Vitamin C and Cancer

This reference from the Sloan Kettering Institute contains many facts about Vitamin C and Cancer.

Remember, this is just one of many possible different theories of how vitamin C influences cancer. The following article is copied (while a link would serve to take you to this article, too many times the link is eliminated and the articles get lost) from Johns Hopkins Medical research: 

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (2007, September 12). How Vitamin C Stops Cancer. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 18, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2007/09/070910132848.htm

How Vitamin C Stops Cancer

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2007) — Nearly 30 years after Nobel laureate Linus Pauling famously and controversially suggested that vitamin C supplements can prevent cancer, a team of Johns Hopkins scientists have shown that in mice at least, vitamin C - and potentially other antioxidants - can indeed inhibit the growth of some tumors ¯ just not in the manner suggested by years of investigation.

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The conventional wisdom of how antioxidants such as vitamin C help prevent cancer growth is that they grab up volatile oxygen free radical molecules and prevent the damage they are known to do to our delicate DNA. This Hopkins study, led by Chi Dang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and oncology and Johns Hopkins Family Professor in Oncology Research, unexpectedly found that the antioxidants' actual role may be to destabilize a tumor's ability to grow under oxygen-starved conditions. Their work is detailed this week in Cancer Cell.

"The potential anticancer benefits of antioxidants have been the driving force for many clinical and preclinical studies," says Dang. "By uncovering the mechanism behind antioxidants, we are now better suited to maximize their therapeutic use."

"Once again, this work demonstrates the irreplaceable value of letting researchers follow their scientific noses wherever it leads them," Dang adds.

The authors do caution that while vitamin C is still essential for good health, this study is preliminary and people should not rush out and buy bulk supplies of antioxidants as a means of cancer prevention.

The Johns Hopkins investigators discovered the surprise antioxidant mechanism while looking at mice implanted with either human lymphoma (a blood cancer) or human liver cancer cells. Both of these cancers produce high levels of free radicals that can be suppressed by feeding the mice supplements of antioxidants, either vitamin C or N-acetylcysteine (NAC).

However, when the Hopkins team examined cancer cells from cancer-implanted mice not fed the antioxidants, they noticed the absence of any significant DNA damage. "Clearly, if DNA damage was not in play as a cause of the cancer, then whatever the antioxidants were doing to help was also not related to DNA damage," says Ping Gao, Ph.D, lead author of the paper.

That conclusion led Gao and Dang to suspect that some other mechanism was involved, such as a protein known to be dependent on free radicals called HIF-1 (hypoxia-induced factor), which was discovered over a decade ago by Hopkins researcher and co-author Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Program in Vascular Cell Engineering. Indeed, they found that while this protein was abundant in untreated cancer cells taken from the mice, it disappeared in vitamin C-treated cells taken from similar animals.

"When a cell lacks oxygen, HIF-1 helps it compensate," explains Dang. "HIF-1 helps an oxygen-starved cell convert sugar to energy without using oxygen and also initiates the construction of new blood vessels to bring in a fresh oxygen supply." ref ref

Some rapidly growing tumors consume enough energy to easily suck out the available oxygen in their vicinity, making HIF-1 absolutely critical for their continued survival. But HIF-1 can only operate if it has a supply of free radicals. Antioxidants remove these free radicals and stop HIF-1, and the tumor, in its tracks. (Or at least slow it down significantly to allow drugs time to complete process. ref)

The authors confirmed the importance of this "hypoxia protein" by creating cancer cells with a genetic variant of HIF-1 that did not require free radicals to be stable. In these cells, antioxidants no longer had any cancer-fighting power.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Authors on the paper are Dean Felsher of Stanford; and Gao, Huafeng Zhang, Ramani Dinavahi, Feng Li, Yan Xiang, Venu Raman, Zaver Bhujwalla, Linzhao Cheng, Jonathan Pevsner, Linda Lee, Gregg Semenza and Dang of Johns Hopkins.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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NOTES: This is an example of connecting body nutrient functions to a diseased condition from increasing knowledge. With this knowledge, the results now have to be applied in human studies to see if this same process occurs. Here is another reference about this from the view of Hypoxia, lack of Oxygen in cancer cells making them change to get energy by fermentation or glycolysis instead of respiration. Here is link that describes these two processes.

