Vitamin C

The second discovery of vitamin C
     Vitamin C against cancer and infections
     Vitamin C and cardiovascular disease
     Deprived by Nature

The genius of intuition
     Heart surgery
     60 years of studies of vitamin C
     To drink or not to drink?

In February 2007, celebrated 105 years since the birth of one of the greatest scientists of the XX century - Linus Carl Pauling.

There is a lot of different opinions and judgments about Pauling: he is considered one of the 20 greatest scientists of the world - and was included in the list of unreliable people in the U.S.; was a candidate for U.S. Senate from California - and subjected to FBI surveillance; was compared with the Pope - and called a fascist, people offended by his arrogance and admired for his humor and kindness. But all agree that Pauling was a great scientist and an extraordinary person.

He was awarded two Nobel prizes: one for chemistry, the second - for the fight against nuclear testing.

Nobel Prize awarded to December 1901 In the its history, two awards received only to four people: Maria Sklodowska-Curie - in physics (1903) and Peace (1911), Linus Pauling - in chemistry (1954) and Peace (1962), John Bardin - in physics (1956, 1972), Frederick Sanger - in chemistry (1958, 1980). Pauling was the only scientist who has received two awards himself one, not together with other scientists.

During his life, Linus Pauling worked not only in various fields of science, but also continuously fought for what he believed the world was fair, and did not recognize compromises in this. He got all the top American and international awards.

When, in one of recent interview he was asked how he would like to stay in the memory of future generations, he said: "This is a complicated issue, and I find it hard to answer it. Most of all, for me will be remembered as the inventor of high doses of vitamin C. Of course, I currently do not think so. I only repeated what Stone and Szent-Gyorgyi said before me. True, they were not so consistently and persistently."

It is surprisingly, that in the last quarter of XX century suddenly discovered a substance that can help you no matter what disease you are suffering. However, there is convincing evidence that vitamin C is such a substance. It is not a drug to a specific property to cure cancer, or hepatitis, or some other illness. On the contrary, it is an important natural substance that is involved, perhaps almost all occurring in our body chemical reactions and is necessary for many of them.

Our body can successfully fight the disease only when the organs and fluids of our bodies contain enough vitamin C to the natural protective mechanisms are working effectively. As established, this amount of vitamin C is much greater than those doses that were recommended by authorities of medicine and nutrition in the past.

Characteristic study on this subject was done in 1942 by surgeons Bartlett, Jones and Ryan. As we know, excessive intake of vitamin C is necessary for any healing process, which requires the formation of new connective tissue. The patient was scheduled operation of herniotomy both right and left side. The content of ascorbic acid in his blood plasma was 0.9 mg per 100 ml, suggesting that his level of consumption of vitamin C from food was about 90 mg per day.

After the first operation, he began to receive first to 100 mg of vitamin C per day, and then, after the second operation - to 1100 mg. Wounds of skin and fascia on the side of the first operation had healed badly, but on the side of the second - well, with a tensile strength of the second scar was 3-6 times greater than the first.

Forty years ago, patients underwent surgery advised to take daily 500-1000 mg vitamin C, but today the most informed of the surgeons used a much larger doses. Some surgeons add 5 or more grams per liter of fluid for intravenous infusion in addition to receiving vitamin C the patient before surgery.

Similar effect, arising from the need of vitamin C for collagen synthesis, is to increase ability of the body of a cancer patient to encapsulate the tumor that is to enclose it in a sheath of scar tissue. Cancer patients, who were lucky to receive large doses of vitamin C, can turn his tumor is very slow growing, practically non-invasive, limited by dense, almost impermeable membrane of connective tissue, resulting the clinical prognosis of the disease will be favorable, and the duration of his life - a little different from normal.

Such encapsulation is a complex process that depends on many factors. One of them is always an intense local production of fully formed collagen fibrils, which are to forge invasive cancer cells. This process requires of vitamin C.

There are reports about some deterrent effect of vitamin C, not only for cancer but also for many other diseases. Here is a list of these diseases, many of which are infectious (such as viral and bacterial):

Common cold and influenza, viral pneumonia, tuberculosis, measles, mumps, chickenpox, viral orchitis, polio, viral meningitis, hepatitis, herpes zoster, herpes simplex, and various bacterial infections. Effective phagocytosis, which depends on an ample intake of vitamin C, provides some protection from the otherwise almost inevitable complications.

Effective drugs against viral infections are very few. The natural antiviral agent is interferon. This is a protein produced by cells of the human or animal under the influence of viruses, and possibly malignant cells, which is transferred to neighboring cells and modifies them so that they acquire the ability to resist infection.

The assumption that increased intake of vitamin C leads to the development of more interferon has been confirmed in animals by Siegel and Schwerdt.

Reinforced vitamin C effectively inhibits pneumonia and viral hepatitis. In the work of Pete and Costrini (1979), in training camp of marines half of the 800 soldiers received daily 2 g of vitamin C, and the rest - a placebo (an imitation of the drug). Within two months of observations, patients with pneumonia were seven times higher in the second - control - group than in the group that received vitamin C.

Serum hepatitis, including hepatitis, excited by the virus B, may pose a serious threat to patients undergoing surgery with blood transfusion. An extensive study of vitamin C to prevent this infection was held from 1967 to 1976, at the hospital "Torikai" (Japan). The results were published in 1978.

During this period, among 170 patients undergoing a blood transfusion, who did not receive vitamin C or received it a little, it was noted 12 cases of hepatitis (which amounted to 7%), whereas from 1367 people who received daily 2 g of vitamin C, there were only 3 cases of hepatitis, which gives the incidence of 0,2%. Now the majority of patients of the hospital receive a mandatory 10 g of vitamin C a day.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death. In recent years, it became clear that the incidence of these diseases is highly dependent on dietary factors and the environment. Some epidemiological data suggest that the most important of these factors is the consumption of vitamin C.

Recently, a new medical term appeared - that is "free radical diseases". This name was given many "diseases of civilization", such as cancer, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, diseases of the nervous system and many others (more than 80 species). The term "Free ràdiñàl diseàses" combines a series of different diseases caused by free radical oxidation of tissue and environs of the body.

Danger of oxidation by free radicals threatened unsaturated fats present in the membranes of cells, which regulate vital metabolic processes. Their main defenders are antioxidant vitamins C and E.

These antioxidant vitamins, as well as vitamin A and some minerals (such as zinc and selenium) have, besides the main mechanism of action (participation in enzymatic processes), also high activity against free radicals. Therefore, in cases where amounts of free radicals in the tissue increases, antioxidants are consumed primarily for their neutralization, and to fulfill the primary role - the formation of enzymatic chains - they almost never left.

When is this happening? At enhancing the uptake of free radicals from the outside (contaminated environment, foods with high acidity and saturated fat), at all inflammatory processes in the body, infectious diseases, stress conditions, the regenerative processes.

Despite the debates on the necessary amount of vitamin C, current studies demonstrate one success after another, making vitamin C is the main actor in the drama of the replacement of pharmaceuticals on nutrients. One simple experiment in comparative physiology has shown that our real need for vitamin C is much higher than officially acknowledged.

People along with primates, guinea pigs and a few other species are the only living beings who are unable to produce their own vitamin C. Most animals produce it about 30 mg per kilogram of body weight. For a person who weighs, say, 70 kg, this gives about 2 grams per day.

Under stress rats, mice and rabbits produce seven times more vitamin C. Anthropologists have estimated that even before the mechanism of generation of ascorbate was lost during evolution, primitive people daily ingested from 400 mg to 2 grams of vitamin C. If science is ever definitively establishes that 2 g protect the health of more than 60 mg, we'll see how it all fit together.

Physician Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who discovered vitamin C, in fact, found in foods containing ascorbic acid, a complex of nutrients. This "natural" vitamin C acts more efficiently than that in most cases, people buy from pharmacies.

The effectiveness of the Ñ-complex can be explained by the fact that natural sources are also other components, in particular, rutin and other members of the family of bioflavonoids, enzymes and other factors that act synergistically. In a typical synthetic vitamin C, widely used since 1934, none of these components are not. The problem is finding a source of the C-complex itself.

In modern supplements containing natural vitamin C, it is present in a complex with bioflavonoids and other nutrients contained in plants. Such preparations may also contain vitamin C in non-acidic form, that is, even people with high acidity can take it in high doses.

A feature of such food supplements is also the gradual absorption of vitamin C, which eliminates the irritation of the stomach, and also maintains a high concentration of vitamin C in the blood for 14-18 hours.

1   [2]   [3]
    Next >>