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Overview of Vitamin C.Vitamin C, better than a wonder drug.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is most commonly known as an antioxidant. It regenerates vitamins E and A and prevents their oxidation. It prevents and blocks free-radical–induced damage that contributes to aging and to an entire spectrum of degenerative diseases, including certain types of cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Experimentally, both topical and oral use of vitamin C has been shown to protect the skin from free-radical damage induced by sunburn. Vitamin C plays a role in immunity. This vitamin can stimulate the production of lymphocytes. Vitamin C also increases the motility of phagocytes and it is required by the thymus gland to produce its immune complexes.

The adrenal gland uses vitamin C to synthesize adrenal hormones. It supports collagen and hyaluronic acid production and plays a role in carnitine synthesis. The vitamin also supports detoxification of numerous xenobiotics in the liver and blocks the formation of nitrosamine from sodium nitrite.

The recommended daily intake for vitamin C is 60 mg. However, human studies that examined many of the therapeutic and preventive roles of vitamin C supplementation used levels approximately 10, to many hundreds of times this dose without any serious adverse effects reported. Diarrhea appears to be the major reported side-effect with oral ingestion in the g dosage. To avoid this, patients are often given amounts of vitamin C to ‘bowel tolerance.’ That is, they are given an amount up until the point that diarrhea occurs after which the amount is cut back until bowel movements are normalized.

In my own personal clinical experience (more than 20 years) and in the experience of other colleagues, it appears that bowel tolerance goes up when one is ill and goes down as health improves. I have found that 2000–5000 mg of vitamin C is tolerated by most people. Many clinicians and scientists consider the recommended daily intake an amount that is solely based on preventing scurvy. The science behind this recommendation is sorely lacking. Indeed, 60 mg of vitamin C is not an amount that would ensure any level of health beyond preventing scurvy.

Cytotoxicity of Vitamin CVitamin C is better than a wonder drug.

Prior work has shown that vitamin C can produce cytotoxic levels of hydrogen peroxide at sufficient concentrations.  Tumor cells have leaky membranes that allow vitamin C to flood into such cells and cancer cells are generally catalase– and superoxide-dismutase–deficient, making them more sensitive to the killing effect of hydrogen peroxide.
Vitamin C has enhanced the anti- tumor activity of doxorubicin, cisplatin, and paclitaxel in human breast-cancer cells in culture. Vitamin C also increased drug accumulation and reversed vincristine resistance of human non–small-cell lung carcinoma cells. Pretreatment with antioxidants, such as vitamin C, beta-carotene, alpha–tocopherol succinate, and retinoic acid significantly enhanced the growth inhibitory effects of cisplatin, dacarbazine, tamoxifen, and several other anticancer agents on human melanoma and parotid carcinoma cells.
Experiments with rodents demonstrated that vitamin C increases host survival times and inhibits tumor growth. Studies using high dose oral vitamin C along with other antioxidants adjuvantly with chemotherapy and radiation have shown decreased toxicity and increased tumor response, improved quality of life, and improved survival time.”

At East West Vets we use vitamin C for cancers - often to reduce their bulk before using hair testing determined herbs and specific diets with plenty of raw components tailored to the Chinese balance needed to produce health.
We use 1mg per kilogram body weight of vitamin C initially diluted at least 1 part in 10 in saline IV over 2 plus hours.
We increase this dose as needed up to 2gms/kg body weight.
We have used the human dose regime of ½ gm/kg diluted IV twice weekly but in the bad tumors we have tried with this regime we have not seen as marked an improvement.
It is common with such high doses that the animal will not be hungry after the treatment as Vit C goes straight into the Krebbs Cycle.

At East West Vets we use Vitamin C commonly for inflammatory diseases such as spinal disease, toxicity and pancreatitis. We use a lower dose for these problems than we do with cancers as with many inflammatory diseases the body is already acid and I do not want to place more strain on the body’s buffer system. As many will be on intravenous drips at the time of treatment it becomes simple to slot this is. I often add in methylsulfonylmethane to help create detoxification molecules in cases with inflammation. The dose we use is ½ teaspoon per 20kg patient.

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