Dr. Stengler: Did you hear about the study on intravenous vitamin C and people with cancer? It was a study that shocked the medical community. In this video, I'm going to review a study done on patients with pancreatic cancer, talk about how intravenous vitamin C can be used as an integrative treatment for cancer, and get into the details of how it can help people's immune systems and those who are fighting cancer.
I'm Dr. Mark Stengler, a naturopathic medical doctor. I've been using integrative cancer therapies with patients for over 30 years, and I co-authored a book called Outside-the-Box Cancer Therapies with Dr. Paul Anderson, which gets into the details on intravenous vitamin C. But right now, I want you to get this information from this video.
So let's talk about the study. It was conducted at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa, and it had 34 patients with stage 4 pancreatic cancer — meaning the cancer had spread from the pancreas to other parts of the body. The overall 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is only 5%. All participants received IV chemotherapy weekly for 3 weeks of a 4-week cycle, and this went on for several months. Participants were then randomized to receive either the same chemotherapy alone, or chemotherapy plus high-dose intravenous vitamin C — 75 grams three times weekly, which is 75,000 milligrams.
Here are the results. Those who received chemotherapy plus intravenous vitamin C had a median survival of 16 months, compared to 8.3 months with chemotherapy alone. Also, those receiving the high-dose intravenous vitamin C had no negative impact on quality of life and no increase in the frequency or severity of adverse events. In fact, patients receiving intravenous vitamin C had a reduction in chemotherapy-related toxicity symptoms. For example, their white blood cell counts did not drop as low as those on chemotherapy only, and their platelets did not drop as severely either. As expected, those receiving intravenous vitamin C had blood levels of vitamin C 500 times higher than those who were not.
Now, while this study is very impressive in showing that intravenous vitamin C has clear benefit for people, it is not a cure — no one is claiming that. But when you have something as serious as metastatic pancreatic cancer, which is very difficult to treat in conventional medicine and has already spread to other parts of the body, and you can double a patient's lifespan — there is obviously a therapeutic effect going on.
Intravenous vitamin C is being taken more seriously in the medical community. Other studies have shown that patients who receive conventional treatments like radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery, and also receive intravenous vitamin C, have longer survival and better quality of life scores. It is a shame that intravenous vitamin C isn't a regular part of oncology — hopefully it will be. Right now it is integrative doctors like myself, throughout the country and in different parts of the world, who offer intravenous vitamin C to help patients suffering from cancer — improving their quality of life, giving them a better chance to recover alongside their conventional treatments.
Intravenous vitamin C works through many different mechanisms. One is that it generates hydrogen peroxide in cells, which is toxic to cancer cells. It also supports the immune system, has effects on cancer-fighting genes, and is anti-inflammatory — and remember, whenever you have a disease, especially cancer, there is definitely inflammation involved.
So if you have cancer, I highly recommend seeking out a health professional trained in intravenous vitamin C therapy. It is powerful, it is helpful, it can improve your quality of life and length of life, and combined with other therapies, it can be part of an integrative protocol to help you recover from cancer. I hope you found this video helpful, and you can visit my YouTube channel for other videos on this subject.
A new clinical study out of the University of Iowa is shaking up the oncology world—showing that high-dose intravenous vitamin C (HDIVC) doubled survival time in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Dr. Mark Stengler, a naturopathic medical doctor with over 30 years of integrative cancer experience, breaks down this study and the growing science behind IV vitamin C therapy in this must-watch video.
“This isn’t a cure—but for pancreatic cancer patients whose survival outlook is often grim, this kind of result is nothing short of remarkable.” —Dr. Mark Stengler
IV vitamin C offers several mechanisms of support:
Dr. Stengler co-authored Outside the Box Cancer Therapies with Dr. Paul Anderson, which explores HDIVC as part of a comprehensive cancer support protocol. This therapy, while still not widely adopted in conventional oncology, is increasingly used by integrative doctors around the world.
Contact the Stengler Center for Integrative Medicine in Encinitas, CA to schedule a personalized consultation.
