Health, Healing & Hummingbirds

1. There are no studies on vitamin C

2. There is no proof that vitamin C works

3. Vitamin C is not safe

4. Vitamin C causes kidney stones

5. Our need for vitamin C is met by diet

6. Vitamin C just makes expensive urine

7. If vitamin C really worked we would all be using it

Vitamin C at an appropriate dose:

1. is a powerful antioxidant (and also helps recycle other antioxidants),
2. is anti-carcinogenic (reduces the risk of developing various cancers),
3. supports the immune system by improving the host response to disease (making the body more able to fight off any secondary infections) and improving the function of white blood cells,
4. can stop recurrent boils (furunculosis) (people with this condition may have defects in white blood cell function that are correctable with vitamin C supplementation),
5. has antiviral and antibacterial effects (it controls and maintains phagocytosis),
6. supports the adrenal glands (and supporting the adrenals also supports the thyroid),
7. supports the cardiac/cardiovascular system and assists in the maintenance of peripheral circulation (including improving the blood flow to the brain) and maintaining capillaries,
8. is a natural chelator and helps to remove heavy metals and other toxins from the body ( this improved detoxification may markedly improve your tolerance of pollution and toxic chemicals),
9. safeguards the body from the effects of high blood sugar (glycation) and helps to normalise blood sugar and improve hypoglycaemia. Vitamin C is important in the digestion of food, the biochemistry of the body's utilization of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats and it has a pronounced activating effect on insulin,
10. reduces the severity of colds, flu’s, and Candida infections,
11. has an antihistamine effect and can reduce or prevent symptoms of hayfever and food allergy,
12. can prevent asthma attacks (and possibly some SIDS deaths),
13. helps to reduce the toxic load of metabolised fat which occurs during weight loss, and helps support the liver during weight loss,
14. acts as an electron donor for eight different enzymes,
15. aids in the formation of liver bile,
16. may have an antidepressant effect and help the body handle emotional stress better,
17. counteracts some of the damaging effects of aspirin and heighten its pain killing effect, and also acts as an pain reliever in its own right (at bowel tolerance doses),
18. increases the therapeutic effect of different drugs and medicines by making them more effective (less of a drug is required if it is taken in combination with large amounts of ascorbic acid),
19. can help improve joint mobility (if serum levels of C are high, synovial fluid is thinner allowing for easier joint movement) and reduce inflammation and fever,
20. helps with connective tissue repair (especially collagen) and maintaining healthy teeth and bones (high dose vitamin C can help reduce tooth loss and cavities),
21. helps promote wound healing,
22. promotes eye health in many different ways (prevents cataracts, glaucoma etc.),
23. helps to produce the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine,
24. can cause sensations of overwhelming physical wellbeing,
25. is essential to the proper functioning of the central nervous system.

Vitamin C can be taken as ascorbic acid powders or tablets, and also by IV. Liposomal vitamin C gives a clinical response similar to vitamin C given by IV, or even superior to it in some cases - and it is vastly more affordable and accessible.

Dosage and frequency are everything when it comes to vitamin C!

Dr Levy explains that 6 grams of vitamin C daily in divided doses (or 2 grams of liposomal vitamin C) is a good starting point for a healthy adult but that as we each have different needs for vitamin C which change over time, ideally we should each start by working out our bowel tolerance dose of vitamin C using sodium ascorbate power. 

(Liposomal vitamin C doesn't cause loose stools, as almost all of it is absorbed by the body. So this form of vitamin C is not helpful in determining the bowel tolerance dose of vitamin C; the dose our body needs at any one time.)

Dr Levy recommends working out your bowel tolerance dose monthly or even weekly (if you are very ill or your illness is unstable). He also recommends paying close attention to how you feel and letting this be a guide to how appropriate your current dosage is. If you feel good at a certain dosage of vitamin C, then you raise it a little more and find no increased benefit, then you are probably taking as much as your body can use.

When you have worked out your necessary dosage, you can take it as sodium ascorbate or liposomal vitamin C or a combination of the two. 1 gram of liposomal C = 3-4 grams of sodium ascorbate powder, 2 grams = 9-10 grams of power, 3 grams = 12-18 grams of power, says Levy.

What vitamin C experts such as Pauling, Levy, Cathcart and others are discussing is not just any old vitamin C dosage. Dosages must be appropriate to how much stress you are under and given regularly and for a long enough duration. The more stress your body is under, the more it will need. 6 grams daily is an absolute minimum effective dose and many of us need far more. Dosages as high as 200 - 300 grams may be necessary for a period of time when used to fight acute infections or toxic exposures.

Dr Levy says in the book that the amount of water needed to but out a blaze, depends on the size of the fire - and so it is with vitamin C. The dose is everything with vitamin C. Taking small amounts just will not have the same effect as taking the appropriate dose.

Properly dosed vitamin C is essential. But Dr Levy also explains that taking broad spectrum antioxidants with it is a very good idea, as they all work together in a synergistic way. Liposomal GSH is particularly important. A basic supplement regime focusing on the major vitamins and minerals (A, Bs, D, E, magnesium, etc.) is also important long-term and will help ensure you get the most from your vitamin C regime etc. Toxic exposures must also be reduced as much as possible.

