As someone who has survived a serious form of breast cancer, Sue Vanner knows more than most how crucial it is to maintain a nutritious, balanced diet. The former Bond girl and Northern Soul music icon follows an alkaline diet today, consuming protein-rich foods like seeds, nuts, fish and raw organic vegetables while avoiding sugars.
Rather than following the traditional cancer treatment route of chemotherapy and drugs, Sue sought a second opinion from a German doctor. He recommended an intravenous course of high-dose vitamin C following her surgery. Thankfully, the treatment proved effective, and some 15 years later, Sue Vanner remains cancer free.
This article will explore the potential of vitamin C as a cancer therapy.
Medical experts caution that the public should be sceptical regarding stories about so-called 'miracle foods'. Foods such as broccoli, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, turmeric, cinnamon and the humble carrot have all been touted for their supposed 'cancer-killing' qualities. However, in reality, no one single food has been proven as an effective remedy in the fight against cancer.
However, a Cancer Research UK report reviewing studies involving use of vitamin C as a cancer therapy does suggest a need for further investigation.
Foods such as broccoli and oranges are naturally rich in vitamin C. Indeed, many popular health supplements incorporate the vitamin today. In terms of research into its effectiveness as a potential cancer therapy, scientists began addressing the issue as long ago as the 1970s, when researchers discovered that vitamin C could potentially be toxic to cancer cells. However, although initial findings were encouraging, the studies were later revealed to be flawed.
More recently, carefully controlled and designed randomised trials involving administration of vitamin C in pill form suggest that it has no benefit in the treatment of cancer. Yet, in spite of a lack of reliable evidence, many alternative medicine practitioners continue to advocate clients taking high doses of vitamin C in order to treat cancer.
However, intravenous administration of vitamin C, as opposed to pill form, has been shown to have rather different effects. In fact, encouraging findings have triggered renewed scientific interest in vitamin C as a potential cancer treatment.
Research does not show that vitamin C in isolation can cure the disease. Nor has it been suggested that one single food is an effective cancer cure. However, studies are still ongoing into vitamin C's potential to enhance the effectiveness of other therapies, for example, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Researchers are also considering whether intravenous applications of vitamin C could potentially remedy adverse reactions caused by other cancer therapies.
Large, clinically controlled trials have yet to be undertaken as to the effectiveness of intravenously administered vitamin C as a cancer therapy. However, preliminary studies reveal positive findings, suggesting that there could be distinct advantages in combining standard cancer treatments with intravenous doses of vitamin C.
