Impact of Vitamin C intake on the Quality of Life in Head and Neck Cancer Patients of North India

Alternative medicines are most sought after directions when the patients are diagnosed with high grade carcinomas. The rise in the use of dietary supplements and herbal medications by patients makes it imperative to re-evaluate the past findings of clinical studies. Among unconventional approaches, high dose vitamin C is one of the most widely used and studied, yet controversial approaches. In case of the high-symptom burden and high morbidity, evaluation of quality of life (QOL) becomes important. The study therefore evaluates the impact of intake of 120mg/day vitamin C from natural sources on quality of life of head and neck cancer patients (N=20) at a tertiary care centre located in Lucknow. The responses were obtained using the bilingual EORTC QLQ-C30 (version3.0) and EORTC QLQ-HN35 (version 1.0). The results obtained from dependent sample t-test reveal that oral intake of vitamin C from natural sources can be helpful in providing relief from constipation and problems related to teeth. The study suggests that the oral intake can be helpful in mitigation of cancer and further research should be done as to determine the further applicability of vitamin C in treatment of cancer.