Why vitamin C won't 'boost' your immune system against the coronavirus

Page 3 - For the science geek in everyone, Live Science breaks down the stories behind the most interesting news and photos on the Internet.
Mar 10, 2020
18
10
35
Visit site
Can someone tell me when Vit C becomes toxic. 10,000 mgs sounds excessive.

Vitamin C is fairly benign - nobody has ever died from vitamin C over-consumption. Based on rat studies, the toxic dose is likely over 11g/kg body weight. So, maybe 700,000 mg per day?

That doesn't mean high vitamin C intake doesn't have side effects. Gas, bloating, nausea, and diarrhea are common in doses above 2000 mg/day - usually these taper off as your body gets used to it.

There is a link between vitamin C and kidney stones (as the article said) but it's not clear who is at risk... In general, most people have no serious issues.
 
Jan 24, 2020
61
9
55
Visit site
Vitamin C is fairly benign - nobody has ever died from vitamin C over-consumption. Based on rat studies, the toxic dose is likely over 11g/kg body weight. So, maybe 700,000 mg per day?

That doesn't mean high vitamin C intake doesn't have side effects. Gas, bloating, nausea, and diarrhea are common in doses above 2000 mg/day - usually these taper off as your body gets used to it.

There is a link between vitamin C and kidney stones (as the article said) but it's not clear who is at risk... In general, most people have no serious issues.
Thanks Alex. Much appreciated.
 
Over the last 50 years I have read positive and negative studies on vitamin C. What I have found by personal experience is that, when I feel a cold coming on, I drink a lot of orange juice, and three out of four times I can avoid that cold. When I am not in a position to drink a lot of OJ, I get the cold more often. I've done this for nearly 50 years, and have successfully avoided many colds with this technique. Some may agree with it, and some may not, but I witnessed all of it, so I can verify that it worked for me.
Fluids work miracles, don't they. Good job drinking fluid. I take a bottle of water everywhere when i think i might be sick. Fluids are great for you, and actually are proven unlike vitamin C bull.
 
The trials suggest that vitamin c may be effective at mitigating the more severe effects of lower respiratory infections such as viral pneumonia.

Here was my original claim:
'it stands to reason that a therapeutic dose of vitamin c would also have some effectiveness against viral pneumonia stemming from COVID19.'

If the claim here is that vitamin c is useless, then debunk the studies that strongly suggest that it is not.
That's all you need do (if you can).
we have stumbled across a logical fallacy in the wild! What a rare treat!
 
Mar 25, 2020
1
0
10
Visit site
Furthermore the therapeutic dosing is much higher for those that are already sick. The proper way to take vitamin C therapeutically is to take it frequently throughout the day until bowel tolerance is reached. For those that are interested here is an informative link http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html - Such a shame this was not mentioned in this terribly misleading article.
I agree based on personal experiences. I have taken as much as 25 grams over 24 hours for severe flu with no bowel or urinary symptoms. Based on reading Klenner's experiences treating snake and spider bites with high C I once helped a woman in bad shape from multiple yellow jacket stings in her neck. She had forgotten her bee sting kit and was far from help on a hike. I immediately gave her 10 grams of C crushed into a glass of water. In 20 minutes she stopped choking, the swelling of her eyes reduced enough so she could see, and body swelling was reducing. I gave her 5 grams an hour for the next 8 hours, when she felt better and ready to sleep. I left her and her friends with a small bottle of C saying to use as she felt the need. The next day she walked 3 miles to her car. So, with 50 grams over 8 hours she never had bowel or urinary symptoms.

There are 3 Chinese Covid-19 studies with results planned for Sept. using as much as 24 grams of C a day intravenously. https://www.transcend.org/tms/2020/...earch-studies-approved-for-treating-covid-19/
Particularly targeted is the often fatal acute respiratory syndrome (ARS). Preliminary information says the doctors are encouraged by the results so far. If I got very sick with ARS and could NOT get such hospital treatment, I would treat myself in the way I did the woman described above. I have found that giving enough Vitamin C to myself and my children would bring down a fever by 2 degrees--103f to 101f, 102f to 100f. The link provided above refers to efforts to suppress the Vitamin C information.

