The Treatment of Cancer With Vitamin C: A History

This site presents some chapters from an unfinished book about vitamin C and cancer. The book tries to cover this subject more completely and systematically than has been done before. Because I am resuming work on this project after a lapse of several years, the book is not entirely up to date. None of what is presented here is in a final and polished form.  I hope that feedback from readers will speed its development into a finished work.

I have tried to evaluate the evidence in accordance with ordinary scientific standards. The book is hopefully free of any ideological bias in favor of alternative medicine or against mainstream medicine. However, one thesis of the book is that mainstream oncology has not taken an appropriate interest in the full range of anticancer effects reported in the scientific literature. In fact, a large number of agents, reported to produce such effects, have never investigated by oncologists. Thus, vitamin C is representative of a wider group of potential cancer therapies.

In general, the interest of these non-conventional agents is not that they have shown spectacular therapeutic benefits that oncologists have criminally neglected. What the scientific literature on cancer describes is the often modest activity of these agents in model systems. By model systems I mean the test systems that are used to screen for anticancer effects and that will hopefully predict responses in human cancer patients. These systems usually involve tumor bearing experimental animals or cancer cells cultured in laboratory vessels (in vitro).

Why should oncologists be interested in the merely modest effects of such novel agents?

Oncology ought to be enormously interested in these agents because they are different in kind from the conventional therapies that have dominated cancer treatment in the United States since the 1960s or 70s. Their mechanisms of action seem to be selective. They do not involve the killing of all rapidly dividing cells, cancerous or not, characteristic of chemotherapy and radiation. This is reflected in the fact that most of these agents are, to a first approximation, non-toxic.

Another reason oncologists should be interested, is that synergies are often seen when multiple agents are tested together. Because these agents are generally non-toxic, they can be freely combined. This offers the possibility of developing these combinations into clinically effective therapies, even when the individual agents have only modest effects. There is also evidence that some of these agents can enhance the effectiveness of conventional cancer treatments.

Another consideration is that most of these unconventional agents are naturally occuring and readily available components of plants or animals. This suggests that these agents will not have the enormous development costs of the new anticancer agents coming from the biotechnology industry. There is some reasonable presumption of greater safety of these compounds relative to conventional cancer therapies. While it would be absurd to equate "natural" with "harmless", there is some logic in the view that organisms are more likely to safely detoxify naturally occuring compounds. The existence of the scientifically accepted term "xenobiotics" (for compounds not of biological origin), supports the validity of this distinction.

My intention when I began this book was to produce something that the educated non-specialist could comfortably read. Unfortunately, the introductory chapters on vitamin C and cancer are still unfinished and not included here. Still I think the interested non-specialist will find these chapters managable.

While this book is intended for a general audience, it still provides a very complete set of references. Except for the introduction, which speaks in generalities and does not include any citations, the book is referenced as densely as is usual in specialist publications.

I hold a doctorate in experimental psychology, which prepares me to deal with many methodological and statistical issues. My graduate education in psychology included an emphasis on the biological side of things. I worked as a technician in biomedical research labs while in graduate school.

On the other hand, I certainly have no credentials in the cancer field. Why would I presume to write about this topic? One reason was that I found oncologists' treatment of the subject superficial and unsatisfactory. Many authors seemed to lack a proper familiarity with the literature. No previous work on this topic has utilized the same range of sources as the present book.

Another exasperating feature of oncology's response has been the mindless dismissal of studies and clinical observations on the basis of methodological imperfection. Undoubtedly, randomized double-blind studies provide more secure evidence than the impressions of clinicians. However, this does not justify a refusal to weigh imperfect but strongly suggestive evidence not derived from such studies. This point is developed at length in the introduction and in chapter six.

It seemed to me that a first step in producing a book about this topic, would be to solicit input from oncologists, from the specialists in this field. Unfortunately, oncologists seem to be allergic to this topic or perhaps simply too busy to reply. I have never been able to obtain the kind of feedback I was seeking. I will be happy to respond to comments from any of my readers, but I would be particularly grateful for responses from people who work in the cancer field. And even more grateful for input from the representatives of orthodoxy, whose minds I would like to change.

Comments can be addressed to: peter_b_keen@yahoo.com (what appear to be spaces in the email address are underscores) or by clicking on "E-mail" at the left top of pages at this site. Unless you indicate that you wish otherwise, your comments, edited for length and appropriateness, may appear on this site's discussion page.

Planned and Completed Chapters

Chapters currently on this site (in part or in whole) are listed below in bold.

Chapter 0.  Introduction

Chapter 1.  Vitamin C

Chapter 2.  Cancer

Chapter 3.  Methodology

Chapter 4.  Ewan Cameron and Linus Pauling

Chapter 5.  Benefits From High-dose Vitamin C Treatment: Cameron and Others

Chapter 6.  The Mayo Clinic Studies: Why Were No Anticancer Effects Detected?

Chapter 7.  Anticancer Effects in Experimental Animals and Cell Culture

Chapter 8.  The Biology and Medical Significance of Ascorbate in Human Beings

Chapter 9.  The Mentality of Mainstream Oncology

Chapter 10. Conclusions

The material that appears here is copyrighted. However, it may be freely reproduced unaltered, with a citation of the source and with inclusion of this copyright notice.