Vitamin C: The difference
between sickness and optimal
health
Health
is emphatically not merely
the absence of disease.
Just because we are not
suffering from hay fever,
runny nose, arthritis, cancer,
heart disease, or stomach
upset, does not mean that
we are at the peak of health.
However, being free from
all physical illness would
certainly be an excellent
start on the journey to
total health. And we are
the best judges of our own
state of health. Can you
remember a time when you
felt absolutely fit, completely
relaxed and sublimely interested
and motivated and enamoured
with every aspect of your
life? This uncommonly experienced
state in today's world probably
describes what optimal health
is about.
Just as
every individual is endowed
with a unique set of genes,
has a unique history of
physical, biochemical, nutritional
and emotional experiences,
so the measure of optimal
health is probably unique
for each of us. Optimal
means "the best we
can be". The number
of "minor" health
problems plaguing the average
individual is amazing –
allergies, stiffness, back
pain, hemorrhoids, skin
rashes, fatigue, headache.
We have become so used to
these "minor"
complaints that we only
use the term illness to
describe the even more serious
problems which follow as
we overload our body's capacity
to handle abuse –
arthritis, heart disease,
diabetes, cancer.
Can you
imagine that you could be
free from health complaints
and therefore ready to devote
your energies to really
living your life fully?
It is possible, and accomplishing
this will probably take
you into vistas hitherto
untravelled. You may discover
and correct food allergies
that are contributing to
your minor health problems,
dietary and environmental
pollutants that contribute
to illness and lifestyle
practices which relax you
and help you to more effectively
manage your daily stress.
Vitamin
C, nutrient extaordinaire,
has been shown to be one
of the body's vital substances
required for many fundamental
processes, ranging from
the biosynthesis of collagen,
fat-transporting carnitine,
the hormones adrenaline
and cortisone, electron
transporter in many enzymatic
reactions, protector of
the integrity of blood vessels,
promoter of healthy gums,
radiation protector, regulator
of cholesterol levels, free
radical detoxifier, antibacterial
and antiviral agent and
immune enhancer.
The use
of Vitamin C within your
health programme will certainly
augment your state of health
and may significantly treat
and prevent many serious
illnesses. Vitamin C, along
with other health promoting
substances, may enable you
to experience, perhaps for
the first time in a long
time, the radiant feeling
of optimal health, as opposed
to the sub-optimal absence
of overt disease.
THERAPEUTIC USES OF VITAMIN
C
_____________________________
The following
is a list of many of the
conditions for which preventative
application or treatment
with Vitamin C has been
shown to be effective:
AIDS
ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG ADDICTION
ALLERGIES, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL
ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS
ANXIETY, STRESS
ASTHMA
ATHEROSCLEROSIS
BED SORES
BACTERIAL INFECTIONS
BURNS
CANCER – bladder,
breast, bronchial, cervical,
kidney, liver, lung, ovarian,
rectal, skin
CANDIDA ALBICANS INFECTIONS
COLDS
DEPRESSION
DIABETES
GLAUCOMA
HEART DISEASE
HEMORRHOIDS
HEPATITIS
HIGH CHOLESTEROL
INFLUENZA
M.E. (Chronic Viral Fatigue)
MENTAL ILLNESS
MONONUCLEOSIS
PAIN
PERIODONTAL DISEASE
POST SURGICAL TRAUMA
RADIATION DAMAGE
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS, RHEUMATOID
DISEASES
RHINITIS – Hay Fever
SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME
ULCERS
VIRAL INFECTIONS
WOUNDS AND PHYSICAL TRAUMA
HOW CAN ONE SUBSTANCE WORK
FOR SO MANY DIFFERENT ILLNESSES?
___________________________________________________________
This indeed is one of the
most intelligent and important
questions at the centre
of our growing renaissance
in understanding optimal
health and well-being of
the individual and our entire
society. The, answer, simple,
yet the subject of voluminous
scientific, philosophical
and spiritual treatises
throughout the millenia,
is that optimal health is
embodied by balance amongst
all levels of ourselves
– physical, emotional,
mental and spiritual. Illness
– or dis-ease (lack
of ease or disharmony),
is the result of imbalance.
We are not compartmentalized
automatons – we are
intricately connected and
exquisitely orchestrated
organisms, sensitive and
responsive to all that we
take into our bodies, minds
and psyches.
Vitamin
C is an integral substance
required for the normal
functioning of our bodies.
Since so many of us are
unbalanced by virtue of
deficient diet, environmental
toxins and lifestyle stresses,
is it not therefore reasonable
that restoring adequate
amounts of a fundamentally
essential nutrient can help
to restore health, whether
the physical location of
the disease be the eyes
or the feet or the heart.
The scientific
and technological advances
of the past several centuries,
along with the widespread
adoption of a rational,
scientific and mechanistic
worldview has engendered
the almost universally accepted
notion that one disease
= one cause = one cure.