I have been very concerned for many years that drug companies have been trying to suppress this because there are no profits in it. When challenged by someone who said they won't make much money with chloroquine either, I researched this claim. I found the GoodRX price for chloroquine is about $75.00 for 30 500mg. tablets. Others are charging from $300 to $600 an order. Vitamin C tablets range from 5 to 10 cents each for 500mg. Thus $1.50 to $3.00 compared with GoodRX's $75.00. So, even on a long established, no longer under patent drug, the companies still making a lot more money on chloroquine than on C.

In another discussion I commented I had seen Vitamin C being downplayed with references to potentially deadly doses. The only toxicity figure I could find was the LD50 for rats in metrics. For the non metric among us it amounted to a little less than 1/2 ounce can kill 1/2 a group of 2 pound rats. For humans, that would be 2 pounds of C could kill 1/2 a group of large women and small men. Can you imagine even swallowing 2 pounds of Vitamin C?
 
Last edited:
"This so-called saturation point varies between individuals, but the main takeaway here is that, if you're taking normal vitamin C supplements, you cannot steadily increase the available vitamin C in your body by simply "upping the dose." Past a certain threshold, the body stops absorbing the nutrient, and what you're left with is vitamin-enriched urine."

That's why slow-release, timed-release vitamin C is better, 500 mg, twice daily?
 
Mar 26, 2020
1
0
10
Visit site
Coronavirus causes death because it causes viral pneumonia resulting in severe ARDS. (Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. The lungs fill with fluid and if severe enough causes death. You can't think of high dose vitamin C as a vitamin. Instead think of it as a potent anti-oxidant free radical scavenger that quenches the cytokine storm which activates lung capillary endothelial cells leading to neutrophil infiltration and accumulation (damaging alveolar capillaries) and increased oxidative stress that occurs when the immune system goes into high gear to fight the infection.
A good analogy is that high dose vitamin C given in divided doses throughout the day acts like the control rods in a nuclear reactor. In effect it tempers the overactive immune response that leads to fluid filling the lungs and reduces inflammation.
It is important to start the IV vitamin C early because patients that require intubation can go downhill very quickly and rapidly progress to multi organ failure in a matter of hours.
High dose IV Vitamin C is one important tool in the tool shed to be used in conjunction with supportive therapy and anti-viral medication while we await an effective vaccine. It is very safe even in high doses, but maybe contraindicated or used with caution in people with kidney disease or G6PD deficiency. Reports on the risk of developing kidney stones with high dose vitamin C have been exaggerated and shown to be minimal. Dosage in severe cases can safely be increased to 24 grams/day or more per day given slow IV drip over 7-8 hours.
Here is preliminary paper reporting the results of IV vitamin C use in China as well as a new article published in The Lancet suggesting “Rescue therapy (For covid-19 infection) with high dose vitamin C can also be considered.”
Dosage in severe cases can safely be increased to 24 grams/day or more given slow IV drip over 7-8 hours.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scien...8620300154?from=groupmessage&isappinstalled=0

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30127-2/fulltext
 
Mar 31, 2020
1
1
10
Visit site
Whoever wrote this article is as extreme as someone who says that vitamin c can completely prevent the virus. I feel the same vibe of "Yes of course, you know nothing".
 
  • Like
Reactions: sciguy80
I do think vitamin c helps a lot, vitamin C, especially in high doses works wonders for your immune system, and anything that gives you an extra 'edge' is something I want to implement in my life right now.

It has never been a more vital time to have a robust immune system!

I have been adding extra ginger, garlic, onions and lots of vitamin c into my diet recently.

Though sleep is very important, I have been having trouble sleeping at regular hours with all the information and noise in the world right now.

I wrote this article on boosting your immune system here:

https://wellnessnova.com/boosting-your-immune-system-for-coronavirus/
 
Mar 10, 2020
18
10
35
Visit site
I agree based on personal experiences. I have taken as much as 25 grams over 24 hours for severe flu with no bowel or urinary symptoms. Based on reading Klenner's experiences treating snake and spider bites with high C...

