of patients with advanced cancer. This trial was criticized by the National Cancer Institute for being designed poorly, and three subsequent trials conducted at the Mayo Clinic could not replicate these results"

The name Linus Pauling carries enough weight to keep interest alive, although it's worth noting that he died of PCa. It is said that he regularly took 12 grams of C daily (for health, before the PCa), & he did live to age 93.

I'm hoping that anyone who has tried IVC will respond to this post. It might be useful to know what other treatment was being used at the same time.

-Patrick

[1] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[2] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitam...

[wellness]

I tried intravenous vit C years ago. Initially it brought down the PSA a bit but soon had no effect at all. It was expensive and uncomfortable. I consulted with a nationally known holistic MD who treats cancer, who said he had little success with it, and abandoned it, and his patients who had tried it report the same. Not recommended. I have personally had amazing results with blood ozone treatment (also IV). Contact me privately if you want information about this. [e-mail].

[Bluebird11 in reply to wellness]

I can't seem to email you privately wellness.. I have to get a tutorial from someone that offered.. try emailing me.. thanks

[Darryl Partner in reply to Bluebird11]

Hi genie-Paul just click on wellness' name. That brings you to his/her profile. Then, click on the button for message