Clinical Trial Shows High-Dose Vitamin C can Double Pancreatic Cancer Patient Survival Rates
Chemotherapy alone typically results in a life expectancy of eight months, but when high-dose intravenous vitamin C is added to the treatment, survival time increases to 16 months.
Clinical trials conducted on pancreatic cancer patients showed that adding high-dose vitamin C to their treatment regimen could double their survival time.
Pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed in advanced stages with limited treatment options, where standard chemotherapy alone provides a survival rate of only eight months.
Published in Redox Biology, the study indicated that high-dose vitamin C not only slowed cancer cell growth but also reduced chemotherapy-induced physical suffering.
Better Tolerance and Fewer Side Effects
The trial involved 34 stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients receiving standard chemotherapy along with high-dose vitamin C, leading to an average survival time of 16 months, double the survival seen in patients on chemotherapy alone. Patients receiving vitamin C reported fewer side effects and could complete more treatment cycles without interruptions.
Patients in the vitamin C group experienced stabilized white blood cell and platelet levels, making them less susceptible to adverse effects compared to the chemotherapy group.
In addition to improving survival, patients receiving high-dose IV vitamin C also had two months of progression-free survival.
IV Is the Key
High-dose vitamin C delivered through IV achieves higher blood concentrations, targeting cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. The selective targeting is attributed to cancer cells having lower levels of catalase enzyme, making them more susceptible to hydrogen peroxide generated by IV vitamin C.
Researchers are exploring the potential of high-dose IV vitamin C in treating other cancers, with promising results in glioblastoma and ongoing trials for non-small cell lung cancer.
