Ascorbic Acid Vitamin C: What's the Real Story?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, December 6, 2013

Ascorbic Acid Vitamin C: What's the Real Story?

by Andrew W. Saul, Editor

(OMNS Dec 6, 2013) Heard anything bad lately about ascorbic acid vitamin C? If you haven't, you may have been away visiting Neptune for too long. For nearly four decades, I have seen that, like all other fashions, vitamin-bashing goes "in" and "out" of style. Lately it has (again) been open season on vitamin C, especially if taken as cheap ascorbic acid. Linus Pauling, the world's most qualified advocate of vitamin C, urged people to take pure ascorbic acid powder or crystals.

Without having met Dr. Pauling, they are also what Great-grandma used when she home-canned peaches. Vitamin C powder remains cheap and readily available on the internet. One-quarter teaspoon is just over 1,000 mg. If you encounter a powder that is substantially less potent than that, it may contain fillers. Choose accordingly.

I have told my students for a long time, "If they didn't listen to Linus Pauling, don't be too surprised that they don't line up to hear what you have to say." But Pauling's two unshared Nobel prizes (he is the only person in history with that distinction) are no protection from critics who slam ascorbic acid C without first considering some basic biochemistry.

Atomically Correct

Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, C6H8O6, and that's pretty much all there is to it. If you really want to impress your friends, ascorbic acid can also be called (5R)-5-[(1S)-1,2-Dihydroxyethyl]-3,4-dihydroxy-2(5H)-furanone. As I liked to tell my university students, now there is something for you to answer when your parents ask what you learned in school today.

Even if this molecule comes from GMOs, which I disapprove of, it is still molecularly OK. You cannot genetically modify carbon, hydrogen, or oxygen atoms.

There are two ways the atoms can arrange themselves to make C6H8O6. One is ascorbic acid. The other is erythorbic acid, also known as isoascorbic acid or D-araboascorbic acid. It is a commercial antioxidant, but cannot be utilized by the body as an essential nutrient.

Acidity

That word "acid" gets us going, but in fact ascorbic acid is a weak acid. If you can eat three oranges, if you can drink a carbonated cola, or if you can add vinegar on your fish fry or on your salad, there is little to worry about. In fact, your normal stomach acid is over 50 times stronger than vitamin C. The stomach is designed to handle strong acid, and nutrients are not destroyed by this strong stomach acid. If they were, all mammals would be dead. Have you ever noticed when you throw up you can feel the burn in your throat? That's stomach acid. A little gross, but we need it to live. People who have a lot of problems with hiatal hernias or reflux can actually regurgitate enough acid over a period of months where they damage and scar the throat.

Vitamin C could not do that on a bet. It's impossible. You couldn't start your car if you put vinegar in your automobile's battery. It requires sulfuric acid, which is a very strong acid. The hydrochloric acid in the stomach is only slightly weaker than car-battery acid. Vitamin C is almost as weak as lemonade. That's a huge difference.

Probiotics

If you eat yogurt or take probiotic capsules, they end up in your stomach. There they are subjected to this strong stomach acid, and survive it easily. Acidophilus bacteria, such as are found in yogurt, are literally so named because they are "acid-loving." Many studies show that eating yogurt and taking other probiotic supplements is a good idea and that it works. If a strong acid does not kill them, then neither will a weak acid.

Furthermore, your body secretes a highly alkaline substance right where your small intestine starts, just past the stomach. This neutralizes stomach acid and automatically keeps the rest of your gut from being acidic. If the body can neutralize a strong acid, ascorbic acid is virtually irrelevant.

Buffering

Ascorbic acid can be buffered, and if you have a sensitive stomach, should be. There are a variety of non-acidic forms. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n10.shtml I do not sell vitamins or any other health products, and do not make brand recommendations.

Don't be bluffed or blustered about ascorbic acid. It is cheap and it works. Aside from intravenous sodium ascorbate, the vast majority of research showing that vitamin C is effective in prevention and treatment of disease has used plain ascorbic acid. Yes, the cheap stuff.

Remember what Ward Cleaver, TV father on "Leave it to Beaver," said to his young son: "A lot of people go through life trying to prove that the things that are good for them are wrong."

(Andrew W. Saul, OMNS Editor, has taught health science, addiction recovery, clinical nutrition and chemistry. He is the coauthor, with Dr. Steve Hickey, of "Vitamin C: The Real Story.")

