Trial by Dr. Linus Pauling and Ewan Cameron in 1976 showed that vitamin C therapy was effective in increasing both the survival time and the quality of life of terminal cancer patients.
Vitamin C is considered a very strong reluctant and radical scavenger. Vitamin C reduces unstable oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur radicals.
The reduced cancer risk obtained from foods rich in vitamin C may be significant. For instance, study by Dr. Gladys Block in 1991 showed that reduce fat intake couple with elevated vitamin C consumption in cumulative and has the potential for reducing breast cancer risk by as much as 25%.
Vitamin C acts as primary defense against aqueous radicals in blood. Cancer cells, unlike other cells, have low amounts of antioxidant enzymes, notably catalase. In a healthy cell, catalase would convert peroxide to oxygen and water.
However, in a cancer cell, the peroxide quickly builds up to toxic levels and kills the cells.
Thus, by efficiently trapping peroxyl radicals in the aqueous phase before they can reach the lipid-rich membranes and initiate lipid peroxidation, vitamin C can protect bio-membranes against primary peroxidative damage.
Vitamin C and cancer