vitamin C
Linus Pauling's legacy continues, much to the chagrin of the pharmaceutical industry. In a shocking new discovery published in the scientific journal, Oncotarget, researchers have detailed how a single, inexpensive nutrient, Vitamin C, can completely halt the growth of cancer in stem cells when used in concentrated amounts. The vitamin is so amazing, it was found to be 1,000 percent more effective than one clinical drug that is currently prescribed all too often to treat cancer, and another that is pending U.S. FDA approval.

The study, conducted at the University of Salford in Manchester looked at metabolism in cancerous cells. Researchers compared 3 natural substances, including Vitamin C, against 3 experimental pharmaceutical drugs, (meaning that they have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration) and one drug that is already in widespread use.

The researchers stated,
We have discovered that NAD(P)H auto-fluorescence and several mitochondrial-based fluorescent probes can all be employed to enrich for a population of cells with the characteristics of CSCs. In accordance with these observations, we also demonstrate that 7 different inhibitors of key energetic pathways can be used to effectively block CSC propagation, including three natural products (silibinin, ascorbic acid and CAPE). Future studies will be necessary to test their potential for clinical benefit in cancer patients."
In layman's terms, the study found that silibinin (an extract of milk thistle seeds), Vitamin C, and CAPE (caffeic acid phenethyl ester) were effective cancer treatments, but detailed elsewhere in the report, it was found that Vitamin C was 10 times more potent than 2-DG, an experimental pharmaceutical drug, for the targeting of cancerous stem cells.

Though the study is being touted as "the first real evidence" that Vitamin C, otherwise known as ascorbic acid, can kill cancer stem cells (CSCs) - the very same cells that fuel the growth of cancerous tumors - way back in 2006, there were two more studies published by the "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) crowd as evidence that Linus Pauling was vindicated.

It stands to note that cancer stem-like cells are thought to be the root cause of chemotherapy resistance, leading to treatment failure in patients with advanced disease and the triggers of tumor recurrence and metastasis (regrowth of cancer cells).

Whether those studies vindicated Pauling or not, this latest research offers irrefutable evidence that he was on to something big.

If you aren't familiar with Pauling's work, he was the only person ever to win two unshared Nobel prizes. He also happened to propose, along with Dr. Ewan Cameron, that even "terminal" cancer patients treated with 10,000 mg of Vitamin C, administered through an IV, could survive three to four times longer than patients who did not receive such treatment.

Of course, the industry was quick to try to poo-poo his achievements. His study was called "poorly designed," and though there is a Linus Pauling Institute carrying on his work to this day, we still don't routinely prescribe Vitamin C treatments for cancer patients, though there has been corroborating evidence that it highly effective appearing repeatedly since Pauling's discovery in the 1970s.


Comment: Dr. Linus Pauling: Revising his work on vitamin C
The best thing about Pauling's work has been that it was authored by a scientist who was simply too big and too powerful to totally ignore. By all accounts he was a great and compassionate human being with immense powers of observation and deduction. He coupled these rare talents with a stoic affection for the truth and a commitment to defend it (a rare attribute in the scientific community) whatever the odds.

He will be remembered for many of his great works, but final recognition for his pioneering work in cancer treatment and prevention through the use of vitamin C may yet turn out to be his final and posthumous accolade.

Follow up research now evidences three vital roles that vitamin C plays in the fight against cancer. Firstly, it inhibits tumour growth by regulating proper cell tissue integrity, secondly it greatly enhances the immune system when ingested in sufficient quantities, and finally it has cytotoxic properties, which means that, in combination with other natural substances, it can kill cancer cells without damaging the healthy ones. In other words it acts as a kind of non-toxic chemotherapy.

With the latest results published in Oncotarget, about Vitamin C's efficacy to treat cancer, there can no longer be any question that the chemotherapy industry has been making trillions from people's useless "fight" against cancer - a disease that has dozens of natural cures - Vitamin C being just one of many.

What does Vitamin C have in common with milk thistle extract, cannabis, turmeric, and over 200 additional natural cancer cures? It can't be patented. And yet we wonder why there is still a massive chemotherapy and cancer drug industry.

About the author

Christina Sarich is a musician, yogi, humanitarian and freelance writer who channels many hours of studying Lao Tzu, Paramahansa Yogananda, Rob Brezny, Miles Davis, and Tom Robbins into interesting tidbits to help you Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and *See the Big Picture*. Her blog is Yoga for the New World . Her latest book is Pharma Sutra: Healing The Body And Mind Through The Art Of Yoga.