To learn more:

Vitamin C as an antiviral http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n09.shtml

Flu, viruses, and vitamin C megadoses http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n07.shtml

Are tropical fish getting kidney stones from vitamin C? They make so much more than the RDA http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v09n04.shtml

What really causes kidney stones (and why vitamin C does not) http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v09n05.shtml

Vitamin C: Which form is best? http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n10.shtml

The complete text of Irwin Stone's vitamin C book "The Healing Factor" is posted for free reading at http://vitamincfoundation.org/stone/

How to reach saturation (bowel tolerance) with oral doses of vitamin C, by Robert F. Cathcat http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html

About Frederick Robert Klenner, M.D. http://www.doctoryourself.com/klennerbio.html

Dr. Klenner's dosage table http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n11.shtml

Why the government thinks Guinea pigs are more important than people http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n08.shtml

Levy, TE. Curing the Incurable. Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins. Henderson, NV: MedFox Publishing, 2004. Reviewed at http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2003/pdf/2003-v18n02-p117.pdf

Pauling L. How to Live Longer and Feel Better. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2006. Reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/livelonger.html . Linus Pauling's complete vitamin and nutrition bibliography is posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_pauling_ortho.html


Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org


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To locate an orthomolecular physician near you: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml


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Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (USA)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Dean Elledge, D.D.S., M.S. (USA)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)
Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Janson, M.D. (USA)
Robert E. Jenkins, D.C. (USA)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Peter H. Lauda, M.D. (Austria)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Stuart Lindsey, Pharm.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D. (Finland)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA)
Gert E. Schuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA)
Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India)
Atsuo Yanagisawa, M.D., Ph.D. (Japan)

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org This is a comments-only address; OMNS is unable to respond to individual reader emails. However, readers are encouraged to write in with their viewpoints. Reader comments become the property of OMNS and may or may not be used for publication.


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cs wrote:Probiotics

If you eat yogurt or take probiotic capsules, they end up in your stomach. There they are subjected to this strong stomach acid, and survive it easily.

Are there any sources for this claim ? I often hear that nothing survives stomach acid.

Strong acid is your goal, so that bacteria and pathogens have hard time surviving it. But unfortunately and fortunately for probiotics,  stomach acid wont affect all the organisms the same way. For some, feeding the good bacteria instead replanting, produces better results. I suspect HCL has something to do with it.

Also while doing oil pulling or mouth rinses, never swallow the fluid nor what's left in your mouth afterwards due to the the same reason of bypassing strong stomach acid...

But are there any studies proving this ? Because on the internet, you find both claims. And none are able to support their claims by some evidences.

Lactic acid bacteria is acid based. Taking vitamin C is weaker than stomach acid.

Directo wrote:

cs wrote:Probiotics

If you eat yogurt or take probiotic capsules, they end up in your stomach. There they are subjected to this strong stomach acid, and survive it easily.

Are there any sources for this claim ? I often hear that nothing survives stomach acid.

A ton of bacteria and microorganisms are extremophiles. Meaning they survive extreme environments such as very high and very low pH, very high and low heat, high radiation, high pressure etc..

Yes I know that, but how do we know that the ones from probiotics are those though ones ?

Yogurt is weak compared to Kefir. I highly recommend drinking Kefir regularly for anyone who wants to improve digestion

chubbfrank wrote:Yogurt is weak compared to Kefir. I highly recommend drinking Kefir regularly for anyone who wants to improve digestion

whats ur take on the sugar from the kefir and the candida content which is naturally found in kefir, i have some on hand buy i read that if left too long the candida will take over the kefir and if left 4 too little the sugar will still be present.

Why did you then recommend Metabolic-C for such a long time in the first place and now you switched to regular Ascorbic Acid (in form of expensive Quali-C)?

Biffy wrote:Why did you then recommend Metabolic-C for such a long time in the first place and now you switched to regular Ascorbic Acid (in form of expensive Quali-C)?

I did so for a couple of reasons.

The "problem" with Metabolic-C was that it has a long half-life. Usually this is not considered a problem for an antioxidant. However, my concern was that taking vitamin C shortly before or after exercise will negate the positive upregulation of genes and antioxidant enzymes. So even when taking standard vitamin C, I try to avoid taking it at least an hour before or after exercise.

Metabolic-C is a lipid form of vitamin C, so its half-life is about 6-hours, so avoiding any peaks of extra high C in the blood stream is desirable during exercise.

For why Quali-C itself, It has no undesirable fillers and is GMO-free. I should point out though that GMO is not normally an issue with vitamin C, because it doesn't ruin the molecule. So mainly it was because it didn't contain any undesirable additives.

