JEDDAH, 13 September 2006 — What do you think of when you want prevent or fight a cold virus? If your answer is vitamin C, then you are absolutely correct. But there is more to vitamin C than preventing a cold. It builds collagen and connective tissues; protects cells; safeguards the skeletal structure (tendons, cartilage, bones, and teeth); controls and prevents cardiovascular disorders and cancer; maintains thyroid glands to regulate the metabolism; and detoxifies the systems from hazardous substances. Along with being a catalyst to many fellow nutrients, this important vitamin comes with many crucial health benefits.
Therapeutic uses of vitamin C supplements plays an important role in correcting and preventing many chronic disorders like cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, cancer, gallstones, cataracts, diabetes, asthma, and infectious diseases.
Two hundred years ago, severe vitamin C deficiency resulted in mysterious deaths among sailors during their long voyages at sea. Bleeding gums, loose teeth, and bleeding under skin and mucous membranes marked symptoms of those who survived the voyages. The condition was diagnosed as scurvy, a severe deficiency in vitamin C. Fresh fruit and vegetables were almost absent from the sailor’s diet at sea. Fortunately with dietary supplements of the vitamin from lemon and lime, those deadly symptoms disappeared and live were saved.
Apart from the above-symptoms, other problems arise from severe vitamin C deficiency. These range from joint pains, easy bruising, dry skin, and fluid retention to depression and lowered immune responses. However, an adequate supply of the vitamin can prevent and reverse such disruptive disorders. Untreated deficiency can lead to more serious health complications.
It is important for us to understand the functions of vitamin C in the body. Its major role is to strengthen and manufacture collagen, the connective tissue that keeps the skin and organs from breaking down. Collagen is the paste that glues cells together, strengthening the structure of connective tissues. As an antioxidant, vitamin C is active in and around the cells to prevent cell membrane disintegration and facilitate the accessibility of oxygen in cellular tissues.
Vitamin C also plays a role in keeping the blood’s structural balance. It increases the bioavailability of folic acid, vitamin B12 and iron and maximizes the efficacy of other nutrients. It acts as a catalyst to vitamins E, iron, calcium, and other minerals in the blood. By enhancing the production of the amino acids, phenylalanine and tyrosine, vitamin C ensures the proper functioning of the central nervous system. It also helps transform the amino acid tryptophan to serotonin, an important neurotransmitter.
Vitamin C has an action on the thyroid and adrenal glands. It helps them produce hormones. Thyroxin activates the thyroid glands and both adrenaline and noradrenalin help cope with physical and emotional stress. Higher stress levels demand higher doses of vitamin C. Vitamin C, along with bioflavonoids, is vital to healing, nourishing, and rejuvenating the skin. It enhances the healing of wounds, lesions, and injuries by strengthening collagen. It is known to strengthen spinal discs, reducing back, neck, and leg related pains. Both nutrients build stronger ligaments, joints, and tendons and speed healing of ruptured muscles.
Teeth and bones benefit from vitamin C. The nutrient allows calcium to be absorbed by the bones and teeth instead of getting deposited in soft tissues (joints, blood vessels).
Some of us must have heard of Dr. Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize winner, who associated vitamin C with healthy immunity to fight colds, infections, and chronic disorders. By enhancing the immune defenses, vitamin C can prevent cold viruses or shorten the recovery period as well as stop the spreading of bacterial infections to the tonsils, pharynx, bronchial tubes, and lungs. The vitamin helps keep mucus membranes healthy, repairs damaged tissue membranes, and strengthens white blood cells to resist pathogens. Furthermore, vitamin C stimulates the production of infection-fighting interferon to prevent cold viruses. High doses (2 to 3 grams) of the vitamin should be maintained for a while to stop the virus from reappearing. The only known side effect of mega-doses of vitamin C is diarrhea, which stops at the discontinuation of the supplement.
Being a natural antihistamine, vitamin C is able to detoxify excess histamines, which trigger hay fever, asthma attacks, and respiratory problems, resulting in inflamed mucous membranes of the airways. It cleanses the body from polluted air and water and other toxic materials. It relieves heat rashes and skin problems, eases pain and speeds the healing of burns and shingles, and lowers body temperature during the summer heat.
Diabetics, too, can benefit from vitamin C intake, which lowers the need for insulin.
Vitamin C is nourishing to the eyes, preventing visual problems like cataracts, glaucoma, and retinal disorders (age-related macular degeneration).
Kidney stone and gallstone conditions can be reversed with high vitamin C intake.
Threatened abortions can also be prevented with vitamin C. Along with bioflavonoids, the nutrient can reinforce the capillary and vessel walls of the placenta to stop spontaneous miscarriages. Iron and folic acid supplements should also be taken during pregnancy.
Large doses of vitamin C are needed to treat extreme anxiety cases (schizophrenia) of psychiatric patients and emotionally disturbed individuals. A combination of thiamine, B12, and the vitamin seems to produce a calming action. Cholesterol deposits on the walls of the cardiovascular system contribute to heart attacks. High levels of vitamin C in the body can decrease and even resist the buildup of plaque. With bioflavonoid, the vitamin strengthens the walls of blood vessels to prevent easy bruising and hemorrhaging (stroke). It also has effect on inflammation and blood clotting.
Unlike radiation and chemical therapies, vitamin C in large doses is capable of selectively destroying cancer cells without harming healthy ones. It strengthens the immune system; stimulates cancer-fighting protein; increases lymphocytes that gobble malignant cells and their toxic debris. Interferon activated by the vitamin seems to discourage viral infections and promote macrophages (cells) that destroy viral and cancerous cells. Vitamin C in mega doses benefit cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy and surgery; relieves their pain; improves their appetites, and seems to prolong their lives. According to Australian studies, one serving of citrus fruits a day can reduce risk of mouth, throat, and stomach cancers and tumor growths.
To detoxify the body from hazardous substances like heavy metals (mercury, lead), car exhaust, sulfur dioxide, and other toxic materials, we need a continuous supply of vitamin C to reduce them to less toxic compounds or eliminate them through the kidneys and bowels.
Finally to live a longer healthy life, we need high amounts of vitamin C with other important nutrients naturally occurring in whole foods like the Superfoods I wrote about in previous columns. All nutrients work synergistically to keep us disease-free and encourage optimal physical, mental, and emotional wellness.
Tips to Keep Healthy:
• Educate yourself about your health and environment to get rid of carcinogens; purify water; stop smoking; avoid secondhand smoke; and reduce foodstuff containing chemical preservatives and additives.
• Eliminate processed foods, refined sugars and grains, and fatty fried fast foods from your diet.
• Eat more vegetables and fruits from Superfoods like beans, blueberries, broccoli, oats, oranges, pumpkin, salmon, soy, spinach, tea, tomatoes, turkey, walnuts, yogurt, and their sidekick. Put a special emphasis on vitamin C rich foods like citrus fruits, cabbage family, strawberries, kiwi, leafy greens, melons, tomatoes, peppers, watercress, papaya, mangoes, and pineapple. Remember vitamin C is a helper, co-factor, and catalyst to many vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to maintain health on the cellular level.
• Eat moderately; have balanced meals on time; and do not skip breakfast or other meals.
• Exercise regularly but non-exhaustively. If you perspire profusely, you would need to increase your vitamin C intake, perhaps with a glass of orange juice.