Pangaea Clinic of Naturopathic Medicine
interventional natural medicine for rapid, lasting health
Pangaea Clinic of Naturopathic Medicine
#120 - 12011 Second Ave
Richmond, BC
V7E 3L6
(604) 275 - 0163
(604) 677 - 5910 (fax)
Articles for your browsing. These are past newsletters emailed to our patients and also responses for requests for information. If you have a specific topic you'd like a comment on, please email us.
According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: High doses of vitamin C may fight cancer
As many of you know, I am a huge proponent of using high doses of intravenous vitamin C in certain cancer patients, patients with chronic infections and immune deficiencies, and also on a semi-routine basis for the prevention of cancer. Intravenous vitamin C is one of the few “alternative” and complementary treatments that the BC Cancer Agency has labeled as investigational, as opposed to outright condemnation. In the last week, this intravenous treatment has begun to receive headlines again in a positive light because of information from the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy. In reality, there has always been plenty of information available to both clinicians and patients that sheds light on how high IV doses of vitamin C can fight cancer and prevent new tumors from forming; most conventional physicians are not aware of these or state incorrectly that “vitamin C has already been studied and found to not be effective”.
High doses of vitamin C given intravenously (as opposed to the 10 grams given orally and studied in the past at the Mayo Clinic) have the interesting effect of being an oxidative treatment. We all know that vitamin C taken orally acts as an antioxidant, but an important point is that very high doses given intravenously, usually between 25-100 grams, has a pro-oxidative effect. The mechanism involves the generation of hydrogen peroxide within the tissues that accumulate the vitamin C. One postulated mechanism of this formation involves vitamin C displacing iron from its carrier protein, with the subsequent intracellular generation of hydrogen peroxide. This is selectively toxic to cancer cells because they lack an enzyme that other healthy cells have in abundance: catalase.
Catalase is one of the fastest enzymes ever studied. Its’ job is to do the following conversion:
2
H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) --> 2 H2O (water) + O2 (oxygen)
H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) --> 2 H2O (water) + O2 (oxygen)The products water and oxygen are of course harmless. If this reaction does not occur efficiently due to lack of the catalase enzyme (ie in cancer cells) the hydrogen peroxide can react with the displaced iron and create an excess of free radicals. These free radicals then stimulate apotosis or cell suicide in the cancer cells. This basic process is also the reason I will routinely treat once or twice a month some immunodeficient patients and also pro-active patients seeking prevention against cancer.
The IV treatments are generally painless, and completely non-toxic. They are a slow IV drip over 45 minutes to 2-3 hours depending on the dose given.
In some of the articles, the study’s author makes a clear distinction from the generation of tissue peroxide and giving hydrogen peroxide intravenously. This is an important distinction as the mechanism of action is different. Intravenous dilute hydrogen peroxide is also an effective adjunctive cancer treatment, but the peroxide is reacted with immediately in the blood by catalase. Thus, no peroxide gets to kill cancer cells (with the possible exception of some blood borne cancers). Instead, the effect is a very strong immune system stimulation, with the generation of cytokines (chemicals that act on the immune system) that provoke a redirection of resources to focus on the killing of cancer cells. It is the same mechanism that applies to ozone therapy. In these oxidative therapies, the generation of the chemicals interferon gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha. With vitamin C, it seems that we can get similar releases of chemicals, but only if the immune cells are already stimulated. Thus if the immune cells haven’t recognized the cancer, then intravenous vitamin C probably won’t have an immune effect but would only have the effect of generating hydrogen peroxide at the tumor (which is still very useful).
Perhaps the best thing about naturopathic medicine is the fact that it is usually completely non-toxic. While natural substances such as plants can definitely have toxicities, they are generally less than those of drugs. When we work with stimulating the body’s own defenses, and use molecules and chemicals that are already present in the body, we have even less toxicity. Intravenous vitamin C falls into this category.
High Doses of IV Vitamin C Fight Cancer
By Kathleen Doheny
MONDAY, Sept. 12 (HealthDay News) -- High doses of vitamin C administered intravenously can fight cancer -- at least in the laboratory, researchers report.
They took another look at the vitamin years after studies first suggested in the 1970s that high doses of ascorbate or vitamin C may help fight cancer. In the wake of those studies, additional studies using the same high doses found no benefit, although some of them used only oral vitamin C, not intravenous doses of the vitamin.
After those initial, failed studies using oral vitamin C, "the conclusion was that this therapy should be shelved, that it doesn't work," said lead researcher Dr. Mark Levine, chief of the molecular and clinical nutrition section and senior staff physician, National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases.
But Levine and his team took another look at the therapy after working for the federal government on the latest recommended daily intake levels for vitamin C.
As part of those studies they examined the body's absorption of the nutrient and found that while oral intake does reach a saturation point, "when you give doses intravenously they go through the roof in the blood and then they are cleared," Levine explained.
According to Levine, a 10 gram dose of vitamin C given intravenously produces bloodstream concentrations more than 25-fold higher than concentrations achieved from the same oral dose.
Some antibiotics are poorly absorbed when given orally but fight infections effectively when given intravenously, and Levine and his team thought that might be the case with vitamin C and cancer.
Working with cell lines in the laboratory, they used high doses of vitamin C that could only be achieved by IV administration.
"At the highest concentration of ascorbic acid, if given intravenously, they don't touch normal cells and they kill lots of cancer cells. We don't know why," Levine said.
According to the study, published in the Sept. 12-16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vitamin C led to the formation of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical that can kill cells. This suggests a potential mechanism for therapy, Levine said.
"The mechanism has to be validated in animals -- the effects tested in animals to see if this is true," he said.
The newest study will likely set off another round of investigations about vitamin C's cancer-fighting ability, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. He called the study interesting and noted that it was conducted by respected scientists.
However, he said, laboratory findings are a long way from clinical practice and more study is needed. But the American Cancer Society, after careful evaluation, does note the value of dietary vitamin C in reducing cancer risk, stating that "vitamin C may have a protective role" in reducing the risk for many types of cancer when it is consumed as part of a prudent diet.
If alternative medicine practitioners -- who have continued to use vitamin C treatments for cancer -- provide evidence that it works, this would be the ideal time to step forward with their findings, Lichtenfeld said.
In another study published in the same issue of the journal, researchers from Pennsylvania State University found that retinoic acid, also known as vitamin A, can boost immune system functioning, at least in mice.
Researchers A. Catharine Ross and Yifan Ma found that injecting mice with the vitamin boosted their production of natural killer cells after they got a tetanus vaccine, improving their immune system response.
Newborns are susceptible to infectious diseases, and because their immune systems are immature often respond poorly to vaccines. Adding the vitamin A may help, although further study is needed, the researchers said.
The information presented within this web site is solely for education. It is copyrighted and protected as intellectual property. As all physicians have their unique opinions, this information is not to be taken as the opinion of any association or regulatory body. This website is not a substitute for personalized care by Dr Eric Chan or Dr Tawnya Ward; liability is excluded for misuse.
