Vitamin C
is completely safe

By Dr. Rath

What a pity that holistic medicine is still a favourite target for attack. Apparently some people still refuse to accept that the change that has begun has now become unstoppable. More and more research studies are showing that vitamins and other important nutrients can really help people improve their health and stay healthier longer. In some cases, serious diseases can even be prevented and treated with high dosage nutrients. This is in stark contrast to conventional drugs that only fight symptoms and cause new problems as a result of their many side-effects.

Cancer

On June 15 2001, the scientific journal Science published an article about vitamin C. It was claimed that when taken in high doses vitamin C could react with lipid-hydroperoxides (a kind of fat molecule), damaging our genetic material and potentially causing cancer.  

Chemical action

In its response to the article in Science, the Linus Pauling Institute of America states that no hard evidence to support the claim was offered, since this was a test-tube experiment that tells us something about the chemical action of vitamin C but says nothing about its biochemical and biological action. The reactions that vitamin C caused in the test-tube will not or cannot take place in the human body because our bodies are made up of many cells and tissues which are all reacting with each other and creating systems with each other. All of these cells, tissues and systems cannot be simulated in a test-tube, so a test-tube experiment is not typical of how a substance works inside the body. That is why Science’s claim just does not stand up, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. 

Deficiencies

The human body cannot make its own vitamin C. These days, absolute deficiencies of the type that caused scurvy in the past are a comparative rarity, but relative deficiencies are on the increase. Above all, an adequate supply of vitamin C promotes the production of connective tissue by controlling the optimum production of collagen. Linus Pauling  undertook many studies in this field together with Dr. Rath. In earlier research the Linus Pauling Institute showed that vitamin C effectively inhibits the formation of lipid-hydroperoxides.  

Conclusion

According to the Linus Pauling Institute, the research work carried out by Science has made important chemical discoveries about the action of vitamin C in a test-tube (in vitro), but the physiological relevance remains to be investigated. It did not take account of reactions inside the human body (in vivo) which are completely different from reactions in a test-tube. In its response the Institute uses persuasive language to point out the limitations of the test-tube experiment: To say that vitamin C can cause cancer is as foolish as saying that no cure for cancer has been found on the basis of simple test-tube experiments. 

Food supplement

This is not the first time that vitamin C has been attacked. Why is it then that we are being encouraged on all sides to eat more fruit and vegetables? The answer is obvious: vitamins help prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease and many other illnesses. However the body doesn’t know whether the vitamin C comes from food or from supplements, so if people are advised against taking vitamin C supplements they should also be told to eat less fruit and vegetables. The utter absurdity of this argument should be obvious to everyone. If you choose to enhance your daily diet with food supplements, then you can be fully confident that you will suffer no vitamin deficiencies. And you will stay healthy for longer, as many studies have already shown.