SIDEBAR: Looking at prostate cancer, check out this approach to HIF-1a action. ref Since this is a response to the amount of oxygen in the system, the value of exercise is connected.

Vitamin C is usually associated with preventing colds, but that is just one side function from anti-oxidant activity while the primary function for vitamin C is to assist in collagen production.  Blood vessel walls, ligaments, tendons, and bones all need collagen for integrity. Plus vitamin C is also involved in the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin.  

UPDATE:  Vitamin C injected into the body by I.V. can reach pharmacological levels to influence H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) (ref) production.  ref  This mechanism is why the HIF-1 is reduced by vitamin C, BUT only when injected by I.V.  Animal studies report that cancerous tumors are growing slower and/or increasing tumor cell death rates. Phase I human trials appear positive. More research should be forth coming soon. ref ORAL intake of vitamin C DOES NOT REACH THIS LEVEL. Research studies using a Vitamin C oral approach testing for cancer reduction will fail every time.This next reference describes some of the mechanisms between oral versus IV for vitamin C dosages. ref

FDA Update:  After a reported use of IV vitamin C benefited a disease condition, the FDA increased standards on liquid vitamin C manufactureres and is considering changing IV liquid vitamin C treatment into a drug status. Some websites suggested incorrectly that the FDA had banned the manufacture of liquid vitamin C. The letter from the FDA that mentions this issue (plus e-ferol) has been neither moved or taken off the FDA's website. Since vitamin C cannot be patented, no company would spend the millions needed to get drug approval for IV vitamin C unless the FDA has first declared that it is a drug and allows a patent. Vitamin C is very non-toxic according to past IV clinical use. The FDA has used this approach already of changing a vitamin to drug status with other nutrients. 

Can you see other implications from this law of injectable vitamins being drugs? What about the vitamins and minerals added to IV bags for hospital patients? Does this turn them into drugs?

NOTE: The E-ferol issue mentioned in the letter by the FDA was indeed a tragedy. Further studies revealed the vitamin E by itself might not have been the sole cause, it may have been the combination of emulsifiers polysorbate 80 and 20 acting on such small bodies that damaged the liver and immune response....

CAUTION: ****There are a number of nutrients that may exhibit both anti- and pro- cancer effects. IT ALL DEPENDS UPON THE DOSAGE AND RESULTING BLOOD LEVELS. Some nutrients have benefits at lower amounts but not at higher, others at middle amounts and not at either lower or higher, and then there are some that need very large amounts to produce therapeutic benefits, like vitamin C may need I.V. to get a large enough amount for certain cancer benefits. Sometimes the wrong amount could even have the opposite influence and be cancer promoting, such as Folic Acid appears to exhibit after tumors develop, or NAC. ref ******

THIS NEEDS A LOT MORE ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY, LIKE NOW! 

Do Vitamins increase Breast Cancer?

Yes, this topic is very controversial. And most likely there are both positives and negatives waiting to be discovered. Recent studies have found that the same vitamins often change directions in different situations, dosages, or forms. One Beta Carotene study on smoking revealed this parody. This makes proper vitamin supplement decisions a vital factor.

NOTE: The material you are about to read presents more evidence that major changes are now necessary to over 95% of current multiple vitamin mineral formulas. The new vitamin criteria offered on this website might correct many of these adverse challenges.

