VITAMIN C AND CANCER
Author:
Date: Sunday, March 31, 1985
Page: A6
Section: EDITORIAL PAGE
There are some simple things that people can do to gain an edge against
cancer. Important as it is to know what they are, it is equally important to
know what does not work, inasmuch as nostrum-selling cancer quacks extract
millions of dollars every year from distraught cancer patients and their
families and, in the process, cost lives.
Two new documents help make such distinctions. Each has the potential for
enormous good, particularly insofar as the role of Vitamin C in cancer is
concerned.
One is a pocket-sized pamphlet, prepared by the National Cancer Institute.
In everyday language and on common-sense terms it sets forth rules of daily
living that may help ward off cancer. Its issuance is part of an emphasis on
cancer prevention recently adopted by the NCI.
Prevention is part of the NCI's campaign to cut the cancer death rate in
half by the year 2000. The heart of this program is public education, and the
cancer-prevention booklet is free. (The booklet - NIH Publication No 84-2671:
''Cancer Prevention" - may be ordered from the National Cancer Institute,
Building 31, Room 10A18, Bethesda, Md. 20205. )
The other report is less likely to reach the average household. It states
the findings of research at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and puts to rest the
notion, originally touted 10 years ago by Nobel Prize-winner Linus Pauling,
that vitamin C - at any dosage - cures cancer or even prolongs the life of
cancer patients. Megadoses of vitamin C did not save any cancer patients'
lives; moreover, they did not shrink the tumors nor lengthen survival time,
as Pauling had also suggested.
Vitamin C, however, seems to play a large role in cancer prevention.
A segment on nutrition in the NCI's booklet points out that "by choosing
carefully and eating a well-balanced diet, you may reduce your cancer risk."
Recommended are "fresh fruits and vegetables, especially those high in
vitamins A and C." Studies show people who regularly eat food rich in those
vitamins are less likely to develop various types of cancers.
Cast against the estimate of 910,000 new cancer cases this year in the
United States, any benefit that may derive from simple lifestyle changes to
prevent cancer takes on great significance.
LMCLAU;03/27,15:10 NKELLY;04/01,19:31 VITAMINC
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