MANCHESTER, England, July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The authors of a new book
claim the Institute of Medicine (IM) and the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) used flawed science to develop the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for
vitamin C, a blunder that has likely caused millions of people to prematurely
suffer avoidable health problems such as cataracts, strokes, heart attacks and
many other maladies.
Steve Hickey PhD and Hillary Roberts PhD, pharmacology professors and
graduates of the University of Manchester in Britain, claim they have been in
communication with the NIH and the IM for over a year, challenging their
rationale which establishes the RDA for vitamin C at 75 and 90 milligrams for
males and females respectively. Hickey and Roberts say some basic errors in
biology make justification for the current RDA for vitamin C indefensible.
Even a recently proposed 200- milligram daily intake would still be inadequate
to achieve optimal health says Hickey and Roberts.
HALF-LIFE FOR VITAMIN C IGNORED
The main flaw -- the half life for vitamin C is quite short, about 30
minutes in blood plasma, a fact which NIH and IM researchers have failed to
recognize. (Half life is the time it takes for half of a substance to be
removed from the body.) NIH researchers established the current RDA based
upon tests conducted 12 hours (24 half lives) after consumption. "To be
blunt," says Hickey, "the NIH gave a dose of vitamin C, waited until it had
been excreted, and then measured blood levels."
Because vitamin C is used up rapidly, a very high single dose of vitamin C
would not achieve the same concentration in the blood serum over time as two
divided lower doses. Hickey and Roberts claim many negative studies using
high-dose vitamin C have failed to recognize this fact and have therefore
mistakenly concluded that high-dose supplemental vitamin C is ineffective.
RDA NOT FOR EVERYBODY
In the past year Hickey and Roberts have shaken the confidence of the IM
and NIH, revealing that the medical establishment has failed to investigate
the use of high-dose vitamin C properly, for more than 50 years. Hickey and
Roberts have taken the IM and NIH to task for developing the RDA for vitamin C
on studies using only 15 healthy test subjects. Normal variations would call
for a greater pool of test subjects before establishment of an RDA for
hundreds of millions of people.
Furthermore, the RDA is intended to set a level of nutrient consumption
that would prevent disease (scurvy) among the vast majority (95%+) of the
population. Yet smokers (50 million), estrogen or birth control pill users
(13 million and 18 million), diabetics (16 million), pregnant females (4
million) and people taking aspirin (inestimable millions) or other drugs, have
increased need for vitamin C and comprise more than 35 percent of the
population. The current RDA wouldn't meet the needs of these large
subpopulations.
CONTRADICTORY DATA
Furthermore, Hickey and Roberts confronted the IM and NIH with their own
contradictory data. The IM and NIH claim the saturation point is reached at a
certain concentration of ascorbic acid in blood plasma but later published a
paper showing repeated oral doses could achieve much higher concentrations,
more than three times greater! [Annals Internal Medicine 140: 533-37, 2004]
Because of the short half-life of ascorbic acid, five 100 milligram doses
of oral vitamin C taken at intervals through the day will raise average blood
levels more than a single 1000 milligram dose. Hickey says the blood plasma
is not saturated when 1000 milligrams of vitamin C is consumed orally since
NIH researchers themselves demonstrated 2500 mg dose produces even higher
concentrations. Hickey and Roberts claim the minimum supplemental dose of
oral vitamin C needed to sustain blood plasma levels is around 2500 milligrams
a day in divided doses in healthy individuals. Millions of others (smokers,
diabetics, etc.) have needs greater than this.
NIH researchers doggedly cling to their claim that no more than 200
milligrams of oral vitamin C is required for human health and that a diet
which includes five servings of fruits and vegetables would provide 210-280
milligrams of vitamin C. [Biofactors 15: 71-74, 2001] But only 9 percent of
the US population consumes 5 servings of plant foods daily. The National
Cancer Institute has abandoned their 5-a-day recommendation and replaced it
with 9-a-day servings of fruits and vegetables once they recognized five
servings a day had not reduced the risk for cancer or heart disease.
