Vitamin C info

September 16, 2008

If you are breastfeeding and infant, suggest you take the Vitamin

Cand they will get through the breastmilk

Sheri

Vitamin C info from Sheri Nakken

Sodium Ascorbate Powder OR Ascorbic Acid (none of the other types -

NO calcium ascorbate or other mineral ascorbates)

Ascorbic Acid for those of you more alkaline (if you know your pH of

your body - can test your saliva and urine and if above 6.4, use

ascorbic acid) (PS Ascorbic Acid can also help to bring your pH down

and make you less alkaline)

Sodium Ascorbate for those of you who are more acidic (if you know

your pH of your body - can test your saliva & urine and if below 6.4,

use sodium ascorbate). Sodium ascorbate is buffered with

Bicarb. Also if you have a hard time tolerating the Ascorbic Acid

(stomach discomfort), use Sodium Ascorbate. (if you are EXTREMELY

acidic - and many are - you probably won't even absorb Vitamin C

until you become less acidic and that is another story how to do that)

We DO NOT synthesize Vitamin C in our own bodies as most animals

do! We are genetically lacking an enzyme (most of us - some people

may have it and those are the ones who live longer and seem to be

able to do anything to their bodies - we don't know). Dogs and cats

don't synthesize much either and so you see them greatly wounded by

vaccination without ability to recover.

That is why this is needed and really shouldn't be thought of as a

vitamin. IT IS A MAJOR NUTRIENT that we are lacking and can't

synthesize. I'll tell you more about that.

I have found a great book which I will share about.

Here is info on dosage and source to buy (not usually available in

health food stores).

IN ILLNESS - You or your child take it in increasing doses until you

start to get loose bowel movements (or the baby does if you are

breastfeeding), then you know you have reached your limit. Then you

back off a bit. You need to take in 3 or so doses a day to keep your

stores up. Start with the maintaining dose below and work your way

up until you reach bowel tolerance and then back off and maintain that.

Also if want to give to the baby that you are nursing, express some

breastmilk, dissolve the vitamin C. Using a plastic dropper, drip it

into the inside of her cheek until all in, or get it into her as she

breastfeeds by inserting the dropper without breaking her " seal " -

not so easy!!!

Can give yourself and baby gets by breastmilk and/or give to your baby.

If you are quite healthy, take it daily to keep your stores up, in a

maintenance dose as below.

MAINTENANCE DOSES FOR AN ADULT probably 3,000-5,000 mg per day

(divided in 2 or 3 doses - so that would be 1,000 - 1500 mg three

times a day or so)

FOR A CHILD - Needs to be spread out thru day as goes from body in 4

hours or so. 1 kg is 2.2 pounds........... so divide the babies

pounds by 2.2 and that will give you kilos and then multiply X's

200-375 mg of Sodium Ascorbate powder

Dosage rate = between 200 - 375 mg per kg of body weight over waking

hours, actual dose depends on individual.

So if your child weighs 4 kilos, one gram vitamin C = 1,000 mgs (

one-quarter of a level tsp) should be split into several doses, and

given from morning to evening....

One good pinch equals 250 mgs, if you want to use the vague method.

******

SOURCES In UK I get from Health Plus http://www.healthplus.co.uk

In US http://www.bronsononline.com/ and then find VITAMIN C CRYSTALS

(NON-ACIDIC) Product #50

in Australia - Melrose was suggested to me

http://www.naturalcity.com.au/product.aspx?id=2333

or google +sodium+ascorbate+australia

Articles & info

http://www.orthomed.com/titrate.htm TITRATING TO BOWEL TOLERANCE

The maximum relief of symptoms which can be expected with oral doses

of ascorbic acid is obtained at a point just short of the amount

which produces diarrhea. The amount and the timing of the doses are

usually sensed by the patient. The physician should not try to

regulate exactly the amount and timing of these doses because the

optimally effective dose will often change from dose to dose.