Since this topic is a current study of a vital issue, it deserves top billing. Women reporting 10 years of vitamin usage had 19% more Breast Cancers than women not taking vitamins. General info

Here are the study facts: 35,000 women ages 49-83 at start were interviewed for vitamin usage and followed for ten years. From this Swedish Karolinska Institute study, 293 cancers developed in the 9, 017 women taking vitamins (3.25%), while 681 cancers were found in 26,000 women not on vitamins (2.62%). This is 19.4% higher in the vitamin taking group. It was not determined what vitamins were taken, or how much, or for how long.  ref

This is not a cause and effect study, but rather an association of observable facts. Other factors were considered to equalize the groups. The most significant fact of this study was that women taking vitamins had slightly greater density of breast tissue. Here is another study. Increased density of tissues has already been found to be a contributor to greater breast cancer rates. ref 

When breast tissues exhibit greater density, there is less fat and more glandular and connective tissue. Thus, the question one has to ask, is this related to genetics or / and diet or other environmentals? And would medical scans or mammograms influence as well. Hormone balance appears to be the greatest determinant and would come under genetics with some dietary and lifestyle (exercise) modifiers.

The women in the above mentioned study who reported multiple vitamin use exhibited 5% greater breast tissue density than non-vitamin users. Evidently, this small change may be enough to influence breast cancer rates. Vitamin D and calcium studies have shown the ability to lower breast densities. ref ref ref The most effective amounts are for vitamin D greater than 200 IUs and for calcium 600-750 mg. NOTE: These results are for premenopausal women only. And even though somewhat small, still significant.  Not all studies show these same results. ref ref ref There could be other factors also at play that influence results. Did you notice that at higher calcium amounts, vitamin D showed a negative association in one study.

Another study looking into density found that women with higher density had a 21% breast cancer rate compared to those with the lowest density at a 5% risk. Remember this is not 20% of people, but rather the difference between those with high density versus lower density. For example, 20% might only reflect a change from 5 up to 6 out of a thousand getting cancer. That is just one per thousand extra, yet expressed as a percentage is 20% more. While 20% sounds impressive, one needs to know the actual numbers to put the percentage number in perspective. Regardless, any increase needs verification as to a cause, or reason.

Another study out of San Francisco found that women with higher density breast tissues were more likely to have a 1st degree relative with breast cancer. The results were pretty much in a linear line. As density increased, so did the likelihood of a relative with breast cancer, indications for a genetic link, or maybe a lifestyle one if from same household.

Now, back to taking vitamins and breast cancer. Another larger study in the United States of 160,000 women, did not find any association to higher breast cancer rates. ref A few smaller studies have found slightly less cancers in those taking vitamins. Notice: Protective effect seen from total carotenoid family and NOT just Beta Carotene by itself, the synthetic form used in the majority of supplements. ref  This issue needs more research. ref Look at these vitamin E family results.  

Critical Vitamin Factors

What is critical to know? Are there any possible vitamin functions that could influence breast tissue density and thus increase breast cancer?  One vitamin, Folic Acid, involved with cell replication and DNA synthesis, might actually speed up the growth of tumors simply because that is how it normally functions. There is a class of Cancer drugs called "antifolates" that are designed to limit the influence of folates in cells. Folate is the natural form while Folic Acid is the synthetic form. It was observed that cancers grew slower in people who where folate deficient. Could excess folate, or folic acid, be a factor for increasing breast tissue density???

Since there is less fat and more fibrous material in greater density breast tissue, are there vitamins that could increase this connective material. Vitamin C does increase collagen which forms connective tissue. See study linked below.

HOW ABOUT FOLIC ACID

Most remember folic acid as preventing birth defects, but there is also evidence that outside of a healthy window of dosages, folic acid may just work too well and stimulate the growth rate of already present tumors or have an affect on brain functions in dementia tied with low vitamin B12 levels.

