Re: update on Vitamin C

[Guest guest]

Gretchen,

Thanks for the update on Vitamin C. Could you clarify a bit: when

you wrote that researchers in the French trial " are critical about

the success " does that mean that they are not seeeing good results

in a trial already underway? I'm wary of the difficulties in

translation so I want to understand this correctly.

Also, what is the source of the statement that when " taking a high

dose of Vitamin C each person WILL FEEL more energetic and need less

sleep " ? Is this derived from the French trial?

Thanks as always.

Bob

[Guest guest]

Bob,

The information I posted yesterday came to me from a friend in research at the

University of Tubigen in Germany. Remember, in last April's Nature Medicine

article on the Vitamin C study on mice, the core objective is to test whether

" C " corrects the CMT1A phenotype - meaning that the CMT 1A gene would be

arrested - and NOT become evident AT ALL. The first trial was to determine how

" C " , a known promoter of myelination would act on mice with CMT 1A.

I do not know much more other than the Phase 2 and 3 trials will shed more

light. I am unclear at what stages the trials are at this time. My friend at

Tubigen also explained to me that taking a high dose of C will result in

" side-effects " - these being more energy and the need for less sleep. This is a

general effect from injesting high levels of C, not strictly derived from the

French trial, although the mice did have more energy and had better results on

their tasks. Nothing specific was said about the mice needing less sleep in the

original paper. Even after the first French trial, Dr. Fontes and researchers

were a bit skeptical because a molecule is not a medicine. See

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

You might also want to get a copy of the original paper in full from Nature

Medicine 2004 Apr;10(4):396-401

Remember, too, the Italian Vitamin C trials begin January 2005, so more

information is yet to come.

Gretchen