Supplemental ascorbate in the supportive treatment of cancer: Prolongation of survival times in terminal human cancer.
Open accessAbstract
Ascorbic acid metabolism is associated with a number of mechanisms known to be involved in host resistance to malignant disease. Cancer patients are significantly depleted of ascorbic acid, and in our opinion this demonstrable biochemical characteristic indicates a substantially increased requirement and utilization of this substance to potentiate these various host resistance factors. The results of a clinical trial are presented in which 100 terminal cancer patients were given supplemental ascorbate as part of their routine management. Their progress is compared to that of 1000 similar patients treated identically, but who received no supplemental ascorbate. The mean survival time is more than 4.2 times as great for the ascorbate subjects (more than 210 days) as for the controls (50 days). Analysis of the survival-time curves indicates that deaths occur for about 90% of the ascorbate-treated patients at one-third the rate for the controls and that the other 10% have a much greater survival time, averaging more than 20 times that for the controls. The results clearly indicate that this simple and safe form of medication is of definite value in the treatment of patients with acvanced cancer.
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1970s trials in terminal cancer patients found that intravenous high-dose ascorbate prolonged survival, but 1980s large RCTs did not confirm this because they used oral ascorbate.
“Clinical trials in the 1970s involving patients with terminal cancer showed that intravenous high-dose ascorbate extended patient survival in response to ascorbate treatment93,94, whereas large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the 1980s failed to confirm these initial findings because ascorbate was given orally instead95,96.”
From Targeting cancer vulnerabilities with high-dose vitamin C (2019) · cites this paper as [93]
Cameron and Pauling's 1976 trial was the earliest large-scale clinical trial testing high-dose ascorbate's efficacy as a cancer treatment.
“This study is the first large-scale clinical trial designed to analyse the efficacy of high-dose ascorbate for the treatment of cancer.”
From Targeting cancer vulnerabilities with high-dose vitamin C (2019) · cites this paper as [93]
Observational studies using oral and intravenous vitamin C suggested therapeutic benefit for a subset of cancer patients, but subsequent randomized, placebo-controlled trials revealed insignificant efficacy.
“While observational studies using oral and intravenous vitamin C suggested therapeutic benefit for a subset of cancer patients50, 51, 52 subsequent randomized, placebo-controlled trials revealed insignificant efficacy.53, 54”
From Vitamin C-induced epigenomic remodelling in IDH1 mutant acute myeloid leukaemia (2018) · cites this paper as [51]
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- Authors
- Cameron, E., & Pauling, L.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 1976-10
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 3685-3689
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC431183
- OpenAlex
- W2000112260
- Cited by
- 710
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 21
- Type
- supplementary materials
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Profiles in Science (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Vitamin C and Antioxidants Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Cancer and biochemical research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies
- Keywords
- vitamin C, vitamin C supplementation, terminal cancer, advanced cancer, survival time, host resistance to cancer
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Ascorbic Acid, Urinary Bladder Neoplasms, Breast Neoplasms, Bronchial Neoplasms, Colonic Neoplasms, Female, Humans, Kidney Neoplasms, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Ovarian Neoplasms, Rectal Neoplasms, Stomach Neoplasms, Terminal Care
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