New scientific studies have given new support to the idea that vitamin C can help in cancer treatment. In the past, doctors did not see clear benefits when patients took vitamin C as pills. However, recent research shows that giving vitamin C through a drip into the vein (called intravenous, or IV) can make vitamin C levels in the blood much higher than taking it by mouth.

This works because the body can't absorb very large amounts of vitamin C from food or pills, but IV vitamin C goes straight into the blood. When vitamin C reaches very high levels this way, it changes from protecting cells to attacking cancer cells by making a chemical that is harmful to them.

Because of these findings, some clinical trials are now testing IV vitamin C together with usual cancer treatments like chemotherapy. These trials hope to see if it can help patients more and make treatments less hard.