Scientists from the USC Longevity Institute and elsewhere found that vitamin C combined with a fasting-mimicking diet may help fight against some hard-to-treat cancers.
They found that the combination delayed tumor progression in colorectal cancer.
The research is published in Nature Communications and was conducted by Valter Longo et al.
The fasting-mimicking diet is a specific meal plan formulated to simulate the fasting state while providing nutrients and calories.
It does this by finding a “sweet spot” in the body where the benefits of fasting still occur, and pathways that block the benefits of fasting are not activated.
Prior findings on the cancer-fighting potential of vitamin C have been mixed.
In this study, the team aimed to find out whether a fasting-mimicking diet could enhance the high-dose vitamin C tumor-fighting action by creating an environment that would be unsustainable for cancer cells but still safe for normal cells.
Their experiment showed remarkable effects. When used alone, a fasting-mimicking diet or vitamin C alone reduced cancer cell growth and caused a minor increase in cancer cell death.
But when used together, they had a dramatic effect, killing almost all cancerous cells.
The team detected this strong effect only in cancer cells that had a mutation that is regarded as one of the most challenging targets in cancer research.
These mutations in the KRAS gene signal the body is resisting most cancer-fighting treatments, and they reduce a patient’s survival rate.
KRAS mutations occur in approximately a quarter of all human cancers and are estimated to occur in up to half of all colorectal cancers.
The study also provided clues about why previous studies of vitamin C as a potential anticancer therapy showed limited efficacy.
By itself, a vitamin C treatment appears to trigger the KRAS-mutated cells to protect cancer cells by increasing levels of ferritin, a protein that binds iron.
But by reducing levels of ferritin, the scientists managed to increase vitamin C’s toxicity for the cancer cells.
The team also discovered that colorectal cancer patients with high levels of iron-binding protein have a lower chance of survival.
This study took two treatments that are studied extensively as interventions to delay aging — a fasting-mimicking diet and vitamin C — and combined them as a powerful treatment for cancer.
Their findings suggest that a low-toxicity treatment with a fasting-mimicking diet plus vitamin C has the potential to replace more toxic treatments.
The researchers say that while fasting remains a challenging option for cancer patients, a safer, more feasible option is a low-calorie, plant-based diet that causes cells to respond as if the body were fasting.
If you care about supplements, please read studies about vitamin that is important for your cancer prevention, and vitamin D deficiency linked to higher COVID-19 death risk.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies about why green tea could suppress cancer, and results showing vitamin D may help avoid tens of thousands of cancer deaths .
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