Some conditions can be cured with high dose vitamin C, if enough is given, early enough. This includes polio and glandular fever/mono and hepatitis. Others can be put into a stable state by high dose vitamin C - such as AIDS. Vitamin C can also prevent many diseases. At the very least, high dose vitamin C will improve symptoms and quality of life. High blood levels of vitamin C reduces mortality form ALL causes. Vitamin C is man's primary defence against toxins, pathogens and oxidative stress.

Treating the causes of disease is so much more effective than just blindly drugging symptoms. The real causes of disease are pathogens, toxins (both of which cause massive oxidative stress) and nutrient deficiencies.

The claims about vitamin C in Dr Levy's recent book 'Primal Panacea' are supported by more than 1000 published peer reviewed studies.

The research on vitamin C is convincing and like anyone that has tried high dose vitamin C at at least a bowel tolerance level, I have also seen it make a noticeable difference in my own life and the lives of those of my friends that have tried it. We are brainwashed to always be excited about and focused on the newest and sexiest and most exotic new drugs and other treatments, but in reality it is the boring unsexy stuff like making sure you have enough of all the major vitamins and minerals it needs which really gets the big results!

High dose vitamin C doesn't fit the current lucrative 'treat but don't cure' model of medicine, so patients must push for it. The fight has to start with us.

As Dr Levy eloquently explains in his recent book, government and the traditional medicine industry are looking for cures about as diligently as crack dealers are searching for a non-addictive form of cocaine! The commonly help belief that drug companies and governments are focused on trying to cure all sorts of diseases is called into question by this book, and rightly so. This book talks about the massive conflict of interests at work in medicine and research, and provides some absolutely shocking facts and figures.

We need to push for high dose vitamin C to become more commonly accepted and also just for it to stay LEGAL!

Optimal vitamin C levels can't help but help, no matter what diagnosis you have or even if you don't yet have a correct diagnosis. It is inexpensive to try too with ascorbic acid costing just 3 cents a gram and not at all risky either, or difficult. Vitamin C is one of the safest substances to take there is.

'Man's body was designed to function best with high blood and cellular levels of vitamin C - synthesised as needed by the liver. Due to an inborn error of metabolism, the vast majority of us no longer have the ability to make it, but that does not lessen our need for vitamin C or the benefits derived form it.' Dr Levy

“Modern medicine’s narrow approach, to treat every disease as if it were a drug deficiency, has resulted in a steep price for humanity. It is obvious millions have died prematurely since vitamin C was first discovered over 80 years ago. Brave and resolute men and women, Albert Szent-Györgyi, Irwin Stone, Linus Pauling, Ewan Cameron, Emil Ginter, Matthias Rath, Andrew Saul, Tom Levy, Steve Hickey, Raxit Jariwalla, John T. Ely, Hilary Roberts, and others promoted the idea of vitamin C therapy but were readily dismissed, even belittled.” Bill Sardi, author of You Don't Have to Be Afraid of Cancer Anymore

'I could also spend mil­lions to prove that the small amounts of these nutrients will not prevent car acci­dents. Who is funding all these silly stud­ies? No orthomolecular physician ever claimed that giving 200 IU of vitamin E and 500 mg of C cured anything.

Perhaps you should write a paper with tongue in cheek in which you announce, “An­tibiotics Do Not Cure Infection”. Then, report somewhere hidden in the paper that you only gave them 200 or even 20,000 IU of a drug that requires doses of one million or more. Such report­ing is a superb example of the cynical, expensive and sleazy research so loved by Big Pharma. This is because it delays the real introduction of good medicine, in the same way that tobacco companies denied smoking causes cancer and we supposedly needed more and more and more research to prove anything.

All this allows the companies to add millions of dollars to their coffers. Their defense is delay, delay and delay. The only objective of Big Pharma is to make money, lots and lots of it. How dare we try to prevent them from doing so?' Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.

Vitamin C is involved in almost every bodily process and helps our bodies maintain homeostasis. Irwin Stone explains in his book on vitamin C that,  'Throughout the evolution of the vertebrates, including the mammals, Nature has used ascorbic acid to maintain physiological homeostasis. 

In simple nontechnical terms, this means that when stressful situations arose which disturbed the biochemical equilibrium of the animal, ascorbic acid was produced in increased quantities to get things running normal again.  The amount of ascorbic acid produced is related to the severity of the stresses and if enough was produced soon enough, then the animal was able to survive the bad biochemical effects of the stresses.  If, however, the enzyme system for producing ascorbic acid was overwhelmed or poisoned by the stresses and too little ascorbic acid was produced, then the animal succumbed. 

Man, unable to produce his own ascorbic acid, could not take advantage of this natural protective process.  Instead stresses only further depleted his low stores of this vital metabolite.  Now he can easily duplicate this time-tested defensive mechanism by reaching for the bottle of ascorbic acid and swallowing additional quantities whenever he is subjected to biochemical stresses.  In duplicating this normal process for combating stresses, man has one great advantage over the other mammals -- he can get an unlimited supply of ascorbic acid without being dependent upon an enzyme system which may not produce enough, quickly enough.  All man needs to know is how much to take.