I've long been aware of the importance of vitamin C. Only recently did I become aware that I wasn't taking enough for optimal health.
This explains it well, I think:

http://healingwithvitamins.weebly.com/blog/archives/07-2015

The search for perfect health is a never ending one. With each step forward in the right direction we learn new things and continue in our healing journey. This search is what drives us and brings out a passion in us. We don't just become passionate about a healthy body but we also open our eyes to social and government issues that effect our journey, helping us to make certain opinions and choices. In order to design the body into a healthy state one must attain a balance physically and emotionally. Through proper diet, nutritional supplements, and psychological remedies this balance can be obtained. Feeling amazing in your own body can be the end result to perfect balancing. This guide has been adequately designed to get you to where you hope to be physically and mentally. With determination and hope you will reach optimal health. Do not let disease, obesity, or even depression stop you from attaining perfection. There is always a way and hope is the force that drives us all in a forward direction.

Vitamin C

It's important to start with the most vital tool in anyone's healing journey. Vitamin C has been proven to cure over 30 major diseases. It is anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, anti parasitic, and balances hormones, among other things. The list for things Vitamin C has the potential to aid is endless. With adequate doses the powers of this vitamin are limitless.

Ascorbic acid is the chemical name for Vitamin C, it is a natural occurring chemical compound. Ascorbic acid is no different from whole food Vitamin C and is the most effective type of Vitamin C to be used in large doses, therapeutically. Vitamin C is the first thing the body needs when beginning a healing journey.

One should begin with a Vitamin C flush. It is best to start with 5 grams of ascorbic acid in a glass of water. For someone with poor digestion or a sensitive stomach, sodium ascorbate is a better alternative. After drinking the 5 grams wait between 15-30 minutes to make another glass of 5 grams and drink this. Do this repeatedly until the body absorbs what it needs and the excess accumulates in the colon where it attracts water and eventually causes a flush. By flushing the digestive tract with Vitamin C, excess bacteria, parasites, and candida can be eliminated. Friendly flora of the digestive tract ferments Vitamin C and will begin to flourish. A healing and re-balancing is able to begin in the digestive tract.

Keep track of the amount of Vitamin C it takes you to reach a flush. Cut back a few grams so that a flush is not the end result and this is called your bowel tolerance. Bowel tolerance doses should be taken daily. A flush should be done as often as needed. Bowel movements are important as this is how toxins, excess hormones, and harmful bacteria is evacuated. If there is stagnancy these harmful things can be recirculated into the body. One to two bowel movements per day is optimal.

Vitamin C in high doses will begin by cleaning toxins in the body, heavy metals will be chelated, and hormones will begin to balance. This takes time and a positive attitude. Detoxifying the body is different for each individual and should be taken on with an open mind. Do not allow the symptoms of your healing crisis to create fear. Fear will only stand in your way to health and happiness.

Long ago humans manufactured ascorbic acid in our body until a virus caused a mutation in the L-gulono-γ-lactone oxidase (GLO) gene. Unfortunately because of this mutation we must supplement with Vitamin C to recreate this process. A steady flow of Vitamin C in the body will create high electron flow. Imagine a delicate electrical current flowing throughout your body, when these electrical currents are exposed to oxidation they become sluggish or completely stop working. This is when symptoms arise and we develop illness. Ascorbic acid donates electrons throughout the body and gets our electrical currents back to working optimally. This is why it is imperative that we consume Vitamin C throughout the day and not just once per day.

Currently Pubmed has a list of 54,197 studies that have been done using Vitamin C. The scientific evidence and studies are there for anyone doubtful of Vitamin C's limitless potential. With time and research you can understand how Vitamin C works in the body and what it can do for you.

More to come in our Guide to perfect health!

I wish you all happiness and health!

Katie Gironda

Condensed quote

Delphine wrote:

Vitamin C

   It's important to start with the most vital tool in anyone's healing journey. Vitamin C has been proven to cure over 30 major diseases. It is anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, anti parasitic, and balances hormones, among other things. The list for things Vitamin C has the potential to aid is endless. With adequate doses the powers of this vitamin are limitless.

 By flushing the digestive tract with Vitamin C, excess bacteria, parasites, and candida can be eliminated. Friendly flora of the digestive tract ferments Vitamin C and will begin to flourish. A healing and re-balancing is able to begin in the digestive tract.

   A flush should be done as often as needed. Bowel movements are important as this is how toxins, excess hormones, and harmful bacteria is evacuated. If there is stagnancy these harmful things can be recirculated into the body. One to two bowel movements per day is optimal.

