Vitamin C supplement

Late last summer I wrote about gout.  For those unfamiliar with the condition, gout is a type of chronic arthritis that causes severe pain in and around the joints, all thanks to the overproduction of uric acid.  Uric acid is something that all bodies produce, but they primarily form when purines break down.  Purines come from foods – meats, in particular – but they are also the natural by-product of the body’s cells.

Anyway, last summer I wrote about a drink that increased one’s chances of getting gout – soda pop.  Today I’m doing just the opposite – writing about something that decreases one’s chances of getting gout.

What does this something happen to be?  Vitamin C.

According to researchers from the University of British Columbia, men who take 500 milligrams of vitamin C a day decrease their risk of getting gout by about 17 percent.

Published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers looked at approximately 47,000 men to see what health and disease traits they had in common based on their age and their lifestyle habits.  The 20-year study found that those men who consumed large doses of vitamin C daily decreased their risk of vitamin C precipitously.  For instance, those men who consumed over 1,500 mg of vitamin C daily were almost 50 percent less likely to develop gout than those men who consumed less than 250 mg per day! 

Researchers estimate the risk of developing gout drops by about 17 percent for every 500 milligrams consumed daily.    

Because vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, large daily doses of vitamin C can be handled by the body without posing any short or long term risk.  However, you should always play it safe and consult your doctor before making any significant changes to your dietary regimen.

In the meantime, large doses of vitamin C are best acquired through supplementation.  I never discourage someone from getting their vitamins primarily from food, but to get 1,500 mg of vitamin C daily, you’d have to eat around 14 oranges (granted, oranges aren’t the world’s best source of vitamin C – peppers are – but you get my drift)!  And considering the fact that 1,500 mg really isn’t all that much, you’re better off supplementing with vitamin C to get its full array of benefits.

I don’t pretend to know what gout feels like, and quite frankly, I don’t want to know.  People compare the pain to giving childbirth (another thing I’ve never experienced, and happily, will never have to) or a bone fracture.  And from what I understand, the painful flare-ups can last anywhere from three to 10 days.

Ouch!

Do yourself and your joints a favor:  Eat more vegetables (most vegetables are low in purines), eat less meat (meats and cheeses are high in purines, especially organ meats) and start supplementing with vitamin C (a purine defeater). 

Sources:
MSNBC
gout.com
WHFoods

The most recent research involved 242 black and white women aged between 18 and 21 years. The participants all had normal blood pressures, and were found via their participation in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. The initial stages of the trial began when the participants were between 8 to 11 years old. Over a 10-year period, the plasma levels of ascorbic acid – Vitamin C – and their blood pressures were monitored.

Block and her research team found that by the end of the 10-year period, blood pressure had been inversely associated with ascorbic acid levels. This means that higher than normal blood pressure lowered with higher amounts of vitamin C, and lower than normal blood pressure levels increased with vitamin C.

Women with the largest intake of vitamin C had a decline in their high blood pressure (systolic) readings of approximately 4.66 mm Hg compared to women with the lowest intake of vitamin C. Similarly from the same group of women taking the largest levels of vitamin C with initial low blood pressure (diastolic) had increases in their readings of 6.04 mm Hg compared to women with the lowest intake of vitamin C.

The difference remained when researchers included in their calculations variables of: body mass, race, education levels, as well as dietary fat and sodium intake.

The researchers also noted that the women with the highest recorded levels of ascorbic acid would have diets rich in fruits, vegetables, multivitamins and or supplements. The women with the lowest levels of plasma ascorbic acid were likely to have included an average dosage of fruits and vegetables in their diets.

Blocks’ further analysis of the research findings indicated that “people with the highest blood level of vitamin C had the least increase in blood pressure.”

Block and her colleagues are now looking towards further studies involving healthy young adults and the effects of vitamin C on their blood pressure.

