Researchers said that Vitamin C, which has been identified for its health-related advantages, can also help control cancer by blocking growth of cancer cells.

Margreet Vissers, associate professor at the University of Otago's Free Radical Research Group headed the research.

The researcher comes up with the first real proof of an association between vitamin C and cancer growth.

Vissers said, "Our results offer a promising intervention to help in the fight against cancer at both the level of prevention and cure."

As per statement from a University of Otago, the task of vitamin C in cancer sure has been considered for many years with many subjective accounts of its beneficial job in cancer prevention as well as treatment.

Earlier study by Vissers established that the vitamin's significance in maintaining cell health and hinted at its potentiality for limiting diseases like cancer.

Her latest research viewed whether vitamin C levels were brought down in sufferers with endometrial (uterine) tumours.

It inquired whether these cancer cells had low vitamin C levels and whether this correlated with tumour aggressiveness and resistance to chemotherapy.

Tumours with low vitamin C levels were found to have more of a protein called HIF-1 which allows them to thrive in stressful conditions.

The results are vital as they explain, initially, a direct association between HIF-1 and low vitamin C levels in tumours. (With Inputs from Agencies)