Vitamin C

FIRST A LITTLE INFO ABOUT VITAMIN C

Did you know that most animals and plants synthesise their own vitamin C?

Animals, when adjusted for human size and weight, make the equivalent of 5-15g of vitamin C a day, mostly in their livers. Production goes up dramatically when injured or ill.

However, there are a few animals that CANNOT make their own… guess who?

Guinea pigs and humans (and a few species of bats and monkeys).

Indeed, the enzyme that converts glucose to vitamin C (L-3 gulonolactone oxidase) is now missing in humans. Scientists estimate that without this mutation we would be making 10-30g of vitamin C a day (this is 10,000-30,000mg). An amount much greater than the RDA of just 45mg.

Nobel Laureate Dr Linus Pauling was perhaps the best known advocate of the benefits of vitamin C.

ROLES OF VITAMIN C

  • Helps rebuild the tissue and minimise scarring associated with injury.
  • Maintains the integrity of connective tissue – cartilage, capillaries, bones and teeth.
  • Involved in the biosynthesis of hormones.
  • Helps your body deal with stress by supporting the adrenals (essential if you have adrenal fatigue)
  • Supports the immune system
  • Protects from free-radical damage (antioxidant)
  • Helps the body fight infections and reduces the effects of environmental pollutants and toxins. People with toxicity (such as heavy metal toxicity) needs very high amount of vitamin C

BENEFITS OF VITAMIN C FOR THE GUT

  • Kills bad bacteria in your small intestines. Dr Sarah Myhill believes that high doses of vitamin C can kill bad microbes on contact and reduces the load of unfriendly microbes in the gut. She recommends a Vitamin C flush + a daily dose of vitamin C (see below for how to determine your daily dose) to treat a ‘fermenting gut’.
  • Increases stomach acidity (if using pure, non-buffered ascorbic acid). We recommend taking the non-buffered form before a meal to help digest food, especially protein, and also kill unwanted microbes that might be present in your food and gut. Good stomach acidity is absolutely key to good digestion, and to protect from gut infection such as parasites and SIBO.
  • Improves bowel movement. A dose just under what you need to achieve bowel tolerance (see below) will be very helpful for anybody suffering from constipation. However, if you suffer from diarrhoea, you will also benefit from vitamin C.

ARE THERE SIDE EFFECTS TO VITAMIN C

Although vitamin C has a long list of benefits, there are people who should be careful with taking too much.

The most common and best known side effect is diarrhoea, but it only happens when taking too much (see info below about bowel tolerance).

But perhaps more important is the fact that vitamin C can be metabolised to oxalates in certain people.

If you have oxalate toxicity, we recommend only taking about 250mg up to 3 times per day if you have oxalate toxicity. This will still give you plenty of benefits without the risk of accumulating more oxalates in your body.

Read more about oxalate toxicity here.

Additionally, Ascorbic Acid is synthesised by fungus. Therefore, you may not tolerate ascorbic acid well if you have mould issues (or CIRS). If this is the case, you may better tolerate a natural food source of vitamin C (like those listed below).

WHAT INCREASES YOUR NEEDS FOR VITAMIN C

  • Stress
  • Acute Infection (a serious infection such as septicaemia can bring your need for vitamin C to up to 200 grams in 24 hours!!).
  • Stealth infections (chronic low grade infections), such as Lyme or EBV.
  • Poor gut health/gut infections or overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine (SIBO)
  • Injury
  • Poor diet
  • Toxin exposure

WHICH VITAMIN C IS BEST

Buffered Vitamin C, for sensitive stomachs:

People with sensitive stomachs, or if you suffer from gastritis, we recommend using a buffered form of vitamin C (as ascorbic acid). Here are 2 that we like:

Option 1

Option 2 ( Great for a Vitamin C Flush)

Non-buffered Vitamin C:

If taken with meals, we recommend using a non-buffered vitamin C, as it also helps increase stomach acidity, which is a good thing, as it helps digestion and helps kill any unwanted microbes entering the body.

Sensitive people might be able to tolerate this form if taken with/after a meal.

Pure Ascorbic Acid (Non-buffered)

OTHER OPTIONS FOR SENSITIVE PEOPLE

Corn sensitivity: This one from ecological formulas is made from tapioca instead of corn, which can be better tolerated, especially with people who have a lot of food sensitivities.

