Vitamin C info
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. Robert 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 Patrick 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. James 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. Michael 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. Michael
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 Pauling 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. Robert 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.
WHAT IS OPTIMUM
Whichever way you look at it the figures come out in the same ballpark. The
optimum intake is likely to be in the region of 1,000 mg (1 gram) to 10,000
mg (10 grams) per day, If you are in the grips of cardiovascular disease,
an infectious or immune system disease, or cancer the ideal level may be
much higher. If you drink excessive amounts of alcohol, live in a polluted
city, have a stressful lifestyle, take drugs including aspirin, or smoke,
your optimal intake will again be raised. An intake of 200 to 300 mg of
vitamin C per day is required to raise the average smoker's vitamin C level
to that of a non-smoker. An intake of around 50 mg per cigarette probably
affords maximum protection.
Albert Szent Gyorgi, who isolated vitamin C in 1928, recommends 1 gram
daily. Dr. Michael Colgan takes 5 grams daily. Dr. Linus Pauling takes 10
to 18 grams daily. I take 5 grams daily on top of a diet rich in food
sources of vitamin C. The choice is yours.
***********
3000 mg Vitamin C
The Vitamin C Foundation recommends that every man, woman and child over
the age of 3 consume at least 3 g (3000 mg) vitamin C daily in order to
enjoy optimum health.
More during pregnancy (6000 mg), and much more during periods of disease
(20,000 to 300,000 mg).
RDI Source/Population
60-95 mg U.S. Recommended Intake
200 mg LPI & Levin/NIH Recommendation
3000 mg Foundation's daily recommendation
6000-12000 mg Levy's daily recommendation
6000-18000 mg Pauling's daily recommendation
6000-9000 mg Pregnancy
6000-18000 mg Heart Disease
14000-30000 mg Cancer
20000-300000 mg Cathcart/Levy Cure for Infectious Diseases
Comment
Our recommendation is more than 30 times what the United States
Government's National Academy of Sciences recommends (75-90 mg), and 15
times more than what the Linus Pauling Institute and the Levin group at the
National Institutes of Health recommend (200 mg).
Linus Pauling recommended 2 to 6 times the Foundation's vitamin C RDA (6000
to 18,000 mg vitamin C). Pauling wrote that his recommendation was based on
the large amounts of vitamin C animals make for themselves, and on the
amount humans must ingest orally to achieve similar levels.
Vitamin C author/expert Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD, recommends from 2 to 4
times our recommendation (6,000 to 12,000 mg daily)
Our recommendations are partly based on the work of Dr. Robert Cathcart,
III. Cathcart determined that the ability to tolerate oral intakes of the
vitamin vary between 4 and 16 g daily during ordinary poor health.
Cathcart's clinical experience demonstrates that virtually every human
being will tolerate 4 g vitamin C daily.
The Foundation recommends 1 g vitamin C for children based on their age, up
to the age of 3. One gram for one-year-olds, two grams for two-year-olds, etc.
Our recommended daily allowance may not prevent or resolve diseases related
to lack of vitamin C. For example, we believe that heart disease requires
from 6000 to 18,000 mg vitamin C, and that cancer may require 14,000 to
30,000 mg daily.
We do realize that if our recommendation were adopted by most people in the
world, there would be a grave shortage of the vitamin. (Perhaps this is one
reason that Government recommendations are so tiny?)
Owen R. Fonorow
http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/faq.html