Injected Vitamin C halts cancer growth

It's not the first time this common vitamin has been linked with treating cancer - the original idea was advanced in the 1970s by Nobel Prize winning American scientist Linus Pauling but ultimately deemed controversial at the time after studies failed to substantiate his claims.

The latest studies have reignited this debate somewhat when vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, injected into mice almost halved the rate of tumour growth. By injecting mice with 43 cancer and five normal cell lines, "the researchers discovered that high concentrations of ascorbate had anticancer effects in 75% of cancer cell lines tested, while sparing normal cells".

The dose required was up to four grams per kilo of bodyweight which is far greater than any that could be achieved using diet or vitamin pills, as the digestive system does not absorb more than a fixed amount taken orally, thus injection into the abdominal cavity was the only way scientists could get around this problem.

Tumour growth and weight fell by between 41% and 53%, and while in untreated mice, the disease spread rapidly to involve other body parts, no such spread was seen in the vitamin C-treated animals.

According to the researchers, the next step would be to begin studies testing whether this works in people.