Chapter 5 – Vitamins

In this chapter we discuss the different vitamins that have been shown to prevent cancer. They are listed in order of importance.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is the most widely-taken vitamin. It is known as one of the strongest antioxidants, and it performs many essential functions in the body. One of its most important functions is its role in the production of collagen. Collagen is important because it is the main structural fiber found in connective tissue that includes the skin, bones, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, as well as the connective tissue of most of our important organs. It strengthens the immune system significantly and helps heal wounds. The boost that it gives the immune system is probably the reason that it also helps prevent colds and reduces their duration and severity.

It is believed to protect against infections by strengthening cell membranes that prevent viruses from entering the cells. As an antioxidant, it counteracts or prevents the damage done by free radicals that can lead to cancer. Lastly, it has also been discovered that vitamin C boosts the antioxidant activity of vitamin E by preventing it from becoming oxidized itself.

Prior to the 1800s, sailors on long voyages used to develop a wasting (and often fatal) disease called scurvy. Fortunately, it was discovered that eating a citrus fruit each day prevented scurvy. We now know that scurvy is a vitamin C-deficiency disease. It is interesting to note that human beings, other primates and guinea pigs are pretty much the only animals that don't produce their own vitamin C. We need to consume it.

Linus Pauling, two-time Nobel Peace Prize winner, dedicated the latter part of his career to studying the effects of vitamin C on cancer. He concluded that mega-doses of vitamin C were effective in preventing and treating cancer. Vitamin C is one of the eight essential substances in Dr. Cornelius Moerman's cancer prevention and treatment program, which is accepted and officially recognized in the Netherlands.

Vitamin C has been especially linked to a reduction in stomach cancer risk. It has been shown that populations with low vitamin C intake have higher stomach cancer rates. One big reason for this is that a class of compounds called nitrosamines is believed to lead to stomach cancer. Nitrosamines are formed from the nitrates and nitrites in foods, especially processed meats (such as cold-cuts and sausages). Vitamin C has been shown to restrict the formation of nitrosamines. It also reduces stomach cancer risk by reducing the potential of gastric juices to mutate stomach cells. A study done at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center found that the dangerous strain of the Helicobacter pylori bacteria, which has been conclusively linked to stomach cancer, is significantly reduced in Caucasians who have higher serum levels of vitamin C.

Stomach cancer used to be the most common form of cancer in the United States, yet it has been on the decline since around 1930. This decline can probably be attributed to the increased consumption of orange juice in the home, which probably resulted from the development of frozen orange juice at around that time. It is interesting to note that the Japanese have lower cancer rates in general, and of many cancers in particular, than Americans. However, they have higher stomach cancer rates, and it is believed that it is their low orange juice consumption that leads to these higher rates.

Numerous studies have been done on vitamin C and cancer. James E. Enstrom, Ph.D., and colleagues from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), analyzed the vitamin C consumption and mortality rates of some 12,000 adults over 10 years. The study found that those with the highest vitamin C intake had the lowest cancer and cardiovascular mortality rates, and that they lived an average of six years longer than those with a low vitamin C intake. Numerous studies have shown that low vitamin C intake is associated with higher rates of stomach and esophageal cancer. A study in New York showed that cervical dysplasia, a condition that often leads to cervical cancer in women, was associated with low vitamin C intake. Researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada determined that there is an inverse relationship between vitamin C consumption and breast cancer. In 1999, a Harvard School of Public Health study of 83,000 nurses also demonstrated an inverse correlation between vitamin C intake and breast cancer in premenopausal women, especially for those with a family history of breast cancer.

The Institute believes that vitamin C is one of the most important substances the body needs to prevent many diseases including cancer. Vitamin C is a very strong antioxidant. In addition to helping prevent and treat cancer, vitamin C will protect the body in general, and in most people who are in otherwise good health will prevent even the common cold, especially when taken in large doses together with other antioxidants such as vitamin E. Vitamin C is water-soluble, which means that any excess amounts taken are eliminated through the urine, as opposed to fat-soluble vitamins that are stored in body fat and the liver. Hence, it is pretty safe to take vitamin C even in large doses.

