Vitamin C may help stop cancer cells, but only in IV doses.

[acroyear]

Stochastic, The Seed Blog:

Fortunately for poor old Pauling [the Nobel prize winner who late in life was pro-Vitamin C, only to be discredited as no-one could duplicate his results of its effecacy], this story might yet have a happy ending. Two papers published in the last year are forcing a re-appraisal of vitamin C's effects on cancer. The first, from the September 20th, 2005 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that vitamin C selectively killed various cancer cell types, leaving normal cells unharmed, but only when in serum concentrations achievable solely via intravenous administration.

The second study, published in the March 28th, 2006 Canadian Medical Association Journal, presented 3 well-documented cases where intravenous injections of very high doses of vitamin C had apparently extended the lives of advanced cancer patients. An accompanying commentary should temper any pro-Pauling optimism with its discussion of spontaneous remission rates and unknown sample sizes, but it leaves the question open and the door cracked for further inquiry.

Others at scienceblogs.com are still skeptical...

Aetiology: Linus Pauling--is Vitamin C the cure for cancer?:

I just thought I'd weigh in a bit on the science of the issue, particularly since Lee makes it seem as if Pauling has been unfairly maligned.

She then does a quick analsys of the studies of Vitamin-C and intravenous to see what has actually been done in the meantime, and finds more inconclusive studies than these two.