Certainly, Klenner's work is something that needs to reproduced... but with rigor. Klenner claimed a lot, but produced very little scientific evidence. He mostly worked with IV vitamin C - not oral. There's is a big difference. I don't discount your experience - these phenomena need to be investigated better.

There are 3 Chinese Covid-19 studies with results planned for Sept. using as much as 24 grams of C a day intravenously. https://www.transcend.org/tms/2020/...earch-studies-approved-for-treating-covid-19/
Particularly targeted is the often fatal acute respiratory syndrome (ARS). Preliminary information says the doctors are encouraged by the results so far. If I got very sick with ARS and could NOT get such hospital treatment, I would treat myself in the way I did the woman described above.

Be very careful here. Vitamin C by mouth cannot do the same things that IV vitamin C can do. I'm not saying - in any way - that you shouldn't take vitamin C supplements. What I am saying is don't say "Hey, IV vitamin C works, so oral should do the same things." That is absolutely not true.
 
Mar 10, 2020
18
10
35
Visit site
Coronavirus causes death because it causes viral pneumonia resulting in severe ARDS. (Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. The lungs fill with fluid and if severe enough causes death. You can't think of high dose vitamin C as a vitamin.

First, I agree with everything you said in your post except for one small point: We don't know how IV vitamin C works yet. High dose vitamin C has a very peculiar duality - it can not only act as an antioxidant but it can also work as an oxidant (see the work with IV vitamin C in cancer). Vitamin C also can do a lot of other things we haven't mentioned in this thread that might come into play here.

Does any of this stop the cytokine storm/ARDS of COVID-19? Absolutely unknown. I hope people try it and find out - and report the findings to us in a way we can use.
 
It would have been proper to confront the myth that Vitamin C cures anything, but as a general immune system booster, it has been proven to help... either help with prevention of sicknesses or help reduce severity of symptoms if people get sick.

People doubling up on Vitamin C will not only be unharmed, it can be helpful.

How dare you create a nocebo (the opposite of a placebo), out of Vitamin C!

Editor-In-Chief: Pull this article.
They won't be unharmed! An immune system takes time to react
 
Apr 8, 2020
2
0
10
Visit site
Why 'Live Science' should not use such thoughtless headlines!

 
Apr 14, 2020
1
0
10
Visit site
If boosting immunity is the aim of Vitamin C supplementation, then shouldn't supplementation directed at increasing glutathione stores be given equal attention?

Kindly read my justification for the above statement...

A personal observation is that of glutathione deficiency in all underlying conditions seen in COVID-19 mortality, which is true in relation to the elderly. I am not an expert in the field, but given the crisis I have been trying to find a link among those who have succumbed to the disease in the hope to add to the existing body of knowledge.
There is evidence to suggest that glutathione depletion results in H2O2 accumulation and resulting 'cytokine storm', inflammation of lung parenchyma, lung fibrosis, microcirculatory dysfunction, progression to refractory hypotension and fatal septic shock.
Could more efficient cellular viral entry through increased ACE2 receptors in COVID-19 patients on ARBs and ACEi, mean more rapid depletion of already deficient glutathione reserves? Could the morbidity of COVID-19 in addition to atypical RAS signalling, be the accummulation of H2O2 and xenobiotic stress as a result of glutathione depletion? Could environmental conditions, lifestyle and dietary choices add to xenobiotic stress in symptomatic COVID-19 patients. Some of which could include carbon-monoxide exposure, cigarette smoking (low glutathione), narcotic abuse, excessive use of acetaminophen (? Tylenol), ibubrophen use, asbestos exposure, mercury exposure, mycotoxin exposure (black mould), aflatoxin contaminated food and milk (endemic in certain areas of the globe).
Symptoms of Glutathione depletion:
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Sepsis
- Nitric oxide deficiency
- Refractory hypotension
- Lung injury
- Fibrosis
- Stroke
- Pulmonary tbrombosis
Perhaps simple substances that boost glutathione reserves like N-acetylcysteine (mucolytic, reduces fibrosis and pneumonia); alpha lipoic acid, L-glutamine; L-glutathione etc. could improve outcomes of symptomatic patients and prevent adverse reactions in high-risk population.
I may have gone off on a tangent or perhaps this theory has substance.
Thanks.
 
