Thomas E. Levy, M.D. authored the breakthrough book Vitamin C Infectious Diseases and Toxins published in 2002 which documented the extensive scientific literature in support of the use of Vitamin C for a wide array of health conditions as well as for optimizing one’s general health. https://drsobo.com/vitamin-c-infectious-diseases-and-toxins/
In 2011 he followed up by authoring another eye opening book called Primal Panacea, further exploring the use of Vitamin C and explaining the science behind the mechanisms involved in Vitamin C’s healthful properties.
Particularly exciting is-
Chapter 5- High Dose Vitamin C-Nature’s Cancer Answer.
Subheadings within this chapter are the following:
Cancer Prevention
Cancer Treatment with Vitamin C
Specific Anti-Metastatic Mechanisms of Vitamin C
High Dose Vitamin C Kills Cancer Cells
Vitamin C Does Not hInder, But Supports Traditional Chemotherapy
CANCER PREVENTION:
A study from the world renowned medical journal Lancet showed that people who had higher levels of Vitamin C had 50% mortality levels than those who were low in Vitamin C. Another study form the International Journal of Epidemiology demonstrated that “increasing blood levels ofVitamin C provides significant ant-cancer prevention” .
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)05203-X/fulltext
https://academic.oup.com/ije/article-abstract/29/2/260/758129?redirectedFrom=fulltext
CANCER TREATMENT WITH VITAMIN C
Dr Levy’s scientific references in this section include the article- “Sixteen Year History with High Dose Vitamin C Treatment for Various Types of Cancer and Other Diseases” from the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine 2002. https://riordanclinic.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/89023765_jom.pdf
Case reports: Renal Carcinoma– 70 year old male with removal of cancerous right kidney- “Intravenous Vitamin C treatment was started at 30gm twice per week and exam confirmed that his After six weeks of therapy the patient stated that he felt good and that his cancer lesions were shrinking.Fifteen months after starting therapy there were no signs of progressive cancer.”
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma “A lymphatic tumor around the spine of a 66 year old female was treated with localized radiation therapy five days per week for five weeks.Simultaneously she was started on intravenous Vitamin C twice per week. After radiation therapy, chemotherapy was recommended which the patient refused.The Vitamin C therapy was continued, however…About five months after the start of treatment the patient reported pain and swelling of lymph nodes at the base of her neck…One of the nodes was surgically removed -pathology report indicated presence of malignant lymphoma cells…Oncologist recommended more radiation and chemotherapy which she refused. Instead the intravenous Vitamin C and oral supplementation was continued for another 19 months. The cancer finally disappeared, and eight years later when the study was published the patient was still cancer free.”
Colon Cancer 51-year old male-…”examination found a malignancy in the colon-the cancer had spread to his liver”. Following surgery chemotherapy was started….subsequent examination showed that his cancer had continued to spread. Asked about Intravenous Vitamin C the oncologist responded, “I know of no studies which show that this eradicates or delays progression of cancer.”
“Despite two recommendations against it the patient found a physician who administered 100gm of IV Vitamin C twice per week while he continued the prescribed chemotherapy” A year later the patient had a CT scan which showed no evidence of cancer. https://prhsj.rcm.upr.edu/index.php/prhsj/article/view/469/332
As Dr Levy acknowledges, “it may be true that case studies don’t provide the same quality of proof as a large randomized , double blind, placebo controlled study. But from a practical position these people -and many others- were very sick and are now well. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
Specific Anti-Metastatic Mechanisms of Vitamin C
Vitamin C is responsible for the formation of strong, supportix extracellular matrix. A deficiency of Vitamin C allows this matrix to become weak…and “tumor growth can be both initiated and facilitated because the external support grid that would normally restrain cellular proliferation can no longer do so.”
High Dose Vitamin C Kills Cancer Cells
https://drsobo.com/high-dose-intravenous-vitamin-c-treatment/
Dr Levy says, “one of the amazing properties of Vitamin C is that it can protect healthy cells while simultaneously causing rapid cell death in cancer cells”. In cancer cells Vitamin promotes an increase in hydrogen peroxide which destroys the contents of the cell and causes cancer cell death.
Vitamin C Does Not Hinder, But Supports Traditional Chemotherapy
Vitamin C helps weakened immune system cells damaged by chemotherapy lessening side effects and improving immune function.
https://www.cmaj.ca/content/174/7/937.abstract
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8635156/
https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)31996-8/abstract
Dr Levy further has a chapter entitled HOW VITAMIN C WORKS and in the subsection What About Cancer? he explains the following
“While the cancer cells are being attacked the immune system is being simultaneously stimulated and strengthened by Vitamin C.”
And also, …”while cancer cells are being attacked, normal cells are being strengthened by accumulating Vitamin C, bolstering antioxidant defenses.”
Another reason that vitamin C can be so effective for cancer is that ,” cancer cells often have decreased levels of..antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase,and glutathione peroxidase, causing the cells to already have increased levels of internal oxidative stress relative to normal cells,and making them more susceptible to induced cell death by further increasing those levels.”
Another enzyme that is normally a part of protective cellular mechanisms is called catalase, and as Dr Levy says, “cancer cells often have low to undetectable levels of catalase, allowing hydrogen peroxide levels in the cytoplasm of the cell to increase.”
NEW RESEARCH BY BOARD CERTIFIED ONCOLOGISTS AND THEIR RESEARCHERS
CONFIRM THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF HIGH DOSE VITAMIN C
https://apple.news/A3ZnXNHDHRkCIdEnky8PMRA
The Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa published a study in the journal Redox Biology that showed that pancreatic cancer patients with late stage metastatic disease who received the IV Vitamin C had their survival time doubled from eight months to 16 months. The study participants were receiving chemotherapy under the care of their oncologists during the time of the study. They were also given 75 Grams of Intravenous Vitamin C 3 times per week. Compared to other patients with similar stage pancreatic cancer those who received the IV Vitamin C treatments not only lived longer, but it also extended the time during which the disease did not progress from four to six months.
Joe Cullen, MD, University of Iowa professor of surgery, and radiation oncology says, “This is a deadly disease with very poor outcomes for patients. The median survival is 8 months with treatment, probably less without treatment, and the five-year survival is tiny. When we started the trial, we thought it would be a success if we got to 12 months survival, but we doubled overall survival to 16 months. The results were so strong in showing the benefit of this therapy for patient survival that we were able to stop the trial early.” He added that, ” Not only does it increase overall survival, but the patients seem to feel better with the treatment. They have less side effects, and appear to be able to tolerate more treatment, and we’ve seen that in other trials, too.”
MORE OF THE SCIENCE REGARDING HIGH DOSE VITAMIN C AND CANCER https://drsobo.com/iv-vitamin-c-therapy/
Vitamin C’s antioxidant activity is what is generally regarded as the underlying mechanism which gives it its health benefits. However, Vitamin C can act as a prooxidant when you administer it in high doses given intravenously. As explained by Dr Cullen in the University of Iowa study referenced above, its pro-oxidant effect is what is needed for it to produce its cancer killing effects. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15917185/
After testing Vitamin C in the lab, researchers at the University of Iowa found that using vitamin C in high doses “worked great” in killing cancer cells. Dr Cullen explains that, “we found that at these high doses, ascorbate [vitamin C] actually generates hydrogen peroxide. And the hydrogen peroxide is what kills the cancer cells. Not only did it extend disease progression free time, and extend survival time, but the cancer patients who received vitamin C also tolerated their chemotherapy treatments with less side effects and felt generally better than those who did not receive the Vitamin C.” Their study is the result of 20 years of research on vitamin C and its healing potential.
