High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy Proven Effective

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, January 5, 2010 

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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Editorial Review Board:
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.
Damien Downing, M.D.
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D.
Steve Hickey, Ph.D.
James A. Jackson, PhD
Bo H. Jonsson, MD, Ph.D
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D.
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D.
Erik Paterson, M.D.
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D.

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org