Apr 15, 2020
2
0
10
Visit site
I agree based on personal experiences. I have taken as much as 25 grams over 24 hours for severe flu with no bowel or urinary symptoms. Based on reading Klenner's experiences treating snake and spider bites with high C I once helped a woman in bad shape from multiple yellow jacket stings in her neck. She had forgotten her bee sting kit and was far from help on a hike. I immediately gave her 10 grams of C crushed into a glass of water. In 20 minutes she stopped choking, the swelling of her eyes reduced enough so she could see, and body swelling was reducing. I gave her 5 grams an hour for the next 8 hours, when she felt better and ready to sleep. I left her and her friends with a small bottle of C saying to use as she felt the need. The next day she walked 3 miles to her car. So, with 50 grams over 8 hours she never had bowel or urinary symptoms.

There are 3 Chinese Covid-19 studies with results planned for Sept. using as much as 24 grams of C a day intravenously. https://www.transcend.org/tms/2020/...earch-studies-approved-for-treating-covid-19/
Particularly targeted is the often fatal acute respiratory syndrome (ARS). Preliminary information says the doctors are encouraged by the results so far. If I got very sick with ARS and could NOT get such hospital treatment, I would treat myself in the way I did the woman described above. I have found that giving enough Vitamin C to myself and my children would bring down a fever by 2 degrees--103f to 101f, 102f to 100f. The link provided above refers to efforts to suppress the Vitamin C information.

I have been very concerned for many years that drug companies have been trying to suppress this because there are no profits in it. When challenged by someone who said they won't make much money with chloroquine either, I researched this claim. I found the GoodRX price for chloroquine is about $75.00 for 30 500mg. tablets. Others are charging from $300 to $600 an order. Vitamin C tablets range from 5 to 10 cents each for 500mg. Thus $1.50 to $3.00 compared with GoodRX's $75.00. So, even on a long established, no longer under patent drug, the companies still making a lot more money on chloroquine than on C.

In another discussion I commented I had seen Vitamin C being downplayed with references to potentially deadly doses. The only toxicity figure I could find was the LD50 for rats in metrics. For the non metric among us it amounted to a little less than 1/2 ounce can kill 1/2 a group of 2 pound rats. For humans, that would be 2 pounds of C could kill 1/2 a group of large women and small men. Can you imagine even swallowing 2 pounds of Vitamin C?
Good for you Alice. Have had experience with vitamin C too. My last flu shot was in 1990.
Daily intake of vitamin C supplements is 4000 mg a day orally as well as A,B's, D, E zinc, selenium, iron several herbals and amino acids. I do not use sunscreen and do not get sunburned. Vitamin C tissue saturation protects from UVA/UVB. I'm a runner, bicyclist, Yoga, weights fitness hobbyist and get outdoors a lot. When I feel something coming on (sometimes I precipitate it due to exercise) I double up my vitamin C, water and pepperine intake. Haven't had a fever that didn't break within a single day in 30 years. I live in a city (Worcester, MA) among 3 married children and 7 grandchildren whom we see frequently. y the way, I'm a septuagenarian approaching my 72nd. I ran 10.1 miles today with a 1,014 ft change in elevation. Its hilly on the west side of Worcester. Thank you for sharing. I suspect the naysayers are sometimes paid schills of the same pharmaceutical industry that supplies the major networks with "medical consultants" free of charge.
 
Apr 15, 2020
2
0
10
Visit site
My understanding on vitamin C is that without it, the immune system does not function, we cannot heal, scurvy is the result and the usual cause of death from scurvy is pneumonia.

Without vitamin C, the body in unable to produce the natural antiviral Interferon. Interferon is what "controls" the immune system and suppresses white cells (that are attracted to an infection site) from releasing the cytokines they contain that the white cells use to chemically dismantle a bacteria or virus they have enveloped. White cells locate foreign bodies because immunoglobulin sticks to them and mark them for elimination. The white cells envelop the foreign invader and dismantle it with vitamin C and cytokines that the white cells have in abundance....more than any other cell.