Liposomal: Better absorbed and might work better for very sensitive people. If you tend towards diarrhoea, liposomal may be a better option.

We recommend 'Optimal Liposomal Glutathione Plus' by Seeking Health.

Buy here in Australia

Buy here in other countries

Natural sources of vitamin C: First, we think it's important to mention that between the natural and synthetic varieties of L-ascorbic acid there are no known differences in how they affect our bodies. Their vitamin C content is chemically and molecularly identical.​

However, some people prefer a natural food source of vitamin C, such as camu camu, acerola, amla, rosehip or kakadu plum.

Food chemical sensitivities: we recommend trying natural food sources of vitamin C on their own - not in a combined supplement.

Here are some food sources of vitamin C we recommend:

Kakadu Plum (AUS)

Amla (Amazon) —capsules

Amla (iherb) — powder (strong tasting but cheaper)

As you can see, there are so many options. We recommend trying a few different forms and see what works best for you. Always listen to how YOUR body reacts to supplements, rather than what you THINK should be best ;-)

So now that you understand how important vitamin C is… let’s look at 3 ways to get maximum benefits from vitamin C, by determining your optimal dose of daily vitamin C.

First you will need to determine what dose of vitamin C you need to achieve bowel tolerance.

Because it can be difficult to reach bowl tolerance with natural sources of vitamin C, we recommend using ascorbic acid for this process and for a Vitamin C Flush.

Bowel tolerance: This is the point at which you can no longer absorb vitamin C from your gut. When you reach this point, you will experience an enema-like evacuation of liquid from your bowel. The higher your need for vitamin C, the higher your bowel tolerance will be.

Your optimal dose of daily vitamin C: approximately 75% of the dose needed to achieve bowel tolerance.

This is the dose we would recommend you continue with on a daily basis, in divided doses throughout the day.

So if you needed 20 grams to achieve bowel tolerance, take 15 grams per day, in divided doses.

Please note that your optimal dose will vary depending on your current needs, so you will need to adjust the dose as you go.

* Your needs should decrease as you get healthier.

** A reminder that people with oxalate toxicity should not increase their dose higher than 250 mg three times per day.

3 WAYS TO DETERMINE YOUR BOWEL TOLERANCE

METHOD #1: The Flush

This is the fastest way. People with very sensitive systems might experience a bit of cramping when doing a flush. However, you will feel a lot better the next day.

This is an excellent way to quickly 'flush' your system and can be used when experiencing die-off symptoms, to ease constipation, or when feeling the start of an infection/cold.

Learn how to do the flush here.

METHOD # 2: 24-Hour Method

Here you will spread your dose over a 24 hour period, rather than doing a 'flush'. It might take you a few days to figure out your bowel tolerance using this method, but it is gentler than the flush described above.

How to: Take 2 grams of Vitamin C powder every two hours mixed in 125 to 250 ml of water. That will give you about 12 gram in total the first day. Make sure you write it down to keep track of how much you’ve taken.

Note: If you are chronically ill (or if you are fighting an acute infection such as a cold/flu or other infection), your dose needed to achieve bowel tolerance will likely be quite high, up to 30 grams/ day (up to 100 grams for an acute infection!), so we recommend increasing the first few doses of the day to about 5 grams (10 grams for acute infection).

Continue to up the doses each day until you achieve bowel tolerance. If you did not achieve bowel tolerance with 2 grams every 2 hours, increase to 3 grams every 2 hours. Keep increasing the dose daily until you reach bowel tolerance.

Once you reach bowel tolerance:

Reduce the total dose by about 25% and continue to take that amount every day as a maintenance dose. If you you reach bowel tolerance again at that level, then reduce by 20% again and continue with that dose until you hit bowel tolerance again, and so on.

The healthier you become, the lower your tolerance for vitamin C will be, so you will need to reduce your dose.

If you reach bowel tolerance at 10-15 grams or less per day, you’re considered to be in very good shape health wise.

METHOD #3: Increasing Your Daily Dose

This method is similar to the 24-hour method, but even slower.

Here, you will start with 10 gram per day (in divided doses), and increase your daily dose by about 2 grams each day until you reach bowel tolerance. It may take up to a few weeks to reach bowel tolerance using this method, but it is better for sensitive people.

Note: You should still split your doses throughout the day. We recommend taking with every meal and at bed time. Alternatively, you can mix your full dose in a litre of water and sip throughout the day.

Complete and Continue