Vitamin C

:This article is about the nutrient.

Therapeutic uses

From its ready availability in pure form in the 1930s some practitioners experimented in using vitamin C as a treatment for diseases other than scurvy. Most notable was Fred R. Klenner, a doctor in general practise in Reidsville, North Carolina. He utilised both oral and intravenous vitamin C to treat a wide range of infections and poisons. He published a paper in 1949 that described how he had seen poliomyelitis yield to vitamin C in sufficiently large doses.

Related Topics:
1930s - Fred R. Klenner - Reidsville, North Carolina - 1949 - Poliomyelitis

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Vitamin C is needed in the diet to prevent scurvy. It also has a reputation for being useful in the treatment of colds and flu. The evidence to support this idea, however, is ambiguous, unless the studies are divided by dose size and dosing regime. When that is done, it is remarkable that most of the studies showing little or no effect employ quite small doses of ascorbate such as 100 mg to 500 mg per day ("small" according to the vitamin C advocates). The Vitamin C foundation (1) recommends 8 grams of vitamin C every half hour in order to show an effect on the symptoms of a cold infection that is in progress.

Related Topics:
Scurvy - Cold - Flu

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There is also evidence that Vitamin C is useful in preventing lead poisoning, possibly helping to chelate the toxic heavy metal from the body.

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In 2002 a meta-study into all the published research on effectiveness of ascorbic acid in the treatment of infectious disease and toxins was conducted, by Thomas Levy, Medical Director of the Colorado Integrative Medical Centre in Denver. He found that overwhelming scientific evidence exists for its therapeutic role in a wide range of viral infections and to treat snake bites.

Related Topics:
2002 - Meta-study

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Orthomolecular medicine) and a minority of scientific opinion sees vitamin C as being a low cost and safe way to treat viral disease and to deal with a wide range of poisons. The large doses, in the tens of grams per day, put ascorbic acid in a different class to almost all other therapeutic agents.

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