Vitamin C info

[Guest guest]

Saw this on a newsgroup--I wonder what the implications of this are for us??

Anyone have any insights on this? Liz G

Contact: Charmayne Marsh

y_marsh@...

202-872/4445

American Chemical Society

Scientists say vitamin C may alleviate the body's response to stress

NEW ORLEANS, La., Aug. 22 -- Large doses of vitamin C can prevent

illness by alleviating the body's normal response to stress, according

to a scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. This study

was described here today at a national meeting of the American Chemical

Society, the world's largest scientific society.

The study tested the effects of vitamin C on the adrenal function of

laboratory animals subjected to stress, said P. , Ph.D.,

chairman of the university's department of biological sciences. In both

animals and humans, the adrenal gland reacts to stress by releasing

corticoids, such as corticosterone and cortisol. These and other

hormones trigger the " fight or flight " reaction that allows us to spring

into action when in danger. They also suppress the immune system, the

body's first line of defense against disease.

The Alabama researchers put laboratory rats under stress by immobilizing

them for one hour a day over a three-week period. To check whether

vitamin C would reduce the production of stress hormones, the rats were

fed 200 milligrams a day, the equivalent of several grams a day for

humans. This dosage far exceeds the present recommended daily allowance

(RDA) of 60 milligrams, a figure based on the amount required to prevent

deficiency diseases such as scurvy. The study showed that vitamin C

reduced the levels of stress hormones in the blood-and also reduced

other typical indicators of physical and emotional stress, such as loss

in body weight, enlargement of the adrenal glands, and reduction in the

size of the thymus gland and the spleen, according to .

In addition, the vitamin C treatment elevated the levels of circulating

IgG antibody, the body's principal defense against systemic infection,

he said.

In the control group-rats who were not subjected to stress-vitamin C

increased the production of IgG antibody to a somewhat higher level than

it did in the stressed rats. This suggests that stress may create a

tolerance for vitamin C.

Consequently, animals-and perhaps people-who are under emotional stress

may require higher doses of vitamin C to protect immune function.

Paradoxically, the vitamin C treatment may work by suppressing

production and/or utilization of the vitamin C that naturally exists in

the adrenal cortex of humans and animals, noted. This

endogenous vitamin C appears to support the production of stress

hormones, he said.

said his results help explain other evidence of the value of

vitamin C in protecting immune function. For example, according to

reports in the medical literature, vitamin C boosted immune function in

a test group of elderly women. It also reduced the incidence of

stress-related upper-respiratory infections in marathon runners.

Recommending a sharper look at the present RDA, said he

believes that our prehistoric ancestors probably consumed large amounts

of vitamin C in a tropical diet rich in fruits. " If so, the

physiological constitution we have inherited may require doses far

larger than the present RDA to keep us healthy under varying

environmental conditions, including stress. "

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[Guest guest]

First off, welcome to all the new members!

Jackie, you wanted some information on Vitamin C. Here is my research

report I wrote for CMT World after talking with Dr. Fontes and reading

the full study.

http://www.cmtworld.org/epublisher/publish/article_00103.php

For other Vitamin C posts and research, go back in the archives to

April 2004 and read forward about people who have taken it, the doses,

and their results.

Gretchen