Limitations for the determination of anticancerogenic potential of vitamin C and other food nutrients: One of the important studies carried out to determine the effect of vitamin C on cancer is very significant since it finds the anticarcinogenic effect of the vitamin on prostate cancer with patients who do not use alcohol, but the same authors did not find any association between prostate cancer and the vitamin for the patients who drink alcohol regularly. It clearly shows that regular intake of alcohol is one of the crucial factors that may change the prospect of vitamin’s anticarcinogenic potential. On the other hand, a measurable amount of cohort studies to determine the effect of dietary nutrients and their supplements on cancer have been
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For example, Berndt et al. (2005) did not determine any significant association between vitamin C and prostate cancer in their study, but also added that the subjects in their study were all well-nourished. Here, the question of ‘is the anticarcinogenic potential of the vitamin due to the vitamin itself or any other nutrient since the subject in the study is well nourished?’ makes a barrier for us to believe and make a completely scientific evaluation of the findings of such cohorts. Another barrier in showing the anticarcinogenic potential of the vitamin (or any other nutrient) is the extension of the follow up. It is obvious that the longer the years of follow up is, the higher the sensitivit the cohort will have. Confirming this, Botterweck, van den Brandt and Goldbohm (2000) kept the follow up period as 6.3 years that was sufficient enough to catch any abnormal change on the effect of vitamin C on gastric carcinoma. Although they found an inverse association between the cancer and vitamin C for the first and the second years, they could not find the same effect after two years which might be due to a possible decrease in immunity of the subjects or increase of allergens or any similar harmful environmental substances or resistivity of cancer cells against vitamin by the time. Another factor that limits the …show more content…
The first three factors that affect the anti-cancer potential of the vitamin and may be a rationale for the controversial claims as related to the anti-cancer effect of it are; the type of the cancer, the dose of the vitamin and the company of the other vitamins and/or flavonoids. The vitamin with 0.25-1 mM/24h causes 50 % decrease in survival of human myeloid leukemia cell line, HL-60 (Park 2013) while normal cells are insensitive to 20 mM ascorbate (Chen et al.
For example, Berndt et al. (2005) did not determine any significant association between vitamin C and prostate cancer in their study, but also added that the subjects in their study were all well-nourished. Here, the question of ‘is the anticarcinogenic potential of the vitamin due to the vitamin itself or any other nutrient since the subject in the study is well nourished?’ makes a barrier for us to believe and make a completely scientific evaluation of the findings of such cohorts. Another barrier in showing the anticarcinogenic potential of the vitamin (or any other nutrient) is the extension of the follow up. It is obvious that the longer the years of follow up is, the higher the sensitivit the cohort will have. Confirming this, Botterweck, van den Brandt and Goldbohm (2000) kept the follow up period as 6.3 years that was sufficient enough to catch any abnormal change on the effect of vitamin C on gastric carcinoma. Although they found an inverse association between the cancer and vitamin C for the first and the second years, they could not find the same effect after two years which might be due to a possible decrease in immunity of the subjects or increase of allergens or any similar harmful environmental substances or resistivity of cancer cells against vitamin by the time. Another factor that limits the …show more content…
The first three factors that affect the anti-cancer potential of the vitamin and may be a rationale for the controversial claims as related to the anti-cancer effect of it are; the type of the cancer, the dose of the vitamin and the company of the other vitamins and/or flavonoids. The vitamin with 0.25-1 mM/24h causes 50 % decrease in survival of human myeloid leukemia cell line, HL-60 (Park 2013) while normal cells are insensitive to 20 mM ascorbate (Chen et al.