I know of 3 people who have recently come down with pneumonia. Being low in Vitamin C increases ones risk for contracting pneumonia, so it makes a lot of sense to take higher than normal doses of vitamin C when you have pneumonia.    The recommendation for the average healthy adult is about 3 grams a day. But that is just an average. And it is for healthy individuals. Need goes up with illness and the duration of the illness is related to what nutrients you have on board for you body to work with to heal you. Many people need more, much more!

 I try to take 6 grams a day, and when I don't I  have back problems.
Yes, that's related too! (but another article)

The goal for taking the right amount of vitamin C is reaching bowel tolerance. Take increasingly higher doses of vitamin C throughout the day until you develop loose stools or an upset gut, then back off to the next lower dose. At this point I just don't take anymore until my gut has calmed down.  Think "titration." Remember high school chemistry?  You want to continue taking regular doses of vitamin C without ending up with diarrhea or a really nauseated feeling. You will be surprised at how much vitamin C it may take to  reach bowel tolerance.

Don't expect your doctor to know this or " believe in it". (See article below)  The studies are out there, but why would he/she look for them when they can write a prescription for an antibiotic? Unfortunately many cases of pneumonia are viral, in which case antibiotics will not work on the pneumonia, though they might prevent a secondary infection.

 Vitamin C & vitamin D taken in recommended higher doses go a long way in protecting you and your family from  "what is going around."

  Thanks again to  Orthomolecular Medicine for pointing out in the article below a great irony of contemporary medicine's attitude about vitamin C today.

Two other great references for learning about all the incredible things vitamin C can do for a body  are as follows:
"Clinical Guide for the Uses of Vitamin C" by Frederick Klenner MD
The Healing Factor: Vitamin C Against Disease by Irwin Stone

You may want to load these onto your computer to keep  or even print them off. Both are lengthy, but well worth the read.

Other articles by other researches are listed at the bottom of the following article. Just follow the links and  you too will become and expert in Vitamin C!

Wishing you great health in the New Year,
Barb Kaiser RN BSN, Holistic Health Consultant
High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy Proven Effective

This article may be reprinted free of charge provided 1) that there is clear attribution to the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, and 2) that both the OMNS free subscription link http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html and also the OMNS archive link http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml are included.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, January 5, 2010
 

High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy Proven Effective
"My doctor doesn't believe in vitamins." Since when is medicine based on belief?

(OMNS, January 5, 2010) The medical literature has virtually ignored 75 years of physician reports and laboratory and clinical studies on successful high-dose vitamin C therapy.

Effective doses are high doses, often 1,000 times more than the US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Daily Reference Intake (DRI). It is a cornerstone of medical science that dose affects treatment outcome. This premise is accepted with pharmaceutical drug therapy, but not with vitamin therapy. Most unsuccessful vitamin C research has used inadequate, low doses. Low doses do not get clinical results.

Investigators using vitamin C in high doses have consistently reported excellent results. High doses were advocated almost immediately after ascorbic acid was isolated by Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, M.D. (1893-1986). Notable early medical pioneers of high-dose vitamin C (ascorbate) therapy are Claus Washington Jungeblut, M.D. (1898-1976); William J. McCormick, M.D. (1880-1968); and Frederick R. Klenner, M.D. (1907-1984). More recently, important work has been published by Hugh D. Riordan, M.D. (1932-2005) and Robert F. Cathcart III, M.D. (1932-2007).

It Was 75 Years Ago Today

Dr. Jungeblut, Professor of Bacteriology at Columbia University, first published on vitamin C as prevention and treatment for polio, in 1935. (1) Also in 1935, Jungeblut showed that vitamin C inactivated diphtheria toxin. (2) By 1937, Jungeblut demonstrated that ascorbate inactivated tetanus toxin. (3) Between 1943 and 1947, Dr. Klenner, a specialist in diseases of the chest, cured 41 cases of viral pneumonia with vitamin C. By 1946, Dr. McCormick showed how vitamin C prevents and also cures kidney stones; by 1957, how it fights cardiovascular disease. Beginning in the 1960s, Dr. Cathcart used large doses of vitamin C to treat pneumonia, hepatitis, and eventually AIDS. For more than three decades, beginning in 1975, Dr. Riordan and his team have successfully used large doses of intravenous vitamin C against cancer. The use of doses of tens of thousands of milligrams of vitamin C per day may be the most unacknowledged successful research in medicine.

Heard this one before? "If vitamin C was that good, doctors would tell their patients to take a lot of it." It is surprising how many physicians have done precisely that.

What's that? Your doctor still doesn't?

Why? Decades of physicians' reports and controlled studies support the use of very large doses of vitamin C.

References:

(1) Jungeblut CW. Inactivation of poliomyelitis virus by crystalline vitamin C (ascorbic acid). J Exper Med 1935. 62:317-321.

(2) Jungeblut CW, Zwemer RL. Inactivation of diphtheria toxin in vivo and in vitro by crystalline vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Proc Soc Exper Biol Med 1935; 32:1229-34.

(3) Jungeblut CW. Inactivation of tetanus toxin by crystalline vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid). J Immunol 1937;33:203-214.

For More Information About:

Dr. CW Jungeblut: Claus Washington Jungeblut, M.D.: Polio pioneer; ascorbate advocate. J Orthomolecular Med, 2006. Vol 21, No 2, p 102-106. http://www.doctoryourself.com/jungeblut.html

In addition to (1) above, Dr. Jungeblut's other polio papers include:

  • Jungeblut CW. Vitamin C therapy and prophylaxis in experimental poliomyelitis. J Exp Med, 1937. 65: 127-146.
  • Jungeblut CW. Further observations on vitamin C therapy in experimental poliomyelitis. J Exper Med, 1937. 66: 459-477.
  • Jungeblut CW, Feiner RR. Vitamin C content of monkey tissues in experimental poliomyelitis. J Exper Med, 1937. 66: 479-491.
  • Jungeblut CW. A further contribution to vitamin C therapy in experimental poliomyelitis. J Exper Med, 1939. 70:315-332.

Jungeblut's research published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine is available for free access at http://www.jem.org/contents-by-date.0.shtml

Dr. FR Klenner: Hidden in plain sight: the pioneering work of Frederick Robert Klenner, M.D. J Orthomolecular Med, 2007. Vol 22, No 1, p 31-38. http://www.doctoryourself.com/klennerbio.html and http://orthomolecular.org/hof/2005/fklenner.html

Dr. WJ McCormick: The pioneering work of William J. McCormick, M.D. J Orthomolecular Med, 2003. Vol 18, No 2, p 93-96. http://www.doctoryourself.com/mccormick.html and http://orthomolecular.org/hof/2004/wmccormick.html

Dr. RF Cathcart: http://orthomolecular.org/hof/2008/cathcart.html; http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html and http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_cathcart.html

Dr. HD Riordan: http://orthomolecular.org/hof/2005/hriordan.html; http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v01n09.shtml; http://www.doctoryourself.com/riordan1.html and http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_riordan.html

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