Vitamin C is known as an antioxidant that fights against oxidative stress. Most chronic conditions have a link to oxidative stress such as autoimmune disease, heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, etc. Vitamin C plays an important role in making collagen in the body, muscle, blood vessels, collagen in bones, cartilage, and aids in the absorption of iron.
I am sure that most people have been supplementing vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to help boost their immune systems during the pandemic. It is an essential vitamin that we our bodies do not make on its own and we get about 20% of our vitamin C from vegetables and fruits. It is recommended that men get around 90mg and women 75 mg a day. The dose that is common to take as a supplement is around 1 to 2 gram per day. High dose vitamin C must be given via IV because it bypasses your gut and is 100% absorbed by the body. With high dose oral supplementation, the body controls the amount that can absorbed in the gut and when there is large quantity it causes unpleasant diarrhea.
High dose vitamin C therapy has been shown to help with all cancers but specifically lung, breast, liver, pancreatic, and aggressive brain cancer. At higher doses above 10 to 25 grams of vitamin C, it is a pro-oxidant which means that it can selectively kill cancer and other G6PD deficient cells. Being a pro-oxidant means that it makes hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) that explicitly destroys cancers cells while leaving normal cells untouched. This is due to cancer cells having an inability to the hydrogen peroxide from the cell. Additionally, it has some anti-inflammatory properties that cause the suppression of tumor proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, strengthen the immune system, antihistamine, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial affects.
We are not allowed to say that high dose vitamin C can cure cancer, but it very much is a great possible option to go along with traditional cancer treatments. It has been shown that high dose vitamin C IV therapy in conjunction with radiation and chemotherapy have better quality of life and fewer side effects than those who don’t do the high dose vitamin C therapy. Because chemotherapy and radiation cause oxidative stress in the body, there are lower levels of vitamin C which can produce many of the adverse reactions that cancer patients experience. Dr. Shallenberger has had great success in improving quality of life when his patients combine an ozone IV with the high dose vitamin C before, during, and after cancer treatments.
There are very few sides effects of high dose vitamin V IV therapy can be low blood sugar, thirst, electrolyte imbalances, and dehydration. To prevent dehydration, we specifically only give high dose vitamin C IV in sterile water per our compounding pharmacy’s recommendation and infuse it slowly over 1 to 3 hours. For safety purposes, we do require a blood test for G6PD deficiency for any vitamin C drips that are over 10 grams.