Intravenous Vitamin C
Intravenous Vitamin C is a therapy for cancer with a history that began with the research of Dr. Linus Pauling PHD, and Dr. Ewan Cameron MD in the 1970′s. Dr. Pauling and Dr. Cameron found that using a combination of intravenous vitamin C and orally dosed vitamin C led to improved survival in the cancer patients they were studying. A follow up study could not duplicate the results, but that study only used oral dosing of vitamin C.
What more current scientific literature has shown is that vitamin C administered intravenously (directly into the bloodstream with an IV needle) results in concentrations of vitamin C in the blood and tissues of the body that cannot be achieved through oral dosing (taking capsules by mouth).
Research has also shown that vitamin C at these higher doses can be toxic to cancer cells via a pro-oxidant process which causes damage to cancer cells. Vitamin C converts to a molecule called hydrogen peroxide which then causes damage selectively to cancer cells. Many cancer cell lines from a variety of cancer types (pancreatic, breast, ovarian, lymphoma, glioblastoma, and others) are deficient in an enzyme called catalase which breaks down hydrogen peroxide, and this makes them susceptible to vitamin C therapy. Normal cells are not deficient in this enzyme and so are not harmed by the therapy.
In Dr. Ashley Chauvin’, ND clinical practice, she has seen intravenous vitamin C:
- improve tolerability and effectiveness of certain conventional chemotherapy agents
- improve quality of life – patients often say they have a greater sense of well being
- promote tissue and wound healing repair after surgery
- provide immune support