Patients are instructed on the general principles of determining

doses and given estimates of the reasonable starting amounts and

timing of these doses. I have named this process of the patient

determining the optimum dose, TITRATING TO BOWEL TOLERANCE. The

patient tries to TITRATE between that amount which begins to make him

feel better and that amount which almost but not quite causes diarrhea.

http://www.orthomed.com/klenner.htm

Journal of Applied Nutrition Vol. 23, No's 3 & 4, Winter 1971

Observations On the Dose and Administration of Ascorbic Acid When

Employed Beyond the Range Of A Vitamin In Human Pathology Frederick

R. Klenner, M.D., F.C.C.P.

********* " How Much Is Too Much? Dr. Cathcart believes the

ideal intake for any individual is the highest level they can

tolerate without loose bowels. On the basis of his experience with

11,000 patients over 14 years this bowel tolerance level may be 10 to

15 grams in a healthy person, 30 to 60 grams in a person with a cold,

and over 199 grams per day in a person with a serious infectious

illness. During an infectious illness the best clinical results have

been achieved by maintaining high vitamin C levels in the blood

through 3 or more grams every four hours.

Fortunately, vitamin C is one of the least toxic substances known to

man. Four studies gave 10 grams of vitamin C to over 3000 patients

without a single reported incidence of toxicity. Other than the

bowels there has not been one single case of toxicity resulting from

taking vitamin C supplements, despite unfounded reports of potential

risk for kidney stones, raising blood uric acid levels, or 'rebound'

scurvy. It is unlikely that any vitamin has been tested to such an

extent for toxicity and it is safe to assume that supplemental levels

of at least 10 grams a day, or up to bowel tolerance, are completely safe. "

(again this may need to be sodium ascorbate form)

*********** http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/mega_1_1.html#HOLFORD

VITAMIN C:

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

By Holford

Most Animals Produce The Equivalent Of 3 to 15 Grams of Vitamin C Every Day

Vitamin C isn't a vitamin at all. It isn't a necessary component of

diet, at least for all mammals with the exception of guinea pigs,

fruit eating bats, the red vented bulbul bird and primates - which

includes us. All other species make their own.

This they do by converting glucuronic acid derived from glucose into

ascorbic acid (C6H8O6). Three enzymes are required to make this

conversion. One of these enzymes, or part of the enzyme system, is

missing in primates. Irwin Stone proposed, in 1965, that a negative

mutation may have occurred in these species so as to lose the ability

to produce vitamin C. In primates this is thought to have occurred in

the region of 25 million years ago.

Mutations can and frequently do occur in nature. Only those that put

a species at advantage at the time tend to become dominant.

Unfortunately, reversing such mutations is highly unlikely to occur.

Unlike other vitamins, vitamin C is required in large amounts which

could only be supplied by a tropical diet high in fruit and other

vegetation. if sufficient vitamin C could be obtained from such a

diet the quantity of glucose normally used to synthesize vitamin C

could be channeled towards energy production. This could conceivably

have been an advantage for primates or other species.

This advantage may have come at a price. Dr. Jungblut, an early

pioneer of vitamin C therapy in the 1930's, discovered that only us

primates and guinea pigs were susceptible to scurvy as well as

anaphylactic shock, pulmonary tuberculosis, diptheritic intoxication,

a poliomyelitis-like viral infection and a viral form of leukemia.

None of the vitamin C synthesizing laboratory animals had

susceptibility to these diseases. This is perhaps one of the first

observations that led to the idea that susceptibility to viral

infections could be a consequence of vitamin C deficiency. Could

humanity's history of disease - endemic infections, plagues and more

recently cancer and heart disease - be the result of our inability to

produce vitamin C and our inability to obtain it from the food we eat?

Vitamin C produced per day by different animal species (equivalent

for 70 Kg Man)

Goat 2,280 - 13,300 mg

Rat 2,737 - 13,902 mg

Rabbit 1,547 - 15,820 mg

Cow 1,099 - 1,281 mg

Mouse 2,352 - 19,250 mg

Sheep 1,736 mg

Cat 336 - 2,800 mg

More than 50% of People Require Over 2,500 mg to Reach Maximum Absorption

Vitamin C is One of the Least Toxic Substances Known to Man

The fact that almost all species continue to make vitamin C suggests

that the amount of vitamin C generally available from diet is not

enough for optimum nutrition except in exceptional circumstances such

as a tropical environment. The chart above shows the average amount

produced by each animal, adjusted to an equivalent body weight for

Man. Under normal circumstances the daily amount produced, adjusted

for comparison to a 70 kg man, is somewhere between 3,000 mg and

15,000 mg, with an average of 5,400 mg.

Species of monkeys, such as the squirrel monkey, require an

equivalent of 2,000 mg a day to maintain health and up to 1000 mg a

day to maintain blood levels found in the wild. Animals produce

variable amounts depending on their circumstances. Under conditions

of stress or infection synthesis can easily quadruple. Some primates

appear to require up to 2,800 mg a day equivalent to survive the

long-term stresses of captivity, while guinea pigs require 3,000 mg

per day to recover from anesthesia.