We can become deficient in vitamin C during an illness because viruses attempting to invade mucosal, blood or organ cells can cause extensive damage and vitamin C is used in repair along with collagen. Eventually, vitamin C levels can get low which affects Interferon levels which suppress the cytokine release from white cells. When the vitamin C and Interferon fall too low, the cytokine release occurs into the infection site as a last ditch effort to stop the infection. Cytokines are highly irritating inflammatory substances that inflame lung tissue causing edema and asthma, making breathing very difficult.

When this occurs, the patient is running out of time. Failing raw material supplies (vitamin C, B1 and B6) and collagen make it imperative that the immune system find the right immunoglobulin antibody to neutralize or kill replicating viruses before the patient succumbs to the disease.

In addition to vitamin C, vitamins A, B1, B6, D , E, zinc, selenium, iron all potentiate, provide energy for, provide raw material for or act as viral antagonists during an infection. The stronger the infection, the greater the degree of replication that is taking place (related directly to just barely adequate vitamin and mineral stores) result in rapidly falling essential chemical artillery needed by the immune system. Perfectly healthy looking people with no health compromises can have barely adequate vitamin and mineral stores which will be driven into deficiency in the face of a dangerous infection.

That the reason they become a fatality to everyone's surprise. Just enough is not good enough when you are in the fight for your life. Supplement your diet to be sure. As far as the elderly are concerned (and I'm 72 this year) most of them don't exercise and have low food intakes. Some eat poorly because they adhere to old habits and wish to do what they want. Any many, many doctors and health care professionals continue to insist that "a balanced diet is all you need" thereby fueling the belief that if you eat 3 times a day, you've covered the basics which are woefully inadequate when you are really sick with a nasty infection. The FDA's abysmally low MDR/RDA do not help the situation.

Nutrition needs differ from person to person. Its not a one size fits all situation. No surprise to me that perfectly "healthy" people die from a virus infection under a "for profit health care system" that puts money ahead of patients.

By the way, more than HALF of patients on a ventilator never recover. That's why the healthcare workers in the ICU cheer when someone beats the odds and makes it through.

Personally, I am in awe of the brave self-sacrifice that is going on in hospital ICU's, ER's and Coronavirus Wards. It saddens me to watch video of the degree that patients are suffering and just how tired and strained the health care workers: Doctors,Nurses, Inhalation Therapists, Phlebotomists, Technicians and Custodial Staff appear to be yet pick themselves up and go at it again for another extended shift, while running on empty

I wish it wasn't this way. I wish the PPE and supplies were readily at hand in abundance and I wish that the testing of all kinds was available nationwide. I wish the staffing was more than just adequate and sufficient for inevitable disasters that ALWAYS occur without much warning. It didn't have to be this way. We didn't need to repeat the horror of 1918 a second time. We were warned by very intelligent people over many years but it was more important to spend a 100 times more on an oversized military while public health was relegated to a back seat in an out of the way building laboratory.

We ignored the greatest threat to our economy, democracy and our very lives and the lives of our progeny. We ignored History and have been cursed to relive it again because of greed and stupidity.
 
Last edited:
If boosting immunity is the aim of Vitamin C supplementation, then shouldn't supplementation directed at increasing glutathione stores be given equal attention?

Kindly read my justification for the above statement...

