Dr. Levy on Vitamin C

Viral Poppycock - "For a population of seven million people, Hong Kong has stockpiled 20 million treatment courses of Tamiflu, a medicine to which the new swine flu virus has not yet developed resistance but it’s a toss up which is more dangerous, the swine flu or Tamiflu. Dr. Russell Blaylock writes, “I was in the military during the first swine flu scare in 1976. At the time it became policy that all soldiers would be vaccinated for swine flu. As a medical officer I refused and almost faced a court martial, but the military didn't want the bad publicity. Despite the assurance by all the experts in virology, including Dr. Sabin, the epidemic never materialized. What did materialize were 500 cases of Gullian-Barre paralysis, including 25 deaths-not due to the swine flu itself, but as a direct result of the vaccine.”Courtesy Mark Sircus

Originally posted: Saturday, October 28, 2006

VITAMIN C AGAINST THE FLU (and bird flu) SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY©

Dr. Thomas Levy is one of the world’s experts in effects of vitamin C on viruses. Here’s what he says “Regarding the bird flu, I have not found any virus for which vitamin C does not exert a virucidal effect, as long as enough vitamin C reaches the virus, such as in any acute infection. I don't know about Tamiflu, but the vitamin C is virtually devoid of negative side effects.”

Although there no studies yet published specifically treating Asian bird flu with vitamin C, immune expert Dr Robert Cathcart, who has treated thousands of cases of life threatening infectious diseases with high dose vitamin C says “Treatment of the bird flu with massive doses of ascorbate would be the same as any other flu except that the severity of the disease indicates that it may take unusually massive doses of ascorbic acid orally or even intravenous sodium ascorbate. I have not seen any flu yet that was not cured or markedly ameliorated by massive doses of vitamin C.”

Antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu, work by inhibiting something called neuraminidase, produced by viruses and essential for their ability to replicate. So too does vitamin C but this is only one of more than ten ways that vitamin C knocks out viruses, both by inhibiting the virus itself, and by strengthening the body’s own immune response, for example by improving the number of function of immune cells (eg macrophages, lymphocytes and neutrophils), upping interferon and nitric oxide and making more antibodies which target viruses. Vitamin C also has direct antiviral effects and has been shown to inhibit viral replication in laboratory studies, such as HIV-infected immune cells. In the case of HIV viral infection was inhibited by 99% within four days, according to research published by the National Academy of Sciences. (It is really a tragedy that this research hasn’t been followed up with a large scale human trials, but the sad truth is that, even though vitamin C has been shown to outperform AZT in lab studies , there’s no money in it. So it appears that there is sufficient biological plausibility for its role against the flu, but since we don't have the controlled human trials, it’s not proven. It’s a tragedy that these studies aren’t done for life-threatening diseases such as HIV and bird flu, but the sad truth is there’s no money in it because vitamin C is cheap to make and not patentable – unlike drugs such as Tamiflu. Vitamin C, in high doses, has been well proven to be non-toxic in both adults and children over many years. The same cannot be said for this new generation of antiviral drugs.

However, we do know that vitamin C reduces the severitiy of colds and flu. Over 20 controlled trials using at least 1 gram a day against the common cold have been published, showing that the duration is typically decreased by about 25% and symptoms are much less severe. You are going to need much more than this if you contract any kind of flu. One recent human trial found that students who took hourly doses of 1,000 mg of vitamin C for the first 6 hours and then 3 times daily had a decrease in symptoms of 85% compared to students in the control group. In the case of bird flu that might well be the difference between life and death.

It’s highly likely that vitamin C would be effective against bird flu if you can get the dose high enough. Dr Mark Levine, who works for the National Institutes of Health in the US, has shown that you can get plasma levels up to 200mcmol/l with 3 grams of vitamin C six times a day, at which point vitamin C becomes profoundly anti-viral. However, with intravenous infusion of 100g a day concentration goes up to 15,000mcmol/l. No virus has yet been shown to survive at that level.

The ideal amount of vitamin C for any flu is up to ‘bowel tolerance’. Start with 1 gram an hour. If you get diarrhoea halve this dose. If you don’t, double it. There are some forms of vitamin C, notably sodium ascorbate with riboperine, and lipospheric vitamin C that allow even more to be absorbed without reaching bowel tolerance. They are marginally better than straight ascorbic acid. Some people find ascorbic acid too acidic, in which case an ascorbate, such as sodium ascorbate, can be taken. It might be useful to have a supply at hand if an epidemic does break out. There is no harm in having 100 grams a day short-term, stopping once all symptoms are gone. If even this didn’t stop the flu I’d find a doctor who could administer intravenous sodium ascorbate. The trick with any infection is not to get it in the first place by keeping your immune system strong. I take 1 gram of vitamin C twice a day. If Asian flu breaks out I’m doubling that to 4 grams – one every 6 or so hours, and taking 1 gram an hour if I get any symptoms.

