Dietary and endogenous antioxidants are in high regard; although a mixed bag, they are considered the natural counterbalance to oxidizing free radicals and play an essential role in preventing cellular damage. The general popularity of antioxidants has lead to a revival of our interest in some vitamins, including ascorbic acid. The latter maintains, in spite of many ups and downs, its venerable pedestal since its discovery by Szent-Györgyi (which brought him a Nobel prize in l937) till Pauling (another Nobel laureate) who almost regarded it as a ?cure-all?. Like with every broad over-simplification, studies and results with Vitamin C are controversial. Extreme opinions range from using antioxidants as principal cancer therapy to concerns that antioxidants might reduce oxidizing free radicals generated by radio- and some forms of chemotherapy and thereby decrease its efficacy in cancer treatment.
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