New Vitamin C

by Dr Bernard Brom

Everyone should be taking vitamin C in small, medium or high doses. Take what you can, and do it daily. The body cannot make vitamin C and yet requires lots of it. The adrenals use up lots of vitamin C, especially when there is any kind of crisis requiring adrenal hormones. The stress may be emotional, such as giving a child a vaccination, or any surgery which should be supported by high amounts of vitamin C.

Exposure to air destroys Vitamin C so any exposure of food to air will decrease the amount. For example, freshly sliced cucumbers, if left standing lose 41% of their vitamin C content within 3 hours. Obviously, there is very little vitamin C left after months of storage of most fruits. Try and buy fresh, un-stored fruit and vegetables.

Vitamin C is also required for the manufacture of collagen and therefore essential for healing of injuries, wounds, accidents and bone fractures. The vitamin is essential for the health of the immune system and is an important antioxidant. Of special interest is that vitamin C can also increase glutathione levels, even at relatively low doses such as 500mg/day.

Vitamin C is also a good antihistamine and should be included in all allergic conditions, especially asthma. Several studies have shown an improvement in asthmatic symptoms when 1-2 grams of vitamin C was added daily to the diet.

Advanced Buffered Vitamin C from Fortifood also contains Ascorbyl Palitate, also known as Ester C. Many practitioners prefer this combination rather than ascorbic acid alone as the ester form is fat soluble while the ascorbic acid is water soluble. This makes for a much wider spread and activity for vitamin C. The Ester C form can also penetrate more easily and deeply through the cell membrane into the cell. It can also be stored for longer periods in the body and doesn’t oxidize as quickly as its water soluble counterpart.

Calcium Ascorbate has also been added to the mix. This makes good sense as ascorbic acid tends to acidify the blood whereas calcium ascorbate is alkaline forming. The last item in Advanced Buffered Vitamin C are carotenoids. They are great antioxidants and will help neutralize any free radicals generated by ascorbic acid function.

Please remember also to include vitamin C for your pregnant mothers where the tissues go through major changes and stretching. The buffered form is especially useful as pregnant women often complain of major heartburn. High doses of between 3 to even 9grams per day are recommended by experts, increasing the dose during the terms of the pregnancy. Keep in mind that the developing foetus also requires lots of vitamin C. For the same reason anyone undergoing any form of surgery should have high doses of vitamin C. It should be standard practice to give vitamin C to all people lying in a hospital bed. Another group of people needing lots of vitamin C are smokers, people with cancer and any viral infection. In my experience an IV drip of vitamin C can eliminate almost all kinds of viral infections. Again, in acute viral infections when IV not indicated or not possible, take one-gram Vitamin C every hour or two to start.

Individuals with the higher dietary intakes of vitamin C and other nutrients have a much lower risk for developing cataracts and macular degeneration than do individuals with lower intake. I personally try and take 2-3 grams’ Vitamin C per day and increase this to 1-2 hourly for any acute infection.

Published with permission of Dr Bernard Brom. Original article appeared in “Creating Health: Newsletter for Professionals”, www.creatinghealth.co.za.