By Nicole Chiu – Contributing Health Journalist ]]> http://naturalhealthontheweb.com/mangano-minute/blogs/?feed=rss2&p=229 0 http://naturalhealthontheweb.com/mangano-minute/blogs/?p=215 http://naturalhealthontheweb.com/mangano-minute/blogs/?p=215#comments Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:08:55 +0000 admin http://naturalhealthontheweb.com/mangano-minute/blogs/?p=215 The Archives of Internal Medicine recently published a study in which Vitamin C was used as a preventative measure against Type 2 diabetes. The study was performed by the Institute of Metabolic Science at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in England. Its focus was of middle-aged and older participants and how Vitamin C would affect their risk through the consumption of a diet high in fruits and vegetables, which are full of the important nutrient.

The researchers gathered 21,831 participants between the ages of forty and seventy-five.  The men and women were all given a clean bill of health after being asked to divulge detailed information regarding both their medical history and their personal lifestyle choices.  Blood samples were also taken in order to determine their Vitamin C levels at the beginning of the study. Then they were all asked to simply live their lives with the addition of a Vitamin C filled diet in order to possibly prevent the development of Type 2 diabetes.

The findings showed that out of the massive number of participants only 423 men and 312 women were diagnoses with Type 2 diabetes, which is 3.2 percent.  The researchers concluded that one would be 62 percent less likely to risk getting the disease if they maintained high levels of Vitamin C than someone only getting very small amounts in their diet.

The team believes this study to be solid enough for “persuasive evidence of a beneficial effect of Vitamin C and fruit and vegetable intake on diabetes risk.”  In a society where unhealthy and processed foods are a staple to the overall diet, it is important to truly look at this study and others like it.  Maintaining a healthy diet has been proven to provide many benefits regarding health and yet the population chooses to casually ignore it so they can feel better about “super sizing” their already massive fast food orders.  

If we could just learn to pick up an apple instead of a cookie, we would all reap the benefits.  Vitamin C filled foods do not only help with Type 2 diabetes, but also protects the body from heart disease and cancer, holds bone cells together, and maintains both healthy gums and the immune system.  All these life extending benefits are so easily gained through a better diet and lifestyle choices.

Although the idea of orally taking Vitamin C, or ascorbate to treat cancer was thrown out of the window about thirty years ago, Mark Levine, the chief of the Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and his team put a new spin on the old argument.  Since the body is able to regulate the amount of Vitamin C it gets when ingested, the researchers turned to injections.

Mice were injected with forty-three cancer lines and five normal cell lines.  Additionally they were given doses of Vitamin C injections.  While studying the cancer lines, it was discovered that there was an anti-cancer effect in seventy-five percent of them.  The normal cells were not affected negatively by the injections.  Those involved in the study found that “in immune-deficient mice with rapidly spreading ovarian, pancreatic, and glioblastoma (brain) tumors … the ascorbate injections reduced tumor growth and weight by 41 to 53 percent.”  Based on this study they say that there is solid evidence to believe that “these high ascorbate concentrations could be achieved in people.”

This idea was tested a few years back in a study published in the Canadian Association’s Medical Journal.  In it three cancer patients were given large doses of Vitamin C and all three benefited.  A man of forty-nine refused the traditional treatments of chemotherapy and radiology after being diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer in 1996.  Instead he opted for infusions of Vitamin C and was still alive and even cancer-free when the study was published in 2006.

Similarly, the other two participants were also successful in their alternative treatments.  A sixty-six-year-old woman was diagnosed with aggressive lymphoma in 1995.  Another woman of fifty-one was given the tragic news of kidney cancer that spread up to her lungs in 1995.  Both women are still alive, the latter having a clean X-ray only two years after her diagnosis.

These studies provide a strong plausibility for Vitamin C as a weapon against cancerous growths without any of the painful side effects found with chemotherapy.  With the desire of more studies to come out of this research there is hope it can be proven without a shadow of a doubt.

This study found that the patients with higher blood level of vitamin C were 42% less likely to have a stroke than the patients with lower levels of vitamin C in their blood. During their study they monitored these patients for 9.5 years and witnessed 448 strokes. This study states that whether you are taking a vitamin C supplement or eating the proper foods to get your vitamin C intake up, the results are near the same.