   Vitamin C in high doses will begin by cleaning toxins in the body, heavy metals will be chelated, and hormones will begin to balance.
Katie Gironda

  I agree that vitamin C is key to my positive body changes and probably hair regrowth.  I did a 13 day juice only cleanse with orange / grape / prune juice only.  I did and still do drink 2 liters of mostly orange juice a day (or instead eat 2 - 3 pounds of fresh oranges.
   Before the juice fast eating more than 2 oranges a day would make me feel sick. I did fast to cleanse my lymph system mostly. Mucic acid from  dairy products can take up to 6 months to drain from the body,  I have experienced this slow removal a few years ago.
   My hair regrowth started within a few weeks after the cleanse and with massaging. Vitamin C is important for keeping the skin elastic and growing back flexible. With my intense pressure massage, I am sure the vitamin C helps. Also in removal of calcification, the above article mentions chelation by high vitamin C
Anyhow eating so much vitamin C daily keeps me healthy.  A cold that wiped out my girlfriend for weeks, I fought it off completely in about 5 days.
   Probiotics, fungi, and embedded cultures take an amazing amount of pressure cooking or chemical destruction to "kill". Even simple bread mold/spores can live through 45 minutes of pressure cooking.  It is pretty easy for a culture in something like milk fat to be shielded from high concentrations of stomach acid.

cdto2012, the benefits you've experienced are likely more from the juice cleansing than the vitamin C. You are actually not getting that much C from the OJ.

In her post, Katie Gironda was recommending taking 5 grams of synthetic ascorbic acid every 15 minutes to a half hour until reaching bowel tolerance, and she
recommends doing this daily.

Just goes to show there are many roads to healing.

Man, that table recommends 10-15g daily for my weight range.

I'm currently taking 2000 MG a day (I actually only started it to combine it with MSM). I guess I'll have to work up to bowel tolerance for awhile!

johndoe1225 wrote:Man, that table recommends 10-15g daily for my weight range.  

I'm currently taking 2000 MG a day (I actually only started it to combine it with MSM).  I guess I'll have to work up to bowel tolerance for awhile!

The first time I did this, it took 65 grams to get there! I've had nagging health issues for some time, they are slowly going away. The bowel tolerance goes
down as you get healthier but it does take time and patience!

Delphine wrote:

johndoe1225 wrote:Man, that table recommends 10-15g daily for my weight range.  

I'm currently taking 2000 MG a day (I actually only started it to combine it with MSM).  I guess I'll have to work up to bowel tolerance for awhile!

The first time I did this, it took 65 grams to get there!  I've had nagging health issues for some time, they are slowly going away.  The bowel tolerance goes
down as you get healthier but it does take time and patience!

65 grams, what the heck

johndoe1225 wrote:

Delphine wrote:

johndoe1225 wrote:Man, that table recommends 10-15g daily for my weight range.  

I'm currently taking 2000 MG a day (I actually only started it to combine it with MSM).  I guess I'll have to work up to bowel tolerance for awhile!

The first time I did this, it took 65 grams to get there!  I've had nagging health issues for some time, they are slowly going away.  The bowel tolerance goes
down as you get healthier but it does take time and patience!

65 grams, what the heck

That's actually not too unusual. The author of that article started out at about the same level of bowel tolerance (BT) of ascorbic acid.
She told me it took six months to get that down to 5 grams BT. It helped her overcome her Candida issues.

Just took me 35g to reach a flush.

angstman wrote:Just took me 35g to reach a flush.

Good job, keep going! As your health improves, your BT will go down.

I got impatient because I've currently got one of the worst sinus infections of my life. I started with 8,then 12,then 15... Something tells me my threshold is probably a bit lower. Within the first hour of ingesting so much C, I haven't felt the need for any drugs today. I have been taking Sudafed and Allegra the past couple days. It definitely made me feel a bit better and gave me energy.

Right, vitamin C is specific for infections...but full healing takes time, so just keep going. I am doing the BT doses daily myself and expect to continue on indefinitely.

I definitely have to try this, the only problem is my anxiety which would greatly magnify any harmless side effects of vitamin c.

johndoe1225 wrote:I definitely have to try this, the only problem is my anxiety which would greatly magnify any harmless side effects of vitamin c.

C can help with anxiety as well!

From the same author:
http://healingwithvitamins.weebly.com/blog/the-vitamin-c-bubble

Let me explain my situation so you better understand. I was plagued by panic attacks and agoraphobia, I would wake up with intense anxiety and go to bed with it. Stress was very hard on my body and I could not cope. Over time with vitamin c in my life I noticed each day stress was a little easier to handle, I almost felt normal. Today my anxiety only flares up in highly stressful situations and my agoraphobia is only a problem of habit, meaning before I leave I make myself think I am scared to go out but I realize I'm not really scared I am just used to being scared. My brain with the help of vitamin c is replacing these negative thoughts with positive ones. I read about all these programs to retrain the amygdala and cure anxiety. The amygdala can be retrained but not with the body in an unhealthy state and an unbalance of hormones and neurotransmitters, this is where vitamin c balances these things exactly the way your individual body requires to function properly and your brain can be retrained.

Haha, that's cool, I definitely get anxiety/panic attacks too