We all need Vitamin C. It is an essential vitamin. Long before you get the disease Scurvy, from not having enough Vitamin C, your body can begin to "break down" in a variety of other ways. Dentists can often detect signs of Vitamin C deficiency while examining your teeth because they will bleed more than a person with a better diet.

Smokers have also been found to "use up" their Vitamin C more quickly. This means that they have a great dietary need of Vitamin C. Of course, not smoking is also a handy thing to do as well.

A new, but small, study shows additional hope that Vitamin C may help the body fight cancer.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal states "Early clinical studies showed that high-dose vitamin C, given by intravenous and oral routes, may improve symptoms and prolong life in patients with terminal cancer." CMAJ • March 28, 2006; 174 (7). doi:10.1503/cmaj.050346.

The paper also indicates that oral doses did not appear to have any effect. Of course, they also didn't report if chemical assays like the ORAC assay were performed on the oral Vitamin C supplements to prove they were chemically effective. It is difficult to study Vitamin C if it's not there.

It is also likely that the human body, in this special needs scenario, is not designed to absorb that much Vitamin C from food or supplements. The IV gets around this and may be able to maintain higher levels in the blood for longer periods of time. Of course, we should all continue to get sufficient dietary Vitamin C on a daily basis. This report is about a special application of Vitamin C.

This is very promising news and a further indication of how important Vitamin C is, as a nutrient, as well as how correct Dr Linus Pauling was when he described the importance of Vitamin C. Sadly the two time Nobel Prize winner was ridiculed in his life over his Vitamin C pronouncements because he was talking about nutrition. Gee, who’s the crackpot now?

It’s great to see studies like this in a sea of otherwise moronic reports from the media reporting on the dangers of nutrition. Reports written by generalists who lack sufficient background in nutrition and fail to report the various studies in their proper context. One recent study suggested that Calcium and Vitamin D had no benefit for women and bone density loss. The data of the study also reported that most of the women also mentioned that they were not taking their supplements with any regularity. In any other study this would be called non-compliance, but about 99% of the reporters didn’t pick up on that. I guess they didn’t have any nutritionally-oriented advertisers to slant their bias back to center.