A recent article from Dr. Donald Lamm, Chairman of the Department of Urology at the University of West Virginia and one of the leading investigators into bladder cancer, has published a report on mega dose vitamins for bladder cancer recurrence and has shown some excellent results.

Sixty-five patients were randomized to receive treatments of BCG, a medication placed directly into the bladder to help prevent the recurrence of bladder cancer. Half the patients received high doses of vitamins, and the other half received no extra vitamins. The group receiving the mega doses received 40,000 units of vitamin A, 100 mg of vitamin B6, 2000 mg of vitamin C, 400 units of vitamin E and 90 mg of zinc.

The study suggested no increase adverse reactions in the patients receiving the vitamin dose preparation other than the occasional upset stomach, which did not occur when the vitamins were taken with meals.

The final results in this one study suggest a higher recurrence rate in the patients receiving no extra vitamins. Overall, 80% of the patients who took no extra vitamins had recurrence of cancer, and only 40% of the patients who were receiving mega dose vitamins had recurrence of cancer.

One concern with the study is that other studies using BCG alone have shown significantly better results than the 80% recurrence rate, and some have shown only a 40% recurrence rate, the same as the vitamin protocol. This raises the possibility that the study population was skewed in some way.

In the end, the data about mega doses of vitamins is not absolutely clear, only suggestive. In addition, if a particular vitamin was in fact responsible for the improved results, it is still not clear which vitamin it was. All the vitamins listed above have shown some experimental benefit in cancer research in animals and humans. In the future, additional studies will be performed to determine if vitamins really prevent bladder cancer recurrence, and also, which vitamin or vitamins are the most active in preventing cancers to reappear.