A personal observation is that of glutathione deficiency in all underlying conditions seen in COVID-19 mortality, which is true in relation to the elderly. I am not an expert in the field, but given the crisis I have been trying to find a link among those who have succumbed to the disease in the hope to add to the existing body of knowledge.
There is evidence to suggest that glutathione depletion results in H2O2 accumulation and resulting 'cytokine storm', inflammation of lung parenchyma, lung fibrosis, microcirculatory dysfunction, progression to refractory hypotension and fatal septic shock.
Could more efficient cellular viral entry through increased ACE2 receptors in COVID-19 patients on ARBs and ACEi, mean more rapid depletion of already deficient glutathione reserves? Could the morbidity of COVID-19 in addition to atypical RAS signalling, be the accummulation of H2O2 and xenobiotic stress as a result of glutathione depletion? Could environmental conditions, lifestyle and dietary choices add to xenobiotic stress in symptomatic COVID-19 patients. Some of which could include carbon-monoxide exposure, cigarette smoking (low glutathione), narcotic abuse, excessive use of acetaminophen (? Tylenol), ibubrophen use, asbestos exposure, mercury exposure, mycotoxin exposure (black mould), aflatoxin contaminated food and milk (endemic in certain areas of the globe).
Symptoms of Glutathione depletion:
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Sepsis
- Nitric oxide deficiency
- Refractory hypotension
- Lung injury
- Fibrosis
- Stroke
- Pulmonary tbrombosis
Perhaps simple substances that boost glutathione reserves like N-acetylcysteine (mucolytic, reduces fibrosis and pneumonia); alpha lipoic acid, L-glutamine; L-glutathione etc. could improve outcomes of symptomatic patients and prevent adverse reactions in high-risk population.
I may have gone off on a tangent or perhaps this theory has substance.
Thanks.
Although perhaps patients on ACE inhibitors might be better off due to the fact that they disrupt ACE binding, but it is unclear to me if they affect the ACE2 protien.
 
It can be a matter of doses. Those reports were based at doses around 200mg/day as you say. But therapeutical doses of vitamin C start at least at 500mg and are typically of above 2-5 grams/day as used by orthomolecular doctors as high-dose oral or intravenous vitamin C.
There are actually circumstances in which vitamin C can be dangerous! If you have insulin dependent diabetes, vitamin C can kill you if you are using a glucometer which is unable to distinguish between vitamin C and glucose. I'm not certain that any manufacturers ever got around to including a feature to tell the difference. All old glucometers treated vitamin C and glucose as being the same in their readings.
So, some woman over 70 decides to take 300 milligrams of vitamin C per day or more; she may even have been instructed to do so by her doctor! Her glucometer reads the ambient vitamin C as glucose and her insulin intake she adjusts to account for the higher "sugar". The ensuing habitual blood sugar lows, which will not register as lows so long as significant vitamin C remains in her bloodstream, may then damage her heart and kill her.
There have been cases in which particularly nasty doctor's instructed insulin pump users to take 2 grams of ascorbic acid daily, knowing of this effect. Since insulin fails to reduce vitamin C levels, the pump keeps administering insulin after actual blood sugar has bottomed out.

Scenario 2: metabolic syndrome including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and a variety of other unpleasant maladies. Since about 2005, metabolic syndrome has been known to result from the release of insulin receptor blocking and inflammatory immune substances secreted by macrophages trapped in excess belly fat, which may be constituted by as much as 50% trapped sessile macrophages (macrophages which do not circulate normally consuming organic debris and which do not eliminate themselves by apoptosis). In addition, such macrophages might get trapped in "stroma"; that is, they may block holes in arteries. When one consumes large doses of vitamin C in these cases, those trapped macrophages expand in size and activity by up to 5 or 10 times( this is referred to as "blastophenia"). In the case of circulating macrophages which are cleaning organic debris, there are at least some circumstances in which such blastophenia might be favorable; but macrophages blocking arterial hole suddenly multiplying in size may block arteries, leading to a heart attack or stroke, and macrophages trapped in belly fat may simply multiply their output of unfavorable immune factors, with commensurate aggravation of high blood pressure and/ or insulin resistance. It is therefore that I strongly advise elderly persons and those with metabolic syndrome related maladies, as well as type 1 diabetics whose glucometers are indiscrimanate between glucose and ascorbic acid, to avoid use of any larger than dietarily required amounts of vitamin C.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hellopunyhumans
May 15, 2020
1
0
10
Visit site
"highly unlikely" - lol? There's already some preliminary evidence that it helps COVID19.
and bioavailability is limited by the absorption in the intestines, which tapers off with higher doses (it doesn't max out at 500mg dose, though), but injection bypasses the intestines and increases the availability...
For taking it by mouth often what you can do is take 1g in repeated doses throughout the day...
Funny I came in here to correct the OP but learned something from people in the comments - I think some of the commenters should be writing these articles instead of the OP.

