Healing the wounds or having surgery? Don't forget the Vitamin C!

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Healing the wounds or having surgery? Don't forget the Vitamin C!

_http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/NHC/articles/2008_08_14_vitamin_c_in_wound

_healing.html_

(http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/NHC/articles/2008_08_14_vitamin_c_in_wound_h\

ealing.html)

 

Dr Rath Research Institute,

Santa Clara, California, USA

 

Many ugly malformations of scar tissues or prolonged and complicated

recoveries from surgical procedures can be avoided by the simple measure of

taking

the right vitamins.

 

This is not new knowledge however. As long ago as 1937, Harvard Medical

School surgeons observed the importance of vitamin C for wound healing in

patients recovering from surgeries [1]. These physicians noted that

“spontaneous

breakdown of a surgical wound in the absence of infection occurs with relative

frequency in patients with the cachexia of cancer, in debilitated individuals,

and in young patients; notably those who have some congenital anomaly of the

gastro-intestinal tract.†Therefore, their recommendation for the

administration of vitamin C was based on their subsequent observations that

wound

healing becomes faulty with low vitamin C, and that vitamin C levels were low

in

their patients.

 

While such information remains pertinent today, it may be omitted in medical

practice as routine protocols take precedent in the clinic. Recently we have

received reports from nurses and practitioners whose patients' wounds will

not heal despite the lack of complications. These practitioners even

speculated that it may be a vitamin C deficiency or other malnutrition that is

responsible for the slow wound healing. However, they admitted that some of

their

patients, frightened by the media vitamin scares, were hesitant to take

supplements without scientific evidence of their beneficial effects.

 

Therefore, it should benefit medical practitioners, their patients and the

public at large to revisit these dusty old papers and new data explaining the

role of vitamin C and nutrition in wound healing.

 

Collagen – a fabric of our body

 

When wounds heal, the body's metabolic requirements increase. In the first

few days following a major injury or surgery, the body's vitamin C may fall to

dramatically low levels. In one hospital study, the vitamin C levels of

critically injured patients were uniformly at severe scurvy levels [2]. Only

high

doses (multi-gram) of vitamin C, but not milligram amounts, were effective

in restoring blood levels for this vitamin back to normal. Why is it so

important to re-supplement vitamin C?

 

Without an additional supply of vitamin C, the formation of new replacement

connective tissue between cells is hindered and the new tissue formed to

close the wound may be fragile, defective, or missing altogether. The majority

of

this connective tissue is collagen, which is comprised of the amino acids

lysine, proline, and glycine assembled together in molecular cables and sheets.

These collagen cables and sheets are the structural beams, walls, and

scaffolding of the body's cells that must be repaired and rebuilt in the case of

an

injury. Even the seemingly inorganic bones of the body are comprised of a

finely organized structure of collagen cables between which mineral is laid

down. The enzymes critical to forming these cables of collagen between our cells

cannot function without its co-factor vitamin C [3].

 

Likewise, lysine and proline are necessary structural elements of collagen

that are required to a higher degree at the site of wound healing. Lysine is

an essential amino acid that humans cannot produce and it must be supplied by

the diet. While humans can manufacture their own proline, the rate at which

they make it may decrease under illness. A wound patient may utilize as much

as 100 grams of protein a day, and their requirements for supplemental amino

acids such as lysine and proline may be very high [4]. It follows that a

deficiency of lysine or proline would also prevent proper wound healing as these

are the raw materials for making connective tissue.

 

Wound healing requires a team effort

 

Not only are vitamin C, lysine, and proline essential to the rebuilding of

damaged tissues, but also a variety of macro- and micro-nutrients that supply

bio-energy, building blocks, and enzymatic cofactors needed by the cells to

maintain all their normal tasks. As the rebuilding process involves the immune

system to clear out damaged debris and infectious agents, new cells divide

and move in to replace lost cells. All cells then work together in forming a

bed of collagen, fibronectin, laminin, proteoglycans, and other extracellular

matrix molecules that give a functional form and structure, without which the

tissues of the body would disintegrate. All of these processes involve an

intricate cascade of interdependent biochemical events within each and every

cell, and each of these processes has a different nutritional requirement.

 

Although there is not much economic interest in funding studies with

micronutrients in wound healing, there is enough clinical evidence in support

of

micronutrient supplementation. The clinical study developed and sponsored by Dr

Rath Research Institute demonstrated that daily supplementation with the

collagen building nutrients such as vitamin C, lysine and proline,

significantly

accelerated healing of bone fractures [5]. This study confirmed the critical

role of bone collagen for faster bone healing since these patients were not

taking calcium supplements, commonly recommended in bone health. Healthy bone

metabolism requires both collagen building micronutrients and minerals. Also,

our laboratory data have proven that synergy of vitamin C, lysine, proline,

green tea extract, arginine and other micronutrients aids in healing skin

wounds and reduces scar tissue (unpublished).

 

Therefore, the keen observation of today's bedside caregivers that wounds

may be slow to heal because of micronutrient deficiencies and malnutrition is

correct and applies not only to patients in developing countries, but to

patients in hospitals in Berlin, Paris, Warsaw, or San Francisco.

Micronutrients

deficiencies are still common and affect both young and old. Therefore, a

simple measure like taking nutritional supplements can help in mending our

cuts,

wounds, burns, broken bones and surgically damaged tissues without health

risks. At what cost? Less than the price of the cup of coffee you buy at

Starbucks every day.

 

References:

 

[1] Lanman, T.H., Ingalls, T.H. (1937) Vitamin C deficiency and wound

healing: an experimental and clinical study. Annals of Surgery 105(4): 616-625.

 

[2] Long, C.L., Maull K.I., et al. (2003) Ascorbic acid dynamics in the

seriously ill and injured. J Surg Res 109(2): 144-148.

 

[3] Berg, R.A., Steinmann, B., et al. (1983) Ascorbate deficiency results in

decreased collagen production: under-hydroxylation of proline leads to

increased intracellular degradation. Arch Biochem Biophys 226(2): 681-686.

 

[4] Russell L. (2001) The importance of patients' nutritional status in

wound healing. Br J Nurs 10(6 Suppl):S42, S44-S49

 

[5] J. Jamdar, B.Rao, et al (2004), Reduction in Tibial Shaft Fracture

Healing Time with Essential Nutrient Supplementation Containing Ascorbic Acid,

Lysine and Proline, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 10,

915-916.

 

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