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The vitamin C pills taken by millions of health-conscious Americans may actually help produce toxins that can damage their DNA, a step toward forming cancer cells, a laboratory study suggests.

In a study which appeared in the June 15, 2001 edition of the journal Science, University of Pennsylvania researchers said they found in test tube experiments analyzing the action of vitamin C that the nutrient can act as a catalyst to help make a toxin that can injure DNA, the body's genetic code.

In the study, Ian A. Blair, lead author of the study and his colleagues analyzed the effects of vitamin C on lipid hydroperoxide, a compound produced in the body from fat in the diet. Lipid hydroperoxide can be converted in the cell into agents, called genotoxins that can damage DNA.

Vitamin C is an antioxidant. It neutralizes oxygen free radicals, which are metabolic products in the cell that can damage DNA. Some researchers have speculated that because of its antioxidant action, large doses of the vitamin could prevent cancer, strengthen the immune system and prevent the common cold.

The popularity among health-conscious Americans for popping vitamin C pills was boosted by Linus Pauling, a Nobel-prize-winning chemist who advocated large doses of the vitamin. He routinely took 15 grams daily and was 93 years old when he died in 1994. He contributed the last 20 years of his life to megadoses of vitamin C.

Blair said his group found that vitamin C was highly efficient in converting lipid hydroperoxide into the gene-damaging toxins. Just because you damage DNA doesn't mean you'll get cancer according to the researchers. The cell has an exquisite self repair mechanism for lesions in the DNA. However the research does sound a warning about the use of vitamin C pills.

Vitamin C supplementation includes not just pills, but also the addition of artificial forms of the nutrient to foods, such as juices, cereals and even candies.

The Institute of Medicine an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, recommends that women need 75 milligrams of vitamin C daily and 90 milligrams for men. Smokers need an additional 35 milligrams. These are levels easily achieved by a balanced diet.

A healthy body can absorb about 200 milligrams a day and the surplus is carried away with urine.