Frank Mangano’s commentary:

There are so many different benefits when it comes to daily intake of vitamin C and the proper dosages which can achieve the benefits you are looking for. The current RDA of Vitamin C is 90mg and that’s just ridiculous! This is not nearly enough vitamin C to experience any health benefits. I personally consume daily doses totaling at least 3,000mg of vitamin C to simply maintain good health. I spread it throughout the day evenly, which consists of partly supplements and partly dietary choices.

Vitamin C has many different benefits that we may not even realize anymore. Benefits such as a healing aid for viruses, aids in the formation of liver bile and basically does everything it can to keep you healthy as well as your immune system. These are simple healing aids but ones everyone needs to remain healthy on a day to day basis. To further use vitamin C as a healing aid for preventing stroke a higher daily intake is needed and this can be done very easily.

Bioflavonoid is the natural pigment in fruits and vegetables and a very important supplement which must be taken in collaboration with your vitamin C. It is important to note there are many reports that suggest that vitamin C needs bioflavonoid in order to deliver the results it has on a person’s health and their immune system. You will find that you are getting the natural amount of both when eating fruits and vegetables but if you choose a supplement rely on a naturopathic doctor to help you find the best of both for you and your health.

What some people don’t realize is that their vitamin C supplementation may be a waste of time if their diet is all wrong. The last thing I like to see is the effects of something I highly recommend be halted due to a poor diet.

I recently came across an interesting study which shows how the anti-cancer benefits of vitamin C can be dramatically reduced by intake of dietary fats.

A new study which was conducted at the University of Glasgow, yielded results that were presented this year at the annual meeting of the Society of Experimental Biology in Glasgow.

The main focus of the study was to examine how the acidification of nitrite is affected by vitamin C in the stomach. Potentially carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds which are related to stomach cancer can ultimately surface as a result of this acidification. According to the European School of Oncology, stomach cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer worldwide with 800,000 new cases diagnosed every year.

When nitrite found in saliva and nitrate found in some foods mix with stomach acids, carcinogenic compounds form. Ascorbic acid – which is the active component of vitamin C – obstructs these compounds from forming. According to the study, conversion to carcinogenic compounds from saliva, nitrate & stomach acids was inhibited by vitamin C by approximately 99.7 percent.

Now the research team notes: When dietary fats were added to the mix, the antioxidant properties of vitamin C were neutralized, and the carcinogenic N-nitrosamine was formed.

“These results indicate that the presence of lipid can markedly alter the protective effects of antioxidants with respect to potentially carcinogenic nitrosative chemistry occurring in the human stomach, and illustrate how a diet rich in lipids can directly influence gastric biochemistry,” said lead author Emilie Combet.
 
Frank Mangano’s commentary:

What this resource tells me is that the effects of one of the most highly recommended supplements in the world can be completely ruined by a diet high in fat that is made up of dairy products, meat products, and processed foods, which by coincidence are so strongly linked to cancer and heart disease.

The chances of developing polyarthritis were in fact increased by threefold in those who consumed small amounts of vitamin C compared to those who consumed the highest number of healthy foods. There was however, minimal evidence linking inflammatory polyarthritis with consuming low amounts of vitamin E and beta-carotene.

The study included a survey of more than 23,000 men and women in the UK over a four year period. Of the 23,000 participants, 73 people – between the ages of 45 to 74 – suffered from polyarthritis for at least one month. Then each person suffering form arthritis had their diets changed and were then compared with two people of the same gender who weren’t affected.

The findings of the study conflict with another report that suggested osteoarthritis, the typical kind of arthritis associated with aging in guinea pigs, was increased with vitamin C.

Researchers say these conflicting results can be attributed to the fact that the causes of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are not the same. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease characterized by the body attacking itself and osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition that progresses with age.

Frank Mangano’s commentary:

This explains why we must always look closer at studies which suggest that natural herbs, supplements, vitamins & minerals did not produce a desired result for a certain condition.

I’ve seen the scenario on countless occasions where cohorts of Big Pharma publish studies which indicate that a natural substance was ineffective in treating a condition when in fact it’s another condition that responds well to the natural treatment.

In any case, this study once again solidifies the countless benefits of vitamin C that should never be taken for granted. Click here to learn more about this powerful micronutrient and its many essential roles.