Folic Acid is the synthetic form of folate, the natural form found in the body. Folic acid up to about 600 mcg a day can be converted in the body by the liver into the natural folate form. Over this amount, or in certain individuals, "unmetabolized" or unconverted synthetic folic acid starts to circulate in the body. This has been found to lower the activity level of natural killer cells in the immune system. Plus, for the first time it is showing up in newborn babies, even from mothers who did not take supplements of folic acid. In the United States, Canada, and Chile, wheat and rice flour are fortified with synthetic folic acid at about 140 mcg per 100 grams of white flour or white rice serving. The total significance of this unmetabolized folic acid is currently unknown.

Other articles explain folic acid in more detail. The newly developed Vitamin Criteria is designed to take these facts into consideration for you while Team RightWay monitors research for further updates.

In conclusion - Do multiple vitamins increase breast cancers?- The answer might need an explanation. If you stay within healthy supplement amounts as developed in this new criteria using complete family nutrients, maybe NOT, and there might be slight benefits, such as to increase DNA repair capacity. If you take mega-dosages and / or fractionate the vitamin families plus use certain synthetic vitamins, MAYBE. Breast tissue density changes is one possible measurable factor. If you have a family genetic link to breast cancer, it may be best to severely limit certain vitamin supplements until issues settled: Folic acid, vitamins C & E, and B12. Plus, the dietary ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat is involved, as well as lean to fat mass factors which appear to change pre-menopausal to postmenopausal as hormone influences change. Very complicated issue. The same nutrient can have both positive and negative study results. Watch for further clarifications. 

Vital Study on vitamin and dietary influences below.

click here> Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2000 Feb;9(2):151-60.

BELOW: Watch for article on vitamin C and cancer.  A new link has been discovered that shows how vitamin C helps fight cancer cells. Plus, more on breast cancer and vitamins D and E.

DNA Repair Capacity for MULTIPLE VITAMINS 

Another study excerpt below has significant information about multiple vitamin benefits from the American Association of Cancer Research 101st annual meeting:

"The authors also measured the women's DNA repair capacity, which is a mechanism that helps prevent damaged normal cells from turning into cancer cells, including those in the breast.

DNA repair capacity was measured with a validated assay, using blood samples previously taken from all study participants.

They found that "a higher DNA repair capacity was associated with multivitamin intake and calcium intake," said Dr. Matta.

"Our paper is the first to show that DNA repair capacity can be modified by multivitamin and/or calcium intake," he said. Previous research has suggested that DNA repair capacity is "genetically fixed," he explained.

They also found that a decreased DNA repair capacity was associated with breast cancer. Specifically, for each decreasing percent unit of DNA repair capacity, the odds of having breast cancer increased 1.9 times.

In addition, the researchers had more conventional findings: a family history of breast cancer meant 2.2-fold greater odds of having breast cancer. Advancing age, increasing body mass index, and not breastfeeding also statistically significantly increased the risk for breast cancer.

Notably, when the researchers included DNA repair capacity in their risk analysis (logistic regression model), the protective effect of calcium was no longer statistically significant, "suggesting that DNA repair capacity is responsible for the association we found," they write in their AACR abstract.

In contrast, the association of multivitamin intake and breast cancer was unaffected when they adjusted for higher levels of DNA repair capacity, suggesting that multivitamins are an "independent protective factor," write Dr. Matta and colleagues.

Also of note was the fact that taking single supplements of each vitamin (A, E, C, and beta-carotene alone) was not associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer risk, reported Dr. Matta." end of copy

Plus, don't miss this article on vitamins to Breast Cancer development.

WARNING: Since this topic is very controversial, immediate medical care is of the utmost importance. There are many different types of cancers with each requiring a unique set of treatment protocols.

