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New York's Memorial Sloan-Ketering Cancer Center, reporting in the Sept. 15 issue of Cancer Research, has found that cancerous tumors consume large amounts of vitamin C. Although the role of vitamin C in the development of tumors is not yet known, the researchers observed that their study was the first to demonstrate how cancer cells acquire the vitamin through their glucose transport mechanisms. The researchers also pointed out the possibility of interaction between antioxidants such as vitamin C, and chemotherapy drugs. They noted that "taking large amounts of vitamin C could interfere with the effects of chemotherapy or even radiation therapy, since these therapies often kill cells in part by using oxidative mechanisms. It is conceivable that vitamin C might make cancer treatment less effective and therefore reasonable that cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy should avoid taking large amounts of this vitamin."
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