Vitamin C is destroyed by heat, light, and oxygen. Don't expect to get much from cooked vegetables or meat.
If I have powdered vitamin C in a bottle, but there's air in the bottle, is this still an active form of vitamin C or has it been destroyed...?
 
Last edited:
A confused discussion? Vitamin C taken in larger doses over time might boost an immune system, but taken quickly as a medicine to prevent a virus or to lower the symptoms has no clinical support as yet. Because it is a water soluble vitamin it does not build up in the body Injections can add it quickly but won't last much longer. Vitamin C plus oxygen and ferrous iron is required to form collagen. Without it humans get scurvy. The MDR is less than 100 mg, a woefully small amount designed to prevent scurvy but little else.
 
Mar 10, 2020
18
10
35
Visit site
My understanding on vitamin C is that without it, the immune system does not function, we cannot heal, scurvy is the result and the usual cause of death from scurvy is pneumonia.


Without vitamin C, the body in unable to produce the natural antiviral Interferon. Interferon is what "controls" the immune system and suppresses white cells (that are attracted to an infection site) from releasing the cytokines they contain that the white cells use to chemically dismantle a bacteria or virus they have enveloped. White cells locate foreign bodies because immunoglobulin sticks to them and mark them for elimination. The white cells envelop the foreign invader and dismantle it with vitamin C and cytokines that the white cells have in abundance....more than any other cell.

This is a bit of an overstatement about what vitamin C can do. The immune system can function and the interferon is still produced with low levels vitamin C, it is just terribly inefficient. There are other factors in the body that have functional overlap with vitamin C (I think glutathione was mentioned above), but they aren't perfect substitutes.

We can become deficient in vitamin C during an illness because viruses attempting to invade mucosal, blood or organ cells can cause extensive damage and vitamin C is used in repair along with collagen.

Collagen likely is not much of a factor, but vitamin C can get depleted easily during an infection. The stronger the infection, the more vitamin C is lost - especially if inflammation is involved.

Any many, many doctors and health care professionals continue to insist that "a balanced diet is all you need" thereby fueling the belief that if you eat 3 times a day, you've covered the basics which are woefully inadequate when you are really sick with a nasty infection. The FDA's abysmally low MDR/RDA do not help the situation.

Amen to that!

"highly unlikely" - lol? There's already some preliminary evidence that it helps COVID19.

As much as I would be thrilled to see vitamin C cure COVID-19, this is not really evidence. What is going around in the media is a lot of press releases, without primary data (journal article, case reports, etc.). If clinicians think it helps, then they should use it - but the rest of us need to wait until the data comes out.

I have talked to researchers using IV vitamin C in different parts of the world. They are excited, but the data isn't there yet. Hopefully soon.

If I have powdered vitamin C in a bottle, but there's air in the bottle, is this still an active form of vitamin C or has it been destroyed...?

Yes and no. I have seen some granular forms of vitamin C oxidize quickly and others slowly. Sodium ascorbate can turn brown in a matter of months depending on the moisture in the air. Ascorbic acid, on the other hand, is protected due to the acid (vitamin C does not oxidize quickly in pH < 6).

Tablets are okay in the fact that the outside layer of the tablet may oxidize, but the inside stays protected. Again, how quickly this happens depends on the vitamin C formulation.

A confused discussion? Vitamin C taken in larger doses over time might boost an immune system, but taken quickly as a medicine to prevent a virus or to lower the symptoms has no clinical support as yet. Because it is a water soluble vitamin it does not build up in the body Injections can add it quickly but won't last much longer. Vitamin C plus oxygen and ferrous iron is required to form collagen. Without it humans get scurvy. The MDR is less than 100 mg, a woefully small amount designed to prevent scurvy but little else.

Injections add it quickly and at high doses. We don't know which is the most important (either could be).

You are right - this really should be two different topics, because IV vitamin C is much, much different than oral vitamin C in terms of how the body responds. We try to equate the two because they involve the same molecule, but really they should be treated separately (kind of like lipoic acid and lipoamide, but that's a topic for a different thread...)
 
Last edited by a moderator: