How Much Vitamin C Is Too Much?

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How Much Vitamin C Is Too Much?

http://www.americanfreepress.net/Alternative_Health/17_02%20HS%20How%20Much%20Vitamin%20C%20Is%20.htm

It’s generally

accepted that a

healthy dose of vitamin C can help ward off colds. But just how much is

enough?

 

By Jack

Phillips

 

Many people do not realize that man is

one of the

few mammals which does not manufacture its own supply of vitamin C,

also known

as ascorbic acid.

The rates of production by a number of

different

animals like the cat, dog and goat have been measured. The heavier the

animal

the more vitamin C it produces.

However, a 154-pound man would need to

produce

between 1.75 and 3.50 grams per day to keep up with the other animals.

There are experts who feel that taking

more than

140 milligrams per day of this vitamin is wasteful because, for many

people,

more than this amount results in urine containing the

vitamin—“Expensive

Urine.”

Loading tests have shown that 20 to 25

percent of

a 1 gram per day dose shows up in the urine within 6 hours. When much

larger

doses are taken, as much as 62 percent can show up within hours.

Generally speaking, the recommended

daily

allowances have been based on the amounts needed to prevent scurvy in

healthy

young men.

But healthy young men represent only a

small part

of the total population.

To my knowledge, no one has determined

how much of

any vitamin is required by unhealthy old men—or women.

The results of a test involving 88

patients, half

being schizophrenic, are reported in Dr. Linus Pauling’s book How

to live

Longer and Feel Better.

Each was given 1.75 grams of vitamin C

by mouth.

During the following 6 hours each patient’s urine was collected and

then

analyzed.

The amounts excreted varied from 2

percent to 40

percent of the amount ingested. The mental patients excreted about 60

percent

less than the others.

This clearly indicates that the need for

vitamin C

is quite variable. Just as one size shoe doesn’t fit every foot, the

recommended daily allowance is not going to fill everybody’s need for

this

essential vitamin.

Incidentally, excreted vitamin C is not

a complete

loss. According to Dr. Pauling, it protects against urinary tract

infections.

Large doses can have a laxative effect

causing

looseness of the bowel. This is said to be greater when the vitamin is

taken on

an empty stomach.

Dr. Pauling recommended using this

laxative effect

to reduce chances of developing colon cancer. Additionally, the vitamin

appears

to be most effective in fighting disease when the dose is close to the

bowel

tolerance limit.

Vitamin C is one of the few naturally

anti-viral

materials. There has been much controversy about its usefulness against

colds

and influenza.

It is notable that Dr. Pauling’s

interest in

vitamin C was sparked by his observation that he and his wife

experienced a

striking decrease in the number and severity of colds after they

started taking

large quantities of it. I have enjoyed the same benefit.

The effects of the vitamin are dose

related. Many

tests at low dosages during the early years of this controversy showed

little

effect except reductions in the duration of symptoms.

However, physicians experienced with

this therapy

recommend intakes near the bowel tolerance limit, said to be between 4

and 15

grams per day for people in good health.

Dr. Irwin Stone, a pioneer in the use of

vitamin

C, recommended taking 1.5 to 2 grams by mouth at the first sign of a

cold and

repeating the dose at 20 to 30 minute intervals until symptoms

disappeared. He

said this usually happened by the third dose.

Collagen is the material that holds your

body

together. Vitamin C is destroyed in the process of producing collagen.

If your

skin is cut, collagen is generated to make scar tissue.

It seems obvious that the more extensive

the

damage, the greater the amount of vitamin C needed for the repair.

There are many references in the

scientific

literature attesting to the efficacy of vitamin C in wound healing.

When I had a need for a hernia repair, I

put the

theory to a test. I increased my intake of vitamin C prior to the

surgery and

took 52 grams of it in the 24 hours after it at the rate of about 2

grams per

hour.

I experienced no digestive difficulties,

my wound

healed well and I did not need the prescribed pain medication.

I was careful to reduce this high intake

over the

next 3 days to avoid a rebound effect. If you take a lot of vitamin C

and stop

taking it suddenly, your liver will take it out of your immune system

leaving

you vulnerable to infection.

It is interesting to note that your

bones are made

up of layers of collagen and the mineral apatite which together form a

matrix

of semiconductors. It is reasonable to believe, therefore, that vitamin

C is

also of value in maintaining the integrity of your skeleton.

POISON?

There are those who say that large

quantities of

vitamin C are poisonous.

Dr. Pauling reported that he took 18

grams of it

every day and he lived to be over 90.

In bulk, vitamin C is not expensive. It

costs

about 3.5 cents per gram. Thus 1.75 grams costs about 6 cents and 18

grams

about 65 cents.

Of course your body needs other

supplements to

stay healthy.

Dr. Joel Wallach has stated that there

are 60

minerals, 16 vitamins, 12 essential amino acids and 3 essential fatty

acids

that your body requires in order to prevent dietary deficiency

diseases.

The soils in the United States have been

deficient

in minerals for years so you cannot get everything you need from food

alone.

In 1994, Dr. Wallach stated that the

life span for

the average American was 75.5 years, but was only 58 years for medical

doctors.

An attempt to update the life span for

physicians

was unsuccessful because a representative of the American Medical

Association

stated that they no longer keep these statistics.

Possibly the physicians who have been

advising

their patients to avoid “Expensive Urine” have been taking their own

advice—and

dying early of “Cheap Urine.” ™