ReviewJournal of cancer research and clinical oncology2021
Clinical efficacy and safety of oral and intravenous vitamin C use in patients with malignant diseases.
Review in Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metabolites and cancer metastasis.Oncogene · 2026Review
- Review
- High-dose vitamin C as a metabolic treatment of cancer: a new dimension in the era of adjuvant and intensive therapy.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2025Review
- Vitamin C in the Management of Thyroid Cancer: A Highway to New Treatment?Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Anti-Cancer Properties of Two Intravenously Administrable Curcumin Formulations as Evaluated in the 3D Patient-Derived Cancer Spheroid Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of a New Mixture of Vitamin C, Collagen Peptides, Resveratrol, and Astaxanthin in Tenocytes: Molecular Basis for Future Applications in Tendinopathies.Mediators of inflammation · 2024Article
- Genetically predicted vitamin C levels significantly affect patient survival and immunotypes in multiple cancer types.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Premature ovarian insufficiency: a review on the role of oxidative stress and the application of antioxidants.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Review
- The Self-Administered Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Supplements and Antioxidants in Cancer Therapy and the Critical Role of Nrf-2-A Systematic Review.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The Variable Nature of Vitamin C-Does It Help When Dealing with Coronavirus?Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The Interplay of Ascorbic Acid with Quinones-Chelators-Influence on Lipid Peroxidation: Insight into Anticancer Activity.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Megadose Vitamin C Prescription Through Alternative Medicine Leading to End-Stage Renal Disease: Case Study and Literature Review.Journal of investigative medicine high impact case reportsReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundVitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble antioxidant and free radical scavenger. It is required in the body for numerous metabolic functions and is involved in the development of proteins and connective tissue.
methodsIn April 2020, a systematic search was carried out on five electronic databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane, Cinahl, PsycINFO) to find studies on the use, efficacy and safety of a complementary therapy with vitamin C in oncological patients.
resultsOut of the initial 23,195 search results, 21 studies with 1961 patients were included in this review. Five of the included studies (n = 417) were randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The remaining 16 studies belonged to a lower class of evidence. The patients who were treated with vitamin C suffered from various malignant diseases, some in an advanced and palliative stage. Vitamin C was applied intravenously or orally. It was either the only treatment or was combined with chemo- or radiotherapy. Endpoints included the development of the disease-related symptoms, quality of life, mortality, progression-free survival and safety of vitamin C. The studies were of moderate quality and showed either no effect of vitamin C or a positive trend, although this has rarely been statistically proven in group comparisons. No or only slight side effects with both oral and intravenous administration of vitamin C were reported.
conclusionOral intake of vitamin C does not appear to have any effect in patients with malignancies. Data are heterogeneous for intravenous administration. There are no RCTs with statistical group comparisons.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.