Patrick Holford interviews Dr. Thomas Levy –

Despite hundreds of published studies, the true power of vitamin C as an infection fighter is vastly under-appreciated. Dr Thomas Levy, a doctor from Colorado, has painstakingly reviewed all of the research in his book Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins: Curing the Incurable. Here, he tells me of the true proven power of vitamin C.

PH For which infectious diseases has vitamin C been proven to both cure and prevent, if given in sufficient amounts?

TL In the medical literature, more than enough evidence and data has been published to conclude that vitamin C, administered properly, has cured and can continue to cure acute viral hepatitis, measles, mumps, viral encephalitis, chickenpox and herpes infections, viral pneumonia, influenza, diphtheria, tetanus, streptococcal infections, pseudomonas infections and staphylococcal infections. Prevention against the contraction of these infections and other infections involves the daily dosing of lower amounts of vitamin C than the amounts needed to cure a given infection. This prevention can almost always be overwhelmed, however, when a large enough acute exposure of an infectious agent is encountered.

PH Let's take a look at mumps, for example, which is very much in the news as more parents choose not to have their children given the MMR vaccination. What would you recommend?

TL This is a subject of great controversy. In general, I am opposed to vaccinations, since it is clear to me that the proper use of vitamin C can easily cope with the many different agents for which vaccination is offered. However, having a good specific, antibody-armed immune system is desirable as well. Therefore, when the vaccine is preservative-free (particularly from methylmercury in the form of thimerosol), the child is old enough to have a reasonably mature immune system (2 years or older), and the child is not acutely ill and has not recently been ill, then immunisation may be of benefit. However, before the vaccination, I would give the child a gram of vitamin C a day per year of life (2 grams or more) for at least a week before the vaccination and continuing for at least a week after the vaccination. This has the effect of protecting against any acute toxic insults associated with the vaccination, while maximizing the vitamin C-augmented antibody response to the vaccine.

PH How strong is the scientific evidence to support what you are saying and why is this evidence not being acted on?

TL The scientific evidence is very strong. I can only speculate as to why it seems to be ignored, but the entire medical system worldwide is based on doctors regarding very specific and limited sources of information as being the only reliable sources of medical information. Insurance companies generally only cover mainstream treatments. A great deal of money is spent, directly and indirectly, to convince doctors and the public that anything not learned directly in medical school or later provided through very specific channels is simply not to be trusted, much less even properly evaluated.

PH If a person, or child, contracts any of these diseases, how does one know how much vitamin C to take?

TL As Dr Klenner repeatedly described in his many papers, vitamin C must continue to be administered in appropriately high doses until a positive clinical response is seen, and then lower doses can be given. In other words, Dr Klenner would use whatever dose necessary to see a positive clinical response. This meant anything from 35 to 65 grams for a first dose, given intravenously. In terms of oral supplementation, take as much as you can tolerate, starting with 2 or 3 grams every three to four hours.

PH Is there any danger in taking these kinds of amounts?

TL Unless you are a patient with advanced renal failure, the answer appears to be no. In fact, very large studies have clearly defined that vitamin C not only does not cause kidney stones in patients with normal kidney function, it will often help to dissolve stones that were already present before the vitamin C administration began.

PH Your book is immensely thorough and well researched. How are we going to get this vital, life-saving and inexpensive treatment taken seriously? How many more people have to suffer and die unnecessarily?

TL I wish I knew. I wrote the book from both a medical and a legal perspective. I wanted physicians who are brave enough to do what is best for their patients to have as much scientific backing as possible for the vitamin C-based therapies that they choose, especially if they end up having to defend what they are doing in a court of law.

PH What types of vitamin C should be taken?

TL Vitamin C comes as mineral ascorbates, ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, and in a liposome-encapsulated form. If administered intravenously, the sodium ascorbate form is always desirable for an acute illness. When not available, the liposome-coated form, called lipospheric vitamin C, appears to have a very high bioavailability with virtually no bowel tolerance dose [ie diarrhoea inducing], which typically impedes the very high oral dosing of vitamin C.