What about us? While a mere 60 mg a day can prevent scurvy, the

deficiency disease first identified by Dr. Lind in 1753, it

would be illogical to assume that this is the optimal dose. A survey

of doctors in the US found that those who were healthiest consumed at

least 250 mg of vitamin C per day. A recent survey has shown that a

person's vitamin status is a good predictor of their mortality risk.

High blood vitamin C levels indicate a low risk for cardiovascular

disease and certain types of cancer and other immune based diseases.

Optimal intakes to reduce risk of such conditions would appear to be

at least 500 mg per day. Expensive Urine? But aren't you simply

making expensive urine when you take large amounts of supplements?

Dr. Colgan investigated this often made rebuttal. He

investigated how much vitamin C we use by giving increasing daily

doses and measuring excretion. " Only a quarter of our subjects

reached their vitamin C maximum at 1,500 mg a day. More than half

required over 2,500 mg a day to reach a level where their bodies

could use no more. Four subjects did not reach their maximum at 5,000

mg. " Increasing vitamin C intake from 50 mg to 500 mg tends to double

serum vitamin C levels. Increasing intake to 5,000 mg a day will

double serum levels again. Expensive urine? Vitamin C protects the

bowel, kidneys and bladder on the way out. As Dr. Colgan

points out the average victim of bowel or bladder cancer spends

$26,000 for treatment - mostly to no avail.

While it is valid to infer from this brief history of evolution, a

comparison with other species, and average excretion rates that

optimal vitamin C levels are probably above 1,000 mg with plenty of

room for individual variation,what about 'hard evidence'? What levels

are required to ensure maximum function of enzymes and body systems

dependent on vitamin C? A quick review of some of vitamin C's

hundreds of biochemical roles will help us here. Vitamin C is

required for the synthesis of collagen. Our intercellular glue that

keeps skin, lungs, arteries, the digestive tract and all organs

intact. It is a potent anti-oxidant protecting against free radicals,

pollution, carcinogens, heavy metals, and other toxins. It is

strongly anti-viral and mildly anti-bacterial. Energy cannot be made

in any cell, brain or muscle without adequate vitamin C. The adrenal

glands have a high concentration of vitamin C which is essential for

stress hormone synthesis. Vitamin C is so central in so many chemical

reactions in the body that,without it, life is simply not possible.

Are Western Killer Diseases Symptoms of a Vitamin C Deficiency? The

immune system depends on having healthy immune cells and associate

molecules such as antibodies. Vitamin C is essential for both.

Antibody production increases on supplementing 1 gram of vitamin C.

It is also needed for interferon, complement, and prostaglandin

production, and is essential for the proper function of immune cells

such as lymphocytes and leukocytes. A recent study showed, in the

test tube, that vitamin C can even inactivate the HIV virus.

Thanks to the work of Linus ing and coworkers we know that 10

grams of vitamin C doubles the life expectancy of cancer patients,

and, in some cases effects a complete cure. Its role is even more

pivotal in cardiovascular disease, which is now being postulated as

the long-term consequence of vitamin C deficiency. Just about every

marker of cardiovascular disease, arterial damage, high blood

cholesterol levels, low HDL levels, high levels of oxidized

cholesterol, thick blood are all improved by adequate vitamin C

intake at levels up to 10 grams a day. Vitamin C increases resistance

to stress, lessens allergic reactions, helps arthritic conditions,

slows down the aging process and improves energy production.

Beneficial effects of vitamin C in human trials tend to increase with

the amount given up to, and above, 10 grams per day. On the basis of

research into vitamin C's effect on disease states it would appear

that an intake of somewhere between 1 and 10 grams may be optimal

simply for maintaining optimal function of the immune, endocrine and

cardiovascular system. How Much Is Too Much? Dr. Cathcart

believes the ideal intake for any individual is the highest level

they can tolerate without loose bowels. On the basis of his

experience with 11,000 patients over 14 years this bowel tolerance

level may be 10 to 15 grams in a healthy person, 30 to 60 grams in a

person with a cold, and over 199 grams per day in a person with a

serious infectious illness. During an infectious illness the best

clinical results have been achieved by maintaining high vitamin C

levels in the blood through 3 or more grams every four hours.