There are some vitamins that are sooooo common they often get left out or forgotten. Especially if they are not considered exciting, new, cutting edge, or trendy. One such sadly overlooked vitamin is poor old, often taken for granted, Vitamin C. Now, let’s take a brief walkthrough time. In 1497, Vasco De Gama lost 100 of 150 crew members to scurvy. In 1536, Newfoundland Indians told the French explorer Jacques Cartier about drinking tea from Spruce Tree Needles. By 1747, James Lind performed an experiment on men who were severely ill with scurvy. The men who received lemon and oranges survived. He then recommended that all sailors receive lemon and oranges while at sea. (I guess the whisky was not enough!) By 1928 Albert Szent-Gyorgyi first isolated Vitamin C from ox adrenal glands. (I promise, current Vitamin C products do not come from this source.) Well, aside from preventing scurvy, why should we care? Cruise through the following list and tell me which of these bodily functions you could do without. Detoxification – this includes pretty much all categories. Antioxidant – this will help protect your body from free radicals (picture something savage with teeth that wants to tear your cells up! Who wants that nibbling at your body!) Collagen synthesis – FYI IF YOU DON”T WANT WRINKLES, YOU BETTER BE MAKING ENOUGH COLLAGEN!!!! The best way to do this is to get enough vitamin C in your diet and supplements. Aids the absorption of iron – this is especially critical if your “female friend” still visits 🙂 Carnitine synthesis – If you can’t make carnitine, guess what, you may be making fat. Carnitine helps burn fat and gives you energy. Yes, I said it helps to burn fat and increase your energy. How cool is that! I can tell that there are a whole lot of people not making enough carnitine. Making of thyroid and adrenal hormones – The most common functional problem that I see in the office is with the 2 glands that I refer to as the “sisters” (thyroid and adrenal). I call them that because when one is having problems, the other “feels their pain” and they both end up not working well, so you don’t either. (This vitamin is very involved with stress.) Antihistamine effects – for all of you overly sensitive folks out there who have lots of food and/or airborn allergies, this is a piece of your puzzle. Dosages of over 6 to 8 grams are needed to combat this. (More on discovering your own personal dose later.) Degradation of cholesterol – Yes, Vitamin C is one of many things which may help to reduce high cholesterol. Immune system support – Vitamin C will actually bind to your white blood cell which helps your body “fight the bad guys”. So, can you guess what the following have in common: guinea pigs, a rare species of bats, gorillas, chimps, monkeys and humans? Well, they are unable to make Vitamin C. What does that mean? You better be making good food and supplement choices!! I know, before you ask, I will tell you that drinking orange juice is NOT THE ANSWER to getting healthy levels of Vitamin C. Lets ignore the fact that juice in general is full of sugar. It makes your pancreas release a lot of insulin to counter the sugar load you just drank. Let’s see how many cups of orange juice it would take to get a typical therapeutic dose of 1,000 mg (1gm). Here we go. 1 cup of orange juice is approximately 124 mg. Hmmmm, looks like you would need about 12 cups of juice. Now who drinks 12 cups of juice to get a therapeutic dose of Vitamin C. Hopefully, no one reading this! Now, a medium orange has 50 mg along with fiber and other nutrients. ½ cup of blueberries have 10mg while, 1 cup cooked cauliflower has 70 mg. (I know that tripped me out too!) Needless to say we need to eat a variety of foods to ensure that we will not get scurvy, but we have enough to run our body optimally Telepathically, some of you are asking if there are symptoms of deficiency, or is scurvy all that we need to be concerned about? Look at this list of symptoms people complain of every day in the office! Fatigue, Weakness, Shortness of breath, Muscle cramps, aching bones, joints and muscles, Dry skin, Fever, Easy bruising, Bleeding gums, Secondary infections, Hemorrhage (Ok, I don’t see hemorrhaging people in the office but you do tell me about it!) Does any of this sound familiar? Are any of you suffering with these symptoms? Well, now we get into the good part. What to do about it! If you want to see how much your body needs, you can do your own scientific study at home. First know that Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin which means that it can’t be stored. Anything that you don’t use, you will pass in your urine. If you have kidney stones, talk to me first. Although there have been no conclusive studies about large doses of Vitamin C causing kidney stones, be on the safe side. If nothing else use a buffered Vitamin C product for added protection. Here is what you do. (This is for adults. A Child’s dose will be less.) Each waking hour take 1,000 mg of Vitamin C, until you hit what is referred to as bowel tolerance. To paint you a descriptive picture so you don’t miss it, here is what it means. When you have surpassed the level of Vitamin C that your body needs, you will have an urge to move your bowels. Well, to clarify better, you will get “frothy diarrhea”. Picture the froth like on a head of root beer. (Think of this the next time you want a high fructose ridden root beer soda!) If this happened after you took 8, 1,000 mg (8 grams) of Vitamin C, this means that the does that your body needs daily, is 7,000 mg (7 grams). Ideally, you would stay on this daily does until you reach bowel tolerance again. Get the picture. There will be many of you who will get up to 20 grams a day. That is a lot of vitamin C!
In closing Vitamin C is one on the staples that we need in our fast paced, not always good food choices, type of lifestyle. Do the Vitamin C challenge and report your experience, the good the bad and the ugly. You never know, you may be featured in a future issue as you share your story with others. Take the added step and protect yourself, especially in the upcoming cold and flu season.
Medical Disclaimer: The information provided in this email is for informational purposes only and has been compiled from years of practice, study and experience by Mikell Suzanne Parsons, DC. This information is NOT intended to be used as a substitute for the advice from your physician or any other health care provider, or any information contained in or on any product label or packaging. Do not use information in this email for diagnosing or treating any health problem or disease. Always speak to your health care provider before taking any nutritional, herbal, or homeopathic supplement. If you have or suspect that you have a health problem, contact your health care provider immediately. Do not ignore seeking health care advice or delay seeking care because of something that you have read in this email. Information provided in this email DOES NOT create a doctor-patient relationship between you and Mikell Suzanne Parsons, DC. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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