Scientists at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda have demonstrated the theory in laboratory tests. They used very high doses of the vitamin, in its ascorbate form, on nine cultures of cancer cells. Only half the cells survived in five of the cell groups, and growth of lymphoma cells was ‘reduced by at least 99 per cent”. In other words, the vitamin killed the cancer cells, and stopped their regrowth (Proc Natl Acad Sci, online 10.1073/pnas.0506390102).