Vitamin C Destroys Drug-Resistant TB Bacteria

Scientists in New York who were studying how tuberculosis bacteria become resistant to a potent first-line TB drug accidentally found that vitamin C kills drug-resistant TB microbes in lab culture. According to the study, vitamin C induced iron to react with other molecules to create reactive oxygen species that kill the TB bacteria. The researchers believe that their findings provide adequate justification for a clinical trial using vitamin C along with other TB drugs. In 2011, TB sickened some 8.7 million people and took some 1.4 million lives.