Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant with benefits including immune enhancement, protection from viruses and bacteria, cardiovascular protection, eye diseases and wrinkles. However, what people may not know is that high-dose IV Vitamin C, can kill cancer cells.
HOW HIGH-DOSE IV VITAMIN-C KILLS CANCER CELLS:
High-dose Vitamin-C works with metals in the body to create hydrogen peroxide. Normal cells have the ability to reduce the effects of hydrogen peroxide by converting it into antioxidants, whereas cancer cells do not have that ability. The high concentration of the resulting hydrogen peroxide damages the DNA of the cancer cells, cuts off their energy supply and kills them. Vitamin-C, even in high doses, is toxic only to the cancer cells without harming the healthy cells in your body.
Opponents to the use of Vitamin-C as a chemotherapeutic agent believe that it actually can protect cancer cells. However, this is only potentially true if small doses are used. Small doses may help the cancer cells arm themselves against the free-radical induced damage caused by chemotherapy and radiation. Only higher doses of Vitamin-C will selectively build up as peroxide in the cancer cells to the point of acting in a manner similar to chemotherapy. These tumor-toxic dosages can only be obtained by intravenous administration.
In addition to it’s benefit as a non-toxic chemotherapeutic agent, intravenous Vitamin-C also boosts immunity. It can stimulate collagen formation to help the body wall off the tumor. It inhibits hyaluronidase, an enzyme that tumors use to metastasize and invade other organs throughout the body. It induces apoptosis to help program cancer cells into dying early.
Oral high-dose Vitamin-C does not have the same cancer killing results. The only way to get the blood levels of Vitamin-C high enough to kill cancer cells is to administer it intravenously. Our intestinal tract limits the amount of Vitamin-C we can absorb and is not tolerated by our digestive system at these levels. Even if you ingested only 10 g of Vitamin-C, you would only absorb approximately 5% (.5g) and would certainly develop a pretty severe case of diarrhea. Vitamin-C administered intravenously has the benefit of bypassing this control system and you absorb 100% of the intake. Moreover, it does not cause stomach upset or diarrhea.
Vitamin-C has been used successfully for over 70 years without a single confirmed report of any dose, even a mega-dose, causing any significant harm to an individual. The only thing you must be aware of and care for properly when you are ready to stop treatments, you must wean yourself off slowly and not cold-turkey. For the safest results, it is recommended to take the Vitamin-C 2x per week for 3-6 months, then 1x per week for 3-6 months and then 2x per month for 3-6 months and then 1x per month for 3-6 months.
IF VITAMIN-C IS SAFE AND EFFECTIVELY FIGHTS CANCER, WHY DOESN’T TRADITIONAL MEDICINE OFFER IT?
One of the biggest hurdles is the critics pointing to the lack of controlled double-blind studies demonstrating Vitamin-C’s efficacy in treating cancer. Double-blind studies are typically conducted by pharmaceutical companies. The studies are huge undertakings and prohibitively expensive. Vitamin-C is a naturally occurring nutrient that cannot be patented and, therefore, drug companies are not willing to sponsor the research. Moreover, the billion-dollar cancer drug industry does not want to prove that a naturally occurring Vitamin is more effective than their drugs. They would be putting themselves out of business. And don’t forget, cancer is huge business.
HIGH-DOSE VITAMIN-C AND THE DR. BURT BERKSON PROTOCOL TAKES FIGHTING CANCER EVEN FURTHER:
The combination of Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) and Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) taken simultaneously is the base of the Burt Berkson protocol, but then also taken in combination with high-dose Vitamin-C creates the ultimate antioxidant trifecta. It is important to understand what ALA and LDN is and how the work in the fight against cancer and auto-immune disorders.
ALPHA LIPOIC ACID (ALA)
We’re all alive because of lipoic acid. You eat food, and the food is converted into something called pyruvate. This is done without oxygen. Cancer cells only go this far…they just kind of move sluggishly along, and are very difficult to kill. Normal human cells have to change that pyruvate into acetyl Co A, which is the fuel for the mitochondria (the energy factory of the cell). This is how our cells normally metabolize food. So what turns the pyruvate into the fuel for our cells? There is an enzyme called pyruvate dehydrogenase, and a major part of that enzyme is alpha lipoic acid (ALA). In other words, without lipoic acid, we would not be alive. It converts our food into fuel for the energy factory of our cells. So, ALA forces cancer cell metabolism (without oxygen) into normal metabolism and floods them with oxygen. When this is done, they tend to undergo apoptosis (cell death).
Intravenous ALA is much more effective than oral dosages, because ~98% of oral ALA is metabolized by the liver and does not make it to the body’s cells. Per Dr. Berkson, ALA can cause mitochondria to explode in too high of a dose, so you must be careful. Having said that, he recommends 300mg of ALA taken twice daily along with a mega B Complex multivitamin.
LOW DOSE NALTREXONE (LDN)
Low dose naltrexone produces a temporary blockade of the opiate release system which fools the brain into thinking there are not enough endogenous opiates in the blood stream. In the morning (when LDN is taken at night), a flood of endogenous opiates are released and at least one or more endorphins (e.g. Met-Enkephalin endorphins) bind to the cancer cells and cause them to die.
Low Dose Naltrexone is only to be taken orally and you must build up a tolerance to take the full 4.5mg daily dose. Getting started, week 1 take a ¼ pill everyday, then a ½ pill everyday for week 2, a ¾ pill everyday for week 3, and then the full 4.5mg dose by week 4. For the best cancer support impact, take the full dose 4 nights on, and then 3 nights off. Here is more info on LDN research.