TOLERABLE UPPER LIMIT ALSO FLAWED
The recommended Tolerable Upper Limit for vitamin C, 2000 mg per day,
gives the false impression that amounts beyond this would be toxic or produce
side effects. In fact, 2000 mg of oral vitamin C would not meet the needs of
millions of American adults. The only side effect at this dose is transient
diarrhea which usually dissipates over time.
TISSUE LEVELS VS. BLOOD PLASMA LEVELS
The mistaken idea that high-dose vitamin C supplementation saturates the
blood plasma after a moderate dose of about 150 milligrams of oral vitamin C,
and additional amounts are worthless since they are excreted in the urine, now
must be abandoned, says Hickey and Roberts. More than a decade ago other
researchers found that consumption of high-dose vitamin C (2000 mg per day)
increased ascorbic acid levels in the human eye by 22-32 percent compared to
when a so-called saturation dose (148 mg) is consumed. [Current Eye Research
8: 751, 1991] Ascorbic acid levels in other tissues in the body, such as the
brain where vitamin C concentration is 10 times greater than in blood plasma
[J Clinical Investigation 100: 2842, 1997], make it evident that blood plasma
levels may not be the gold standard for measuring vitamin C adequacy in all
tissues in the human body.
LINUS PAULING VINDICATED
Hickey and Roberts' revealing book confirms the work of Dr. Linus Pauling,
a long- time advocate of high-dose vitamin C supplementation. Pauling
advocated consumption of supplemental vitamin C throughout the day and he
consumed 18,000 milligrams of vitamin C in divided doses on a daily basis, a
practice which overcomes the half-life decay problem.
Pauling also conducted studies using intravenous vitamin C as a treatment
for cancer. In recent months published scientific reports even call for a
reevaluation of the use of high-dose intravenous vitamin C for cancer
treatment now that a study shows that intravenous vitamin C can produce blood
plasma concentrations of vitamin C that are more than six times greater than
oral vitamin C. [Annals Internal Medicine 140: 533-37, 2004] Three years ago
even NIH researchers proposed that ascorbate treatment of cancer should be
reexamined by rigorous scientific scrutiny in the light of new evidence. [J Am
College Nutrition 19:423-5, 2000]
The inability to improve survival times in cancer patients with
conventional cancer treatment has been disheartening. In 1991, it was
reported that supplemental vitamin C, received by incurable cancer patients at
some time during their illness, more than doubled their survival time.
[Medical Hypotheses 36: 185-89, 1991] Indeed, Pauling and associates
demonstrated that high-dose vitamin C more than quadrupled the survival times
of terminal cancer patients. [Proceedings Nat'l Academy Sciences 73: 3685-89,
1976] But Pauling's research was discredited later when scientists claimed as
little as 150 milligrams of vitamin C saturates the blood plasma and any more
vitamin C than that is excreted. Now researchers recognize they made a grave
error. Pauling even demonstrated that mice given high doses of vitamin C in
their food were five times less likely to develop skin tumors when exposed to
ultraviolet radiation than mice on low vitamin C diets. [Am J Clinical
Nutrition 54:1252S-1255S, 1991] The significance here is that even high-dose
oral supplementation may have preventive effects against certain forms of
cancer.
HEALTH AUTHORITIES CEASE COMMUNICATION
Hickey has called for the IM and NIH to retract the current RDA or provide
scientific justification for their recommendation. The NIH has ceased
communication with Hickey via email.
Hickey and Roberts' new book, Ascorbate: the Science of Vitamin C, is
available for immediate download ($6.00) at http://www.lulu.com/ascorbate.
Contact:
Bill Sardi
Knowledge Of Health, Inc.
909-596-9507
Steve Hickey at SteveHickey@ntlworld.com
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