Originally published July 5 2005
Vitamin C's benefits debated, but still essential to life
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Vitamin C was long thought to treat cancer and the common cold, and although this has been challenged recently, Third Age reports that vitamin C is still a powerful antioxidant, essential for human health and treating a multitude of ailments.
Requirements/Sources | Therapeutic Dosages | Therapeutic Uses | What Is the Scientific Evidence for Vitamin C?
Scurvy involves so-called scorbutic symptoms, which include nonhealing wounds, bleeding gums, bruising, and overall weakness.
In the 1960s, two-time Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling claimed that vitamin C could effectively treat both cancer and the common cold.
One great advantage of getting vitamin C from foods rather than from supplements is that you will get many other healthy nutrients at the same time, such as bioflavonoids and carotenes.
Ever since Linus Pauling, proponents have recommended taking vitamin C in enormous doses, as high as 20,000 to 30,000 mg daily.
Others recommend that you take as much vitamin C as you can, up to 30,000 mg daily, cutting back only when you start to develop stomach cramps and diarrhea.
An early study tested vitamin C in 1,100 terminally ill cancer patients.
One hundred patients received 10,000 mg daily of vitamin C, while 1,000 other patients (the control group) received no treatment.
Nitroglycerin and related nitrate medications are used for the treatment of angina.
However, the effectiveness of these medications tends to diminish over time.
Concerns have been raised that long-term vitamin C treatment can cause kidney stones.129,130 However, in large-scale observational studies, individuals who consume large amounts of vitamin C have shown either no change or a decreased risk of kidney stone formation.131--133 Still, there may be certain individuals who are particularly at risk for vitamin C--induced kidney stones.134 People with a history of kidney stones and those with kidney failure who have a defect in vitamin C or oxalate metabolism should probably restrict vitamin C intake to approximately 100 mg daily.
Vitamin C supplements increase absorption of iron.121--128 Since it isn't good to get more iron than you need, individuals using iron supplements shouldn't take vitamin C at the same time except under a physician's supervision.
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