The best natural sources of vitamin C include all citrus fruits (oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes), guava, strawberries, kiwi, cantaloupes, broccoli, tomatoes, and peppers.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is considered one of the strongest fat-soluble antioxidants. Besides cancer-prevention, it is well-known for healing the skin, reducing the risk of heart disease, boosting the immune system in general, and potentially for male virility. Vitamin E is known to protect cell membranes from the damage caused by free radicals, which as we have mentioned before can lead to cancer. This protection of the cell membranes is important because they are the first line of defense at the cellular level against mutagens that could alter the cell's DNA. It is also believed to inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol). The oxidation of LDL cholesterol is what leads to plaque build-up in arteries and usually leads to heart disease. Hence, vitamin E also helps prevent heart disease. Just as vitamin C boosts the effect and longevity of vitamin E, vitamin E does the same for vitamin A.

Vitamin E is found in nuts, vegetable oils, green leafy vegetables, wheat germ and whole grains. It is found in many fatty foods, which is the reason that most health-conscious people usually do not obtain even the RDA amounts of this vitamin. Although the RDA is 30 IU, most supplements come in capsules of 400 IU, which is in line with what most researchers consider a therapeutic dose. If one considers the low amounts of vitamin E found in the foods that contain the most vitamin E, it is easy to see why it is basically impossible to obtain the necessary amounts of this vitamin from dietary sources. For example, you would have to eat around 60 almonds to obtain the RDA. You would have to consume around 800 almonds each day to reach the therapeutic dose. So supplements are definitely in order for this important vitamin.

There are eight different forms of vitamin E. The two broad categories are: tocopherols and tocotrienols. For each category, there are four types: alpha (α), beta (β), gamma (γ), delta (δ). The tocopherols are considered the most important of the two categories. Alpha-tocopherol is considered by many to be the most important form of tocopherols because it is believed to be the strongest antioxidant and the most readily absorbable and available form.

Of the different alpha- forms, alpha-tocopherol and alpha-tocopheryl succinate seem to be the most effective forms in terms of cancer prevention. However, evidence suggests that the lesser-known gamma-tocopherol might be as important as, or even more important than, the alpha form. For example, Michigan scientists found that gamma-tocopherol has much greater preventive effects on prostate cancer than does the alpha form. Other studies have shown that protection against heart disease is greatest when vitamin E comes in the gamma form, not alpha. In addition, heart disease patients have reduced gamma- levels in their blood serum (but not alpha-), and when chronic smokers quit smoking their gamma- levels shoot up rapidly. A University of California, Berkley study found that gamma-tocopherol killed cancerous lab-cultured prostate cells whereas it had no effect on normal prostate cells. The study also found that more cancerous cells die as the amount of gamma-tocopherol was increased, while the growth of healthy prostate cells was unaffected.

Tocotrienols are also believed to have anticancer properties; however, less research has been done on these than on tocopherols. The main dietary sources are bran, rice bran oil, palm oil, and grape seed oil. Supplements are available, but are generally quite expensive.

In his book Antioxidants Against Cancer, Ralph Moss, a leading expert in cancer prevention and treatment, describes some of the studies that have been done on vitamin E that demonstrate its effectiveness in reducing cancer risk. Patients that were given vitamin E during 24 weeks showed a 46 percent reduction in premalignant changes in the mouth. In another study, when a combination of vitamin E and fish oil was given to cancer patients, their immune systems were strengthened and they lived longer than those receiving a placebo. Scientists in Switzerland found that a tumor growth stimulant is inhibited by vitamin E. They also found that older people that took vitamin E supplements had a 41percent lower likelihood of dying from cancer and 40percent lower likelihood of dying from heart disease. A different Swiss study that lasted several decades found that low vitamin E levels were related to increased risk of prostate cancer, especially in smokers. In another study, at Tufts University, researchers found that people that take vitamin E have a 30percent lower incidence of infections versus those that don't take vitamin E. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have also found that lung cancer risk is lowered by around 20percent for smokers.

A large, eight-year study in Finland in 1997 found that the incidence of prostate cancer was 32 percent lower in subjects taking vitamin E versus those that did not take it; the mortality rate was 41 percent lower. The p53 gene is a very important tumor-suppressor gene that usually prevents changes in cells that can turn them cancerous. University researchers have shown that vitamin E reduces the mutation of the p53 gene. Vitamin A, C and E supplementation was shown to reduce p53 mutations by four times. The p53 gene is estimated to be mutated in as many as 70 percent of cancers.

We believe that you need a balance of all four kinds of tocopherols. For this reason we recommend that you get as much of your vitamin E as you can from food sources and that, if you take supplements, which you probably should, they contain the four forms of the vitamin (or at least a mix of the alpha and gamma forms).

11