And certainly, since the
discovery of bacteria and
the concomitant development
of many disease-specific
drugs such as antibiotics,
most people assume that
there is a specific cause
and cure for each disease.
Hence the longstanding,
expensive and as yet unsuccessful
search for "magic bullets"
for multi-factorially caused
diseases such as rheumatoid
arthritis, cancer and heart
disease. And witness the
arousal of our skepticism
and accusations of quackery
when claims are made for
natural products which apparently
can cure or alleviate everything
from hay fever to housemaid's
knee.
IF VITAMIN
C IS SO GOOD, WHY DOESN'T
MY DOCTOR PRESCRIBE IT?
____________________________________________________________
Hopefully in the near future,
many more physicians will
be prescribing Vitamin C
and other natural health
promoting substances. Much
of the clinical research
reported upon in the massive
Vitamin C literature originates
from physician-directed
case histories and trials.
Hopefully as well, the stereotyped
images of pill-pushing GPs,
knife obsessed surgeons
and radiation and chemotherapy-oriented
cancer specialists, will
make way for a more inter-disciplinary,
humane and less invasive
model of health care. Ask
10 different specialist
practitioners, ranging from
GP to acupuncturist, to
suggest treatment for an
individual with certain
ailments, and almost certainly
there will be a diversity
of opinion, just as asking
10 economists or politicians
for their suggestions for
a given economic or political
situation may produce 10
radically different policies.
Is it heresy
to expose the truth that
doctors, like the rest of
humanity are not omniscient,
and do not have the "secret"
knowledge to make you better?
Within each healing specialty,
a competent practitioner
should be able to prescribe
treatment, drugs, potions,
that work for a particular
illness. Each specialist
will, of course, be influenced
by their particular type
of training. The surgeon
is more familiar with surgery
and would not ordinarly
recommend nutritional supplements
for a heart condition. The
orthomolecular physician
might recommend chelation
therapy rather than a triple
bypass operation for someone
with atherosclerosis. It
would be most unusual for
a radiologist to recommend
Chinese herbs for treatment
of a tumour, or a Chinese
doctor to prescribe homeopathic
medicines for a cancer patient,
etc. Yet all these disciplines,
including stress management
and counselling, might be
valuable and appropriate
in treating each of these
conditions.
The cooperation
of a wide spectrum of practitioners,
including orthodox and "complementary",
nourishing the mind as well
as the body of the patient,
will end the current polarized
situation which sees battles
rage between Medical Associations
and just about every other
discipline. Moreover, the
impetus to bring about such
an improved situation may
rest with health conscious
consumers who must learn
to assert themselves when
it comes to choosing healthcare
options. Consumers have
learned admirably to consult
with friendsand competitors
in choosing houses, cars,
stereos, holidays; similarly,
the individual should take
individual responsibility
about what happens to his
or her body.
This means
asking the practitioner
about treatment options,
possible side effects from
suggested treatment, and
making a considered decision
about what to do on the
basis of thorough research
of the possible consequences.
The practice of putting
oneself in the hands of
one's doctor and leaving
it up to him or her should
be adopted only after researching
the options and deciding
upon the chosen course of
treatment. We are all in
the driver's seat when it
comes to our health. The
doctor and every other practitioner
is merely here to assist
us in our recovery. The
consumer must stop playing
the role of passive recipient
and assume a more active
and responsible approach
to healthcare.
CAN VITAMIN C ACTUALLY CURE
ALL THESE ILLNESSES?
________________________________________________
This is what each of us
who is actually suffering
from one of the above conditions
secretly wants to know –
is Vitamin C the "magic
bullet" for each of
us. We are gradually finding
out that we are our own
healers. Ultimately, it
is we, who, with the aid
of food, potions, drugs,
laughter, and any number
of other methods, get better.
However, along the road
to optimal health, the truth
is that Vitamin C is an
excellent companion, having
been shown to be a most
effective, and totally safe
health promoting substance
for each of the above listed
conditions.
This book
makes no claim that Vitamin
C alone, or for that matter,
anything else alone, will
prevent or cure the above
conditions. Life and health
are too complex and dependent
upon too many variables
to guarantee such a sweeping
and naive claim. However,
epidemiological and clinical
data show very strong correlations
between Vitamin C intake
and levels and incidence
of many illnesses. And,
clinical trials and treatment
of tens of thousands of
patients with Vitamin C
over several decades provides
us with a solid foundation
of therapeutic evidence.
The development
of Ester-CR ascorbate and
the discovery of the utility
of metabolites has catapulted
us into a new level of enquiry
that may assist in unravelling
the biochemical workings
of this amazing Vitamin.
This book will attempt to
explain the mechanisms behind
Vitamin C's versatile therapeutic
successes. Within the following
pages is the clinical research
evidence describing Vitamin
C's effectiveness with many
of the major scourges of
our age – cancer,
heart disease, diabetes,
rheumatoid arthritis, AIDS
and Chronic Viral Fatigue.