Acrylamides and Cancer

While not on vitamins, this is still timely. According to research found by the NCI, Natural Cancer Institute, cooking foods especially at high heat like french fries, generates acrylamides. Acrylamides have been found to cause cancer in animal studies. Human studies did not find an association at first, but now and especially from studies in Europe, the NCI has found significant research linking acrylamides to some human cancers. ref   Below is a paragraph from another recent NCI report :

"To avoid such limitations in accurately determining acrylamide exposure, biomarkers of exposure were recently used in a Danish cohort study designed to evaluate the subsequent risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women (20). Among women with higher levels of acrylamide bound to the hemoglobin in their blood, there was a statistically significant increase in risk of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. This finding suggests an endocrine hormone-related effect, which would be consistent with the results of a questionnaire-based cohort study in the Netherlands that found an excess of endometrial and ovarian cancer—but not of postmenopausal breast cancer—associated with higher levels of acrylamide exposure (21). Another cohort study from the Netherlands suggested a positive association between dietary acrylamide and the risk of renal cell cancer, but not of prostate or bladder cancer (22)."

RAW foods of course do not form acrylamides. It is not known yet the level of influence. Best to not eat fried foods to limit your acrylamide intake. Baked foods may have some. More as reports merit. Check out effects of acrylamides on brain nerve cells. ref

OF INTEREST: A study of the effects of a high fat meal, like the ones available at many fast food outlets, on artery walls revealed an interesting result. After the high fat meal, the walls of arteries turned a bright reddish color, possibly reflecting an increased inflammatory state. If the supplements vitamin C 500 mg and vitamin E 400 IUs were taken with or just after the meal, the walls remained their natural pinkish color. This most likely was the influence of anti-oxidant activity from the vitamins.

Anti-oxidant Vitamins C&E on Ovarian Cancer

"Dietary Antioxidants, supplements and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer.

[Fleischauer AT, et al. Nutr Cancer 2002;40:92-98]  

Several epidemiologic studies suggest that higher consumption of fruits and vegetables and foods rich in antioxidants are associated with a reduced risk of many cancers, however, only few studies have examined the relationship between antioxidants and ovarian cancers. Moreover, these studies focused mainly on dietary sources of antioxidants, and no studies examined the association between the use of antioxidants from supplements and ovarian cancer risk. This case-control study examined the association between ovarian cancer risk and reported intake of antioxidant micronutrients from diet and/or supplements. In this study, higher intake of vitamins C (> 90 mg/d) and E (>30 mg/d) from supplements was protective, while vitamin A and ß-carotene were not related to the risk of ovarian cancer. Consumption of antioxidants from dietary sources was unrelated to risk of ovarian cancer. In an analysis combining antioxidant intake from diet and supplements, vitamin C (>363 mg/d) and E (> 75 mg/d) were associated with a 55% reduced risk of ovarian cancer. It is worth mentioning that the above-mentioned levels of intake for vitamins C and E are well above the current daily dietary recommendations for both vitamins. Based on the findings from this study, the authors conclude that, “These findings support the hypothesis that antioxidant vitamins C and E from supplements are related to a reduced risk of ovarian cancer."   end of article

NOTES: Pretty powerful study.  Notice that the amount responsible for this amazing 55% reduced risk for ovarian cancer was 363 mg of vitamin C and 75 mg of vitamin E or greater, FROM both supplements and diet.

Vitamin D and Pancreatic Cancer

The prevailing thought is that higher vitamin D levels offer protection against many cancers. Here is one possible explanation or method, Then this finding pops up as recently mentioned in a Wall Street Journal Blog by Katherine Hobson:

"...A recent editorial in the American Journal of Epidemiology discussing the issue of anti-cancer claims for various vitamins over the years notes that an analysis of existing research found no association between levels of vitamin D in the blood and several cancers. But it did find that “the risk of pancreatic cancer was doubled for those in the highest quintile of circulating vitamin D levels.” The editorialist, Tim Byers of the  University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Colorado School of Public Health, continues:

This observation is disconcerting both because pancreatic cancer is now the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States and because the proponents of the vitamin D hypothesis are now arguing that substantially elevating circulating blood concentrations into that range should be a nutritional policy objective for the general population.

Brannon (Patsy Brannon, a professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University and member of the IOM panel that produced the report) tells the WSJ that the panel also saw a tentative association between death from prostate cancer and other causes in men with high blood levels of the vitamin, though it may not ever be possible to test the validity of those connections...."  end of aricle copy

Other studies have arrived at just the opposite result. There may have been errors in the above pancreatic cancer study. This vital dilemma needs to be settled. Remember that cancers reduce vitamin D levels so when vitamin D measurements are taken is critical. The Nurses Health Study found higher Vitamin D levels gave a 41% protection against pancreatic cancers. One has to remember that in many of these studies the range for vitamin D was only that achieved from sunlight and diet, while in other studies, supplements were used. A vital fact that maintaining a range of vitamin D levels within certain parameters may be the most optimal approach. A review report of studies on vitamins and cancers> ref  ref

Below is another study on sun exposure D production and reduced risk with one exception as noted above:  

Ann Epidemiol. 2009 Feb;19(2):89-95. Epub 2008 May 27.

Vitamin D and pancreatic cancer.

Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ.

Nutritional Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department Health Human Services, Rockville, MD, USA. rs221z@nih.gov

Abstract

"Sun exposure has been associated with lower death rates for pancreatic cancer in ecological studies. Skin exposure to solar ultraviolet B radiation induces cutaneous production of precursors to 25-hydroxy (OH) vitamin D (D) and is considered the primary contributor to vitamin D status in most populations. Pancreatic islet and duct cells express 25-(OH) D(3)-1alpha-hydroxylase that generates the biologically active 1,25-dihydroxy(OH)(2) D form. Thus, 25(OH)D concentrations could affect pancreatic function and possibly pancreatic cancer etiology. Serum 25-(OH)D is the major circulating vitamin D metabolite and is considered the best indicator of vitamin D status as determined by the sun and diet. Although recent prospective epidemiologic studies of higher predicted vitamin D status score and vitamin D intake and pancreatic cancer risk suggest protective associations, a nested case-control study showed a significant 3-fold increased risk for pancreatic cancer with higher vitamin D status. Limitations of these studies include the former do not measure vitamin D status on pancreatic cancer cases and the later was conducted in a male smoker population. More research is needed, particularly examination of pre-diagnostic vitamin D status and risk of pancreatic cancer, prior to conclusions for vitamin D's potential role in the etiology of this highly fatal cancer." end of copy

ANALYSIS:

While making it seem difficult, it appears these contradictory results reveal some facts to aid wise supplement choices.

1. Do not take vitamin D if you smoke. Since the hormone form of vitamin D offers cancer protection, smoking may interfere with this conversion and thus raise the amount of the nonactive vitamin D which is the measured form. The hormone form is made from the nonactive form.
2. Men need to be a little more cautious taking vitamin D according to results of some studies on prostate. Women seem to exhibit less adverse effects at higher doses.
3. Do not consume extra vitamin D if there is a family history of pancreatic cancers. There may be a genetic link to a missing or inactive gene. Plus, especially if undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer since vitamin D could block chemo drugs cancer cell killing action. ref
4. Maintain accepted ranges (25-35 ng/mL, 60-80 nmol/L) until science satisfies unanswered questions, unless under supervision of your health professional.
5. Some cancers produce a mechanism to destroy hormone vitamin D and prevent conversion of the storage form into the active hormone form. Other cancers do not. ref 

Reference: www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/vitamin-D 

More facts are needed. The recent explosion of higher Vitamin D dosages, 2500 up to 10,000 IUs (label says 1 per week) is not without some controversy. Just because toxicity of vitamin D is not often seen until 40,000 or more units taken over a period of time doesn't mean the actions of the higher D amounts are not without some adverse ramifications due to increased actions, other than from vitamin D toxicity. Read the vitamin D article on this website. An once of precaution is better than a pound of undoing future adverse effects. These effects may initially be positive and only later turn negative. Science is finding vitamin D relationships in many areas outside of bone health: Autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular health, diabetes, autism, depression, prostate and breast tissues, and the list is still growing.