Large doses of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) have been proposed as treatments or cures for various types of cancer, including breast cancer. Vitamin C is a micronutrient vital to human health. Relatively high intakes of dietary vitamin C (i.e., from consuming food) have been found to be associated with lower risk of childhood leukemia, as well as colon, endometrial, lung and prostate cancer, among others.
The case for vitamin C supplementation is based, in part, on the observation that breast cancer patients tend to have low blood levels of antioxidants compared with healthy women, indicating that the patients have exhausted the antioxidant defenses of the body and are vulnerable to oxidative damage that could further promote breast cancer.
Moderate vitamin C supplementation has been found to be associated with lower risk of some cancers, among them bladder cancer in men and colon cancer in women. Relatively high dietary intake of vitamin C has also been shown to be associated with lower breast density (a breast cancer risk factor) in young women. However, one major 2021 study reported that high circulating vitamin C was not associated with lower breast cancer risk.
Laboratory studies have found that vitamin C at various concentrations inhibits human breast cancer cell growth. A 2021 meta-analysis of previous studies reported that supplementation with vitamin C was associated with lower total mortality and lower cancer recurrence among breast cancer survivors. However, we are not aware of any academic studies that demonstrate a survival benefit for women being treated with high doses of vitamin C.
Recent evidence suggests that vitamin C should not be taken during radiotherapy or treatment with tamoxifen since it has been shown to protect breast cancer cells against these treatments under some circumstances.

Dietary sources of vitamin C

The following foods are good dietary sources of vitamin C while also having been shown to protect against breast cancer:
Vitamin C appears to act synergistically with other nutrients in the diet to oppose cancer. On the other hand, high doses of vitamin C may extinguish the anti-cancer effects of some other micronutrients known to be protective against breast cancer.

Bottom line

Most breast cancer patients, survivors and those at high risk are in a good position to obtain their vitamin C through a tailored breast cancer diet. Supplementation with vitamin C is not necessary and treatment with high doses of vitamin C could be counterproductive. Vitamin C supplements should not be taken during radiotherapy, chemotherapy or tamoxifen treatment.

Sources of information provided in this webpage

The information above, which is updated continually as new research becomes available, has been developed based solely on the results of academic studies. Clicking on any of the underlined terms will take you to its tag or webpage, which contain more extensive information.
Below are links to 20 recent studies concerning this topic. For a